Interspecies conflict. Which animal is the ultimate carnivore?

Territories:

Cats are not particularly social animals. Apart from the lion, where the situation is one (maybe two) males with females and cubs, most cats establish territories and then avoid each other, with the exception of mating.

Even in the case of the lion, once male cubs reach a certain age they are run off and must join a bachelor male group, or travel alone until they are large enough to challenge for control of a pride.

The ritual of challenge and fight:

Most disagreements in the cat world are resolved with a ritual consisting of a series of challenges; after each challenge one cat is given the opportunity to back away.

First the cats attempt to stare each other down; they then show their teeth and fan their whiskers.

This is followed by vocalisation; first a catlike hiss and then quiet growls. The display continues until the 'loser' departs, or one cat unsheathes his claws.

At this stage, violence escalates with the noise becoming bloodcurdling. Like the tigers shown above, the combatants rise up onto on their hind legs and start swinging.

Usually all of this activity ceases after a matter of minutes, though tiger against tiger fights of some hours, and to the death, have been recorded. These occur where males are fighting over a female. Territorial disputes are much less violent.

Habits of the Tiger Index | Home