Awesome science facts for kids

Lions are the king of the plains. Tigers rule the jungle. But face to face, what would happen if a Lion fought a Tiger? Which would win? For more: tiger facts                        

Asiatic lions (smaller than African lions) and tigers both occur in India. Although their ranges no longer overlap, they did once and therefore this was a very real scenario a long time ago.

I am going to specifically answer this in terms of one male tiger going up against one male lion. 

Although female lions hunt as prides, male lions spend most of their lives alone. They are forced out of the pride when they reach around two years. 

If they manage to take over a pride of their own they will usually only manage to keep it for a couple of years. During the time they have a pride they will spend most of their time fighting off potential usurpers. 

When they do not have a pride they frequently fight with other solitary males that they bump into and of course pride males in their attempts to take control of a pride.

So, a male lion spends his life fighting. In fact they spend so much time fighting and not eating properly and stressed out that they only live to about ten years old while females usually live to about fifteen.

The reason a male lion has a mane is for defense in fighting. They fight like wrestlers, facing off, gripping each other and trying to overpower each other. I have watched them fighting many times and have come across two dead males over the years. Both had been bitten through the spine. From what I have read, this is pretty much the norm. 

So, the mane is a pretty effective defense in a cat-fight. To get round it requires some serious dominance in the fight as it means out wrestling the opponent to the point of being able to bite them through the spine. Tigers do not have this defense. They do not have it because they rarely fight.

Tigers are solitary animals and although heavier than lions, they are shorter than lions at the shoulder. The weight difference is about 15% which is significant but not enough I believe to mean an overwhelming advantage for tiger, especially since they have a height disadvantage.

In terms of behaviour, male tigers usually solve their disputes via display and intimidation, preferring to avoid each other. One of them will usually roll onto its back and expose its belly in submission. Now in terms of fighting, this lack of experience when going up against a pro IS an overwhelming disadvantage.

This is like putting a heavy inexperienced amateur fighter in ring with a taller, leaner professional with a mean history of fights under his belt.

A no-brainer. A wild lion would win hands down because the wild lion has a lifetime experience of fighting other male lions. Size really isn't everything.. 

However, a tiger in a zoo will more likely kill a lion because if the tiger doesn't back down the inexperienced captive-bred lion is quite outclassed.. Still, although a lion is more likely to die in a fight it is also very likely that male tigers would submit if it got serious and the tiger realised it was dealing with a maniac who was willing to die to win..

Lions didn't get the title "King of the Jungle" for nothing.

This is the only case on record of a wild tiger meeting and fighting a wild lion. The lion won.

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