Expert: John Silva - 10/19/2009

Question
Hi sir,

My question is who is more powerful between tiger and lion?
I generrally observe that lions lives and hunts in a group and tiger alone, is there any specific reason behind this??

Thanking you
Pradeep

Answer
hi,

lions and tigers have different social behaviours..

the lion is the only cat that lives in groups, its the exception.

It evolved to be like that and the lion's role is to protect the females and the pride youngs as well as the territory they hunt and live. A lion is tall, strong and the most skilled fighter of all big cats just because all it does is to fight other predators to protect his land and family.

A lion doest even hunt.. it just fights hyenas, other lions, etc.. its rare to see a lion hunting, but he will help when needed.

A tiger tho is not as tall but it is longer, heavier and stronger. A tiger is slightly shorter and slightly longer, making it a more compact cat, as well as more muscled and built to bring down large prey. The largest of all tigers is the siberian tiger, which can outweight a lion by more than 50kg. Male lions will weight 200-220kg when they are big, and male siberian tigers will go 270-280kg. With some reaching mroe than 300kg, while some lions will reach 240kg.

Both cats evolved in a different way and they are still very similar animals, physically.

One needs to be very muscular, fast and more agile to hunt alone, as well as very big and strong, while the other one, the lion, needs to be a good fighter and pride defender, while lionesses are the attackers and hunters.