Who wins?

If you can organize a fight between 1,000 brown bears and 1,000 lions, you will know the results for sure.

The lion. It kills everything it gets to eat; no salmon & berries in it's diet.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
The lion. It kills everything it gets to eat;

???

Lions are opportunistic hunter-scavengers, they will feed on carrion and will take over kills made by other predators,
- scavenged food can form a substantial percentage of their diet.

Then we have the Hyena which has a reputation as a scavenger, but which in fact makes it own kills anywhere from 50-80% of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
If you can organize a fight between 1,000 brown bears and 1,000 lions, you will know the results for sure.

We're gonna need a big colosseum.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
If you can organize a fight between 1,000 brown bears and 1,000 lions, you will know the results for sure.

We're gonna need a big colosseum.

A pair at a time will do.

If you can find the bears and the lions, I will find the location

Colosseum type spectacles with lions,bears,etc.... would not be authentic unless you threw a few Christians into the mix....

Small brown bear skull vs. large lion skull pictured?
Do you have measurements on those skulls?

A 1200 pound Kodiak against a 500-pound Leo?

I think the bear would break the lion's neck with one swipe of it's paw.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Small brown bear skull vs. large lion skull pictured?
Do you have measurements on those skulls?

A 1200 pound Kodiak against a 500-pound Leo?

I think the bear would break the lion's neck with one swipe of it's paw.

Wow!! You really know how to hurt a guy.

The Bear skull was 25 7/8. Fine for me. DIY for about $700 all in out of the Bristol Bay region, the last of my 8 years living there. Squared an honest 8 1/2 feet without the typical one foot "stretch".

The Lion was not measured.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Small brown bear skull vs. large lion skull pictured?
Do you have measurements on those skulls?

A 1200 pound Kodiak against a 500-pound Leo?

I think the bear would break the lion's neck with one swipe of it's paw.

I weight 130 pounds soaking wet, and I have killed elephants that weigh several tons!

And all I used was my trigger finger

Right, the trigger finger of death, AND a loaded rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
The lion. It kills everything it gets to eat; no salmon & berries in it's diet.

The lion is a bad mother in its own right, however, I believe the brownie would handily break it. There is a huge strength differential between the two IME.

Da Bears!

For the hell of it..... I say lion will win. Much more agile and faster. It will "taunt" the bear till it tires then jump on its back and crush through the bears skull.

By the way, a lion's swipe is incredibly powerful too. I mean more than we can ever immagine unless witnessed.

Bear everytime

I suspect it would be a pyrrhic victory for either.

There is only one way to settle this, just do it. [pssst, I'll go with the lion, old Bruin will still be standing on his back feet imitating a red's roar and he will be dying.]

This is an apples and oranges comparison, and makes no sense at all! They are both good at what they do, and both are about as lethal as two animals can be , but are still as different as any two animals can be!

I have been around the Alaska brown bear, for may years, a lot more than around the African lion. Still these two animals are very good at what they do. The brownie is top of the food chain in Alaska, and the lion is top of the chain in Africa. There the comparison ends!

A brown bear can handle anything he runs into in Alaska except a man with a rifle if there is any distance between them. The African lion can handle anything he comes in contact with in Africa up to and including a young elephant. The lion takes down cape buffalo bulls that are in the same weight class as the brownie, the brownie has nothing that is larger then he is to contend with.

In a fight between the African lion and an Alaskan brown bear if in the open the brownie would run away, because the lion is more like a dog to the bear, however, if in a pen, where neither could run, the bear would kill the lion in short order simply because the lion cannot reach anything lethal because of the size of the bear and his thick coat of the bear, and the brown bear has the strength to break bones with nothing more than a swat of a paw disabling the lion entirely.

A more appropriate fight to the death in a pen would be with a brown bear and a Cape buffalo. The brownie is strong and big, and the buffalo has the means to reach the vitals on the bear with those vicious horns that he knows how to use as well as the brownie knows how to use his strength.

....................................................................

I agree with several here that this fight is comparing apples to oranges. Not quite on equal terms. But when comparing the two skulls isn't it interesting how similar the two skulls are to each other. The way the bone structures of the skulls and the teeth are very similar.

quote:

Originally posted by impala#03:
I agree with several here that this fight is comparing apples to oranges. Not quite on equal terms. But when comparing the two skulls isn't it interesting how similar the two skulls are to each other. The way the bone structures of the skulls and the teeth are very similar.

Funny you should mention that. I put those skulls on our kitchen counter for the picture and Joyce was up stairs. She came down and I asked, "Who wins?"

Her answer was the Lion is a flat head Neanderthal and the Bear obviously has the bigger brain.

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus!!

Is Joyce saying the bear would make a better lawyer than the lion, as well as being a better bone crusher?

Half-ton-plus brown bears are not slow. They too can be lightning fast with their jaws and paws, and run faster than a racehorse, for short distances, UPHILL!!!

Lion against buffalo:
Isn't that usually a swarm of lionesses while the pride lion(s) help out a little here and there?
A single male lion would have a very tough time with a healthy, adult cape buffalo or brown bear.
I would not bet on the lion in either of those matches.

Brown bear against cape buffalo? Yep that would be a match.

All this reminds me of the Bison bison "buffalo" bull put up against Spanