Which animal is stronger?
An elephant will trample a rhinoceros, a walrus will easily kill a polar bear, and a gorilla will punch a leopard in the face
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The answer to the question “Who is stronger: a tiger or a lion, a crocodile or a hippopotamus, a falcon or a hawk?” — it’s not just parents who are being tortured by curious children who are searching. Quite serious scientists and simply lovers of the animal world are also trying to figure out who will defeat whom. It turned out that the most powerful does not always win.
It would seem that what is so difficult here? We need to find out who is the largest and fastest of the animals and who has the stronger jaws. However, victory in a real fight does not always depend on these parameters. American naturalist Joseph Kullmann set out to find out who is the best in the animal world. He studies all cases of one-on-one fights and identifies features that help to win. We bring to your attention some of the stories included in the book.
In wild nature
* Hunters of the Primorsky Territory talk about fights between tigers and brown bears. The winners are often tigers, who do not just fight for prey, but specifically hunt clubfooted animals. However, there are often cases when rivals, after a stubborn struggle, part ways without finding out who is stronger.
* In fights between elephants and rhinoceroses, the former often win, despite the fact that the rhinoceros’s formidable weapon, its horn, is located at a dangerous angle for the enemy and can easily pierce the elephant’s stomach. However, an angry elephant tramples a rhinoceros, sometimes first stunning it with a blow from a log.* A hippopotamus broke the skull of a rhinoceros that came to a watering hole with its fangs.
* The giraffe decided to eat the leaves of the tree and did not notice that the leopard was sleeping on it. The cat jumped on the giraffe's neck and strangled him.
* In India, an 11-meter reticulated python defeated a tiger in a long fight: it strangled it and swallowed it. * Fights between martens and wild forest cats are not uncommon. Superior in size to their rivals, cats rarely emerge victorious. A case is described in which a marten strangled a cat at the end of an exhausting battle.* On Komodo Island, feeding monitor lizards turns into a real show for the amusement of tourists. One day, a goat intended for dinner tried to fight a giant lizard: it put out its horns and went on the attack. But the monitor lizard dodged to the side, broke the goat’s legs with its powerful tail and, pulling it by the muzzle, broke its neck. Bloody clarification of interspecies relationships between dinosaurs turned out to be useless: they all became extinct
* The puma that attacked the alligator jumped up, hit the reptile in the eyes with its paws, landed on its back, bit it and jumped back to a safe distance. The second attack followed immediately: the cougar again jumped onto the alligator’s back, rested its front paws on the scruff of the neck, bent down and closed its jaws where the skull ends. During all this time, the alligator only managed to wave its tail once, which the cat easily dodged.
Robot animal fights
Joseph Kullmann also studied fights between robotic animal models created by specialists. They were shown in the series “Beast Battles” on the Discovery Channel. The simulators did not reproduce the animal in full, but had the same jaws, claws, impact and bite force.
The robot accurately reproduces the movements and habits of the animal
Saltwater crocodile vs great white shark
The crocodile damaged the shark's tail fin, then bit through its chest, grabbing a rib. It seemed that he could celebrate the victory, but the shark did not retreat. She swam away and then attacked the crocodile. Locking their jaws, both animals began to drown. The crocodile began to run out of air, and when he tried to surface to take a sip of oxygen, the shark ripped open his stomach.
Wolf vs puma
The gray one grabbed the puma's paw with a death grip, but she threw the toothy one away with a blow of her paw. Then he tried to grab the cat by the throat, and again failed - the cougar seriously wounded him in the stomach with its claws. A “control” bite in the neck - and the cougar emerges victorious in this fight.
An angry cat is not afraid of an opponent that is larger and heavier than it
Hippopotamus vs. blunt-nosed shark
The bleeding wound on the body of the hippopotamus attracted the shark. She could not bite the animal properly - its paws and stomach were too thick. However, the predator did not give up her attempts. This made the hippopotamus terribly angry, and the shark’s next attack ended in its mouth - it swallowed a 3-meter fish, like some kind of sprat. Flying up from the rear, the eagle deprived the fox of the opportunity to resist
Amur tiger vs brown bear
The tiger tried to bite the bear by the throat, but was unsuccessful. Then the striped one attacked the bear from behind and grabbed him with its claws. However, the bear threw the tiger off with a blow to the head, broke his spine and finished him off with a bite to the throat.
Polar bear vs walrus
The bear was unable to bite through the thick skin of the walrus. The latter decided to take refuge in the water. The bear went after him, but the walrus wounded him with his fangs. After this, the bear tried to get out onto the ice floe, but the walrus finished him off by plunging his fangs into his back.
Anaconda vs Jaguar
The snake wrapped itself around the cat and tried to pull it under water. The jaguar bit the reptile's tail and almost made it to land. Anaconda made a second attempt, this time successful, and drowned the jaguar. The luxurious mane not only attracts females, but also saves the lion from being bitten on the head and neck
Lion vs crocodile
Sharp teeth and claws did not help the king of beasts break through the dense shell of the crocodile. Once again, having driven the lion away from the river, the crocodile went under the water. Then the lion came closer, trying to understand where the enemy had gone. And he paid for his curiosity: the crocodile, holding the lion’s muzzle in its mouth, pulled him into the water and finished him off there.
Alligator vs black bear
The alligator tried to bite the bear's paw and wounded him, but not too badly. Then he attacked again, but the clubfoot dodged. The tired alligator decided to retreat, but the bear stopped him with a blow of his paw, the alligator turned over and exposed his unprotected stomach to his opponent. Having ripped it open, the black bear won.
