Tigers and lions are both known as the kings of all species. If they fight directly, which one is stronger?

Although humans are advanced animals , they do not have physical advantages. Therefore, in the animal world, humans cannot be the king of all species.

However, that top position is not unique. As we know, the tiger is known as the “lord of the jungle” and the lion is known as the “king of the grassland”. So if these two animals fight, which one will win?

A heated duel

Not only us, ancient people also asked this same question. A Han Dynasty emperor even decided to organize a fight between tigers and lions to find the correct answer.

In fact, in pre-Qin times, China had no lions. People only know about the existence of lions through the stories of traders from the Northwest.

According to scientists, at that time, no lion fossils had been found and there were no records of the species’ appearance in China in ancient documents. Therefore, lions are a completely strange species to people in the Central Highlands.

Lions often live in Africa, so for the people of the Han Dynasty, this animal was extremely strange. (Photo: NatGeo)

With the opening of the Silk Road, the cultures of the East and West also had the opportunity to integrate with each other.

At this time, stories about an animal “king of the grassland” with strength even described as greater than that of a tiger began to spread.

Out of curiosity about this new animal, Emperor Han Wu of the Han Dynasty once ordered a duel between tigers and lions to see who was truly “lord”. This interesting incident was recorded in the book “The Will of All Things” by the Tay Tan Dynasty.

According to the recorded results, when the tiger saw the lion, it had no intention of resisting. Even when the lion scratched his face with his claws, the tiger immediately closed his eyes in fear.

Coincidentally, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Han Ming Emperor Liu Zhuang also organized a duel between lions and tigers.

In this duel, another animal, the leopard, was also included. At that time, an envoy from Persia came to China and offered a lion as a tribute.

Emperor Liu Zhuang was very curious, he said: “I heard that lions can subdue tigers, but I don’t know if it is true?” As a result, after this question, the king immediately asked the local mandarins to find a tiger.

Finally, hunters in Shanyang district, Shaanxi province, China caught 2 tigers and 1 leopard. They immediately sent them to Luoyang.

In the battles that the two kings organized, the lion won. (Photo: NatGeo)

Emperor Liu Zhuang immediately ordered the tiger and leopard to be brought to the royal garden of the palace, then they also brought the lion in.

As a result, when the tiger and leopard saw the lion, they “closed their eyes and did not dare to raise their heads” and were quickly defeated.

Liu Zhuang was still not satisfied, so he immediately ordered the blind bear from the garden to be brought. Who would have thought that when he brought the blind bear to him, as soon as he smelled the lion’s scent, he suddenly “jumped up in terror and broke off his chains and walked away”.

Seeing this incident, Luu Trang laughed loudly. Since then, everyone has recognized that the lion is worthy of being the king, even tigers and leopards do not dare to oppose it. And the lion also became a new type of spirit animal capable of driving away evil spirits.

Who is the lord of all creatures?

The Huffington Post once reported that, with the same concerns as the two Chinese emperors, ancient Roman circuses often arranged matches between fierce animals such as tigers, leopards, lions, bears, and boars. … to entertain people. Among them, the fight between lion and tiger is always considered the most classic.

The fights between tigers and lions are always considered the most classic. (Photo: NatGeo)

At the end of the 19th century, the Gaekwad Baroda dynasty in India once organized a fight between Bengal tigers and North African lions.

The end result was that the lion was bitten to death. According to Huffington Post, the Bengal tiger weighs 221 kg and the African lion weighs about 250 kg. Although there is not much difference in weight, the tiger’s muscle density is greater, so its strength is also greater.

Furthermore, tigers have a low center of gravity and larger front leg width, so tigers have a huge advantage in avoiding attacks and keeping their body in a low position. A tiger’s hind legs are also stronger than a lion’s, so when it has to stand on its hind legs, the lion cannot keep its balance for long.

In 1857, a tiger at Bromwich Zoo in England escaped its cage and entered a lion’s cage. Immediately afterwards, the lion’s stomach was ripped open by the tiger and died after a few minutes. In 1909, a similar incident happened at Coney Island Zoo, USA when a male tiger killed a male lion.

Tigers have a low center of gravity and larger front leg widths, so they are easier to dodge and counterattack than lions. (Photo: NatGeo)

In May 1914, at the Bronx Zoo, New York City, an 8-year-old Bengal tiger bit and killed a 3-year-old Nubian lion. In the first few minutes, the lion had the advantage but could not fight back.

In 1934, an African lion bit and killed a Bengal tiger. In 1949, at South Perth Zoo, a lion defeated a tiger in a three-minute fight. In September 1951, at an Indian zoo, an 18-year-old tiger found its way into the cage of a 7-year-old lion, was seriously injured in a fight and died despite the doctors’ best efforts to cure him.

In March 2011, a tiger at Ankara Zoo, Türkiye, attacked a lion that was kept in the same cage. It killed the lion with just one slap. According to local officials: “With just one blow, the tiger severed the jugular vein in the neck, causing the lion to die in a pool of blood.”

According to Craig Saffoe, a biologist and manager of tigers and lions at the Smithsonian Zoo, USA, said: “Winning or losing depends on the physical characteristics and fighting style of each individual. .. But if I had to bet, I would lean more towards the tiger.”

However, scientists believe that whether a tiger or a lion wins depends on many factors of each individual. (Photo: NatGeo)

Biologists from Big Cat Rescue said: “We want people to care more about saving these animals than wondering which animal will win if they fight, but the power of the two The largest animal in the cat family always makes people curious.

There are also opinions that tigers have a huge advantage because of their habit of hunting alone. This also means that it has more experience in one-on-one combat than lions. Besides, tigers often hunt larger prey than the animals that lions hunt.

Furthermore, when lions hunt large prey, they need to combine with the whole herd. With this way of hunting, they will succeed without shedding blood. On the contrary, when tigers fight, it is not because of delicious prey but because of the spirit of death.

Perhaps so, when tigers and lions fight directly, the tiger often wins more. However, no matter which species is stronger, in reality, they are all animals that need to be protected by humanity from the “brink of extinction”.