Title
Relationship of Bears and Tigers in the Russian Far East
Author(s)
Seryodkin, I.;Petrunenko, Y.;Miquelle, D.
Published
2015
Abstract
In the southern Russian Far East, brown bears (Ursus arctos) and Asiatic black bears (U. thibetanus) co-exist with Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica). In the Sikhote-Alin Reserve the relationships between these three species were studied in 1992-2013 during extensive telemetry and snowtracking efforts. Bears often fed on Amur tiger kills. Of the 353 tiger kills we found during the nondenning period for bears (April-November) 62 kills (17.6%) were used by bears including 37 (60%) brown bear, 9 (14%) by Asiatic black beer and 16 (26%) of uncertain bear species. The proportion of tiger prey scavenged by bears is likely higher than what our data indicate, since utilization by scavengers was not always complete when we visited kills. Often bears fed on kills after tigers abandoned them. However, in at least in 8 cases (12.9%) bears displaced tigers from a kill, and in 7 cases (11.3%) both tigers and bears utilized a kill during the same period. Analysis of prey items revealed that bears represent 3.4% in the diet of tigers in the non-denning period (1.7% for each species of bears). In 44 recorded encounters between tigers and bears, the tiger initiated contact in 12 cases while the bear initiated contact in 8 cases, while in all other cases the individual initiating contact could not be determined.
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the WCS Library to request.
![]()
Back
PUB15720