Gorilla vs leopard
The leopard had the ability to see in the dark and the agility of a cat on its side. However, this did not help the leopard. The gorilla easily repelled all his attacks and finally delivered a fatal blow with a powerful paw.
Giant squid vs sperm whale
While the sperm whale frightened the squid with sound signals, it attacked the toothed whale, wrapping its tentacles around it. However, the sperm whale did not care much about this. Having stunned the giant mollusk and grabbed it with his jaws, he went into the depths and calmly dined there.
Lion vs tiger
For a long time, the fight between the two cats was equal. Towards the end of the fight, the tiger tried to grab his opponent by the throat, but was prevented by the mane of the king of beasts. But the lion’s attempt to grab the enemy’s neck was successful, and he won.
Everyone will beat the king of beasts
Our columnist Ruslan IGNATIEV is a game biologist by specialty. He defended his diploma under the guidance of Nikolai Nikolaevich DROZDOV, and did an internship under his supervision in the program “In the Animal World.” We asked a colleague who he would bet on in threes: elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus; polar bear, lion and tiger; whale, sperm whale and killer whale.
* In the trio of elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus, I would put the elephant in first place. No matter how formidable a weapon a rhinoceros horn is, in order to wound an elephant with it, one must try very hard. They are just very different in size. So the elephant will win everyone. Rhino gets "silver". The weakest link in this chain is the hippopotamus.
* Polar bear, lion and tiger. The winner, of course, would be the polar bear, the largest land predator. By the way, he is the only one who, according to scientists, hunts humans. I won’t choose between a lion and a tiger for a long time either: of course, the tiger will win. Fights between these animals are not uncommon - in circuses where they are kept together. The tiger is an experienced hunter, dexterous and brave, while among lions the females hunt, while the males are lazy and dull. For nothing that the kings of beasts.
* Choosing between a whale, a sperm whale and a killer whale, I would definitely bet on the latter. Both zoologists and sailors who witnessed meetings of these mammals say that even a herd of sperm whales tries not to get involved with one killer whale. Seeing her, they flee. In a duel between a whale and a sperm whale, it is difficult to name a winner. Most likely, it will be a whale, at least due to its size.
Anna Polyakova
#42/2009 animals
How strong is a tiger
To understand how strong and formidable a tiger is, just look at its sharp fangs. Tigers are well versed in hunting methods. Their signature move is plunging their fangs into the enemy’s neck. They use their powerful paws no less practically. Even such an opponent as a bear can die from one blow from a tiger's paw, especially if it was struck on the head. In this case, the skull is instantly destroyed and the animal dies.
Hunting is a common thing for tigers
Who is more dangerous to humans?
Lions by nature do not hunt people, but the following cases are known:
- In Kenya, a lion mauled and killed 27 people in 10 months. When he was caught, it turned out that he suffered from caries, which meant he was very hungry, which led him to cannibalism.
- US scientists have reported attacks by lions. A total of 539 such cases were recorded. Every year in Tanzania, 70 people die from the fangs of a predator.
In all cases, the mammals were somehow sick and could not hunt normally. We can conclude from this that a healthy lion will not approach a person, but this does not make it any easier. Individuals kept in captivity and accustomed to our society attack extremely rarely, but a predator remains a predator and this possibility should not be excluded.
There are also cannibals among tigers:
- One of the most famous cases of attacks on humans is the death of 64 people from the teeth of a predator on Chongar.
- In the Far East of our country, where Amur representatives are found, hunters for skins, paws and precious Ginseng regularly encounter them, but no cases of death are known yet.
In fact, the population of both is catastrophically declining. The time has come to protect not lions from tigers or tigers from lions, but these beautiful, strong, predatory mammals from humans. Otherwise, in the near future, children will not be able to ask their moms and dads the question: “ Who is stronger, the lion or the tiger?”
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Rhinoceros
The rhinoceros is a very large animal, weighing about 5 tons. He doesn't know how to control his emotions at all. As soon as this thick-skinned creature notices that someone is showing aggression towards him, he instantly attacks his opponent. At this moment, the rhinoceros does not care who is in front of him - an elephant or a zebra. He won't even be afraid of a lion.
After all, an angry animal can cope with an entire pride of predators. The horn of a rhinoceros poses a particular danger to opponents. It is with them that he inflicts terrible injuries on his enemies who dared to stand in his way.
Nile crocodile
The Nile crocodile is a very dangerous predator. An adult grows up to 6 meters. Such dimensions allow this animal to be located almost at the very beginning of the food chain. It happened that adult rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses and even giraffes became victims of crocodiles. Lions also do not always manage to escape from agile reptiles. When the king of beasts swims across a pond, the crocodile attacks him, drowns him, and then eats him. However, most often the big cat manages to get to the shore, but this changes little. After all, injuries received during a fight with a reptile are usually incompatible with life.
Lions are not the largest animals. Therefore, they most often lose in a fight to those animals that are much larger than them. So even seemingly harmless herbivorous creatures can defeat the king of beasts.
Buffalo
Lions and buffalos are real blood enemies. Predators hunt weak individuals: calves and females. But sometimes adult bulls also become their prey. However, buffalos are also not in debt. They often attack pride sites and prevent big cats from getting food. And buffalos, at every opportunity, try to trample little lion cubs to death.
Elephant
The only one who disagrees with the royal position of lions is the elephant. Because it is the largest land animal. No one can harm him. Even a huge pride does not pose any danger to the African elephant. This giant can easily trample the most formidable predators in the savannah. But the elephant has a reason to attack lions. The fact is that they sometimes hunt elephant calves. However, this happens very rarely. Because big cats prefer not to mess with elephants.
