Bengal Tiger vs. (Wild) Water Buffalo

[dinosauria101]

Bengal Tiger - Panthera tigris tigris
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN. The total population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend, and none of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the Bengal tiger's range is large enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals. The Bengal tiger is the most numerous tiger subspecies with populations estimated at 1,520–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 124–229 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan. Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the binomial Panthera tigris, to which the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the Bengal tiger in 1929 under the trinomial Panthera tigris tigris. Bengal Tigers are fully grown at 2-3 years of age. Male reach weights of 200-230 kilograms and up to three metres in length. The females are 130-170 kilograms and up to 2.5 meters long. They have stripes all over their body. Their stripes are like fingerprints. No two are the same. The stripes are not only in the tigers fur, but are a pigmentation of the skin. They have a white spot on the back of their ears,whick looks like eyes.


(Wild) Water Buffalo - Bubalus arnee
The water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is a large bovine animal, frequently used as livestock in the Indian Subcontinent, and also widely in South America, southern Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa, and elsewhere. Wild water buffalo are larger and heavier than domestic buffalo, and weigh from 600 to 1,200 kg (1,300 to 2,600 lb). River buffalo are usually black, have curled horns, and are native to the western half of Asia, whereas swamp buffalo can be black, white or both, with long, gently curved, swept-back horns; they are native to the eastern half of Asia from India to Taiwan. The largest recorded horns are just under two metres long.

Credit to Wikipedia

[malikc6]

Same as with the bison. Ambush it wins. Head on, little chance. These fights have been witnessed in pit fights actually with the water buffalo winning. In fact there exists an instance of two tigers up against one water buffalo and both tigers were killed.

[dinosauria101]

Agreed, I heard about that account on the Carnivora version of this thread.
But what is really unbelievable is despite many accounts of the buffalo winning, Taipan was biased enough to vote for the tiger.

[malikc6]

Mar 25, 2019 18:59:34 GMT 5 dinosauria101 said:

Agreed, I heard about that account on the Carnivora version of this thread.
But what is really unbelievable is despite many accounts of the buffalo winning, Taipan was biased enough to vote for the tiger.

Tigers have won before head on, but those tigers were very likely exceptional and had a lot of experience taking them on. There's videos of lions taking down buffalo one on one. One of which was a lion and a buffalo that fought for several hours before the lion managed to finally kill the big bovine. Is it common? Does it happen more often than not? Of course not.  There's always going to be an exception to everything. It's also possible the buffalo wasn't at its best. Maybe it was  subadult, sick, injured, etc. 

In carnivora and many other sites, people place way too much confidence into big cats, often automatically saying they're lb for lb stronger than nearly any animal species. I remember members saying they believed that a bobcat was lb for lb stronger than wolverines and badgers. They would hardly even give a solid reason why that was the case. Literally any animal against a cat of equal size and weight, the cat wins because of parity... beyond ridiculous. Sometimes they look way too much into it.

[dinosauria101]

Yeah, I agree. Big cats are overrated as hell on Carnivora and I've even seen some people vote for a Smilodon populator (290 kg) over an aurochs (1.5 tons)

[elosha11]

I think the prime male water buffalo wins more often than not, but it's not entirely a mismatch. This really depends on whether the conflict is fight or a predation attempt. Obviously tigers can ambush buffalo at times succcessfully, but even that is a dangerous proposition for them. Still, there have been enough accounts of single tigers taking down large buffalo to make me believe it's not a completely unequal contest.

[dinosauria101]

elosha11, let me just say, THANK YOU for that excellent reply! Far better than Taipan's:
"Horns may be great for intraspecific conflict among bovids, but are ineffective defenses against attack from predators. I think the tiger would eventually take this one".
As I've said before, you are not crazy biased and do not refuse to consider the facts

[rock]

tiger wins by ambush , buffulo wins in a head to head fight.

[dinosauria101]

Here is that size chart from you-know-where

[rock]

Jun 7, 2019 17:19:35 GMT 5 dinosauria101 said:

Here is that size chart from you-know-where

strange the buffulo has something written on it , anyhow the buffulo wins in a head to head fight and the tiger wins by ambush , remeber these tigers take down bovines by ambush so i am sure it can take down a water buffulo by ambush in a good fight.

[dinosauria101]

^Well that was from the image provided on Carnivora's thread.
Anyway, even by ambush, I don't know if I'd favor the tiger. There was a lot of stuff on the thread in favor of the buffalo, and I will post it when I get to an unblocked IP

[DonaldCengXiongAzuma]

The smaller asian buffalo is smaller and less aggressive than a cape buffalo but even than it gives the tiger a hard time face to face. The tiger still manages to kill adult buffalos with skill and ambush.

[rock]

Jun 8, 2019 4:12:50 GMT 5 DonaldCengXiongAzuma said:

The smaller asian buffalo is smaller and less aggressive than a cape buffalo but even than it gives the tiger a hard time face to face. The tiger still manages to kill adult buffalos with skill and ambush.

i think the tiger even has a hard time killing it in a ambush but it would win by ambush , head to head the buffulo almost always wins as the tiger has no way too take himout without being jabbed by the buffulos horns.

[jhg]

Tigers eat these bovids for breakfast.

[dinosauria101]

Jun 9, 2019 11:28:38 GMT 5 jhg said:

Tigers eat these bovids for breakfast.

Yes they do. By AMBUSH.
Who'd you take head on?