Comparison Of Bear And Lion

They say the Lion is the King of the jungle but is that really true? Have you ever wondered what would happen if a Lion got into a big fight with a bear? In this article, we will try our best to give a mental picture of what would happen when these two massive creatures meet.

Bear vs Lion: It is Battle Time!

The Lion and the Bear eventually meet. Who will tear the other one apart? That is hard to tell. We can tell though that it will be an extremely bloody fight. The bear with its powerful teeth would be able to tear apart the Lion’s tendons with great ease. It would be able to use its massive weight to lodge itself on top of the Lion and probably crush the skeletal structure of the Lion. It would use its sharp, powerful claws to tear apart flesh from the Lion.

This does not mean that the Lion will not stand a chance against this mighty creature. Lions are creatures of stealth. They stalk their prey until they are ready to strike. When hunting, several females hunt together but as the hunt comes to a climax, one female makes the leap and attacks with a blow from her fore paw and then inflicts a fatal bite in the neck region. If the Lion sees a bear as prey then the bear would be in for a huge shock. The Lions would inflict a powerful and painful bite in the neck region of the bear. This would make the massive creature fall to the ground. The lion would keep biting on the neck until the bear starts to suffocate. Would the bear die? Not without putting up a good fight. Remember, the bear has a thick layer of fat under its skin. This thick layer is not only good for hibernation but also for acting as a good defense mechanism. This would buy some time for the bear to inflict some serious damage on the Lion.

So Who Would The Winner Be?

We believe that the winner would be the mighty grizzly bear. While the king of the jungle has stealth on his side as well as ultra sharp teeth, the bear’s massive size would make it come out of the fight alive. Its thick fat layer will buy time for it to do some serious damage to the lion and eventually put it to eternal sleep. In addition, all that brute force that the bear has will put it in a good position to send the king of the jungle flying off his throne.

Bear vs Lion: The Facts

Bears are mammals that belong to the family Ursidae. These grizzly animals can be as small as four feet long and 60 pounds (27 Kg) to as big as eight feet long and more than a thousand pounds. These mammals are found throughout North America, South America, Asia as well as Europe. Lions on the other hand are 6-7 ft long (1.8 – 2.1) and have a weight of 370 -500 lb (167 – 227 Kg). These animals, also referred to as the Panthera Leo, are found in tropical Africa south of the Sahara desert as well as in a national park in India called the Gir Forest National Park. This means that you probably will not see these creatures having a fight anytime soon. This was not always the case though. About 5 000 years ago, Lions were all over the planet. They were present in North America, most of Africa, the Middle East and even Europe.

A bear has an excellent sense of smell, short tails as well as non retractable claws. The Lion, however, comes with a long tail which is about 3ft (1m) long with short legs and a gigantic head. Males usually have a buff yellow to orange-yellow coat, sometimes silver grey to dark brown. The females have a tawny or sandy coat. They have small paws and come with a tail that is about 3ft (1m) long.

During winter, a bear is able to get into a special state called hibernation. In this state, they lower their heart rate, body temperature, metabolism and respiration. They can go for up to 100 days or so without eating, drinking, defecating or urinating. This is because of a layer of fat that they build up during the summer and the fall. Lions do not hibernate. They do not have this layer of fat that can make them last for several days without eating or drinking.

The Lion has an average litter size of 2 to 4 cubs. In some cases, the litter can be anything from 1 cub to 6 cubs. The females breed every 2 years in the wild but when in captivity, they may breed once a year. The cubs are completely blind at birth, get weaned around 7 months and they reach sexual maturity at about 3 – 4 years of age. Bears give birth to between 1 and 4 cubs. The Females breed every 2 to 4 years in the wild. The cubs are born into the winter den in January – February. The bear cub feeds on its mother’s fatty milk during the first few months of its life. Bears reach sexual maturity between the ages of 3 and 5. An interesting thing about bears is that male and female ears live in their own territories and do not really come into contact with each other outside of the mating season.

Bears and Lions have a different life expectancy. A Bear on average can live up to 25 years in the wild. When in captivity, the figure increases to about 50 years. Lions come with a much shorter life expectancy of just 8 – 10 years in the wild. When in captivity, this figure soars up to around 25 years.

Bear vs Lion: Diets

The bear and the lion have very different eating characteristics. The bear is an omnivore. They eat a wide variety of food items. Some bears, mostly eat seals, others love berries and insect larvae, and even bamboo. This means that their teeth are rather powerful as they are able to deal with tough plant fiber. The Lion on the other hand is a carnivore. It mainly feasts on wildebeest, gazelles, antelopes as well as baboons. They will also feed on carrion meat and the fresh kills of other hunters such as the hyena.

Reach

In an epic Bear vs Lion encounter, one may wonder which creature would have the best height and reach. Both predators posses the ability to rear up on their hind legs. This means they can double their height when they need to. The Bear is able to maintain a vertical position for a much longer period of time than the Lion. This will make it able to use its great weight to act as a wrecking ball of some sort and inflict damage on the Lion. The Lion, however, is rather agile. It is able to quickly evade such attempts and leave the Bear crying with pain when it misses and hits the ground.

Positioning

Both animals reign supreme in their environments. The Lion is commonly referred to as the king of the jungle and the bear is commonly called the Grizzly. Such names ought to incite fear in whoever reads about these animals. The fight IQ and strategy of the Lion would make it be able to stand a great chance against the Bear if they are to get into a fight. The Bear uses the merciless attack strategy, and, as shown by many historical events, there are many times where using a good strategy produces a much greater impact than just relying on brute force.

Training

Bears and Lions come from very different environments. This makes them both have their own unique advantages. Bears are surrounded by mountains, hills and trees. They have long distance runs, hill climbs as well as high intensity tree trunk charges. The Lion lives in a different environment. It is used to the open plains and dusty lands of Africa. It trains with family and close friends. Lions play fight from a tender age. Through fighting each other, the little cubs build up strength. When the Lions are two years old, they are kicked out of the pride to fend for themselves. This forces the lions to hone the art of hunting to survive.

Conclusion

This Bear vs Lion article has shown that both the Lion and the Bear are mighty creatures. They reign supreme in their environments and they bow down to nobody. Though it is highly unlikely that these creatures would ever get into a fight, they would certainly give a spectacular show if they did. We believe that the grizzly bear would come out as the winner, tossing the king of the jungle from his throne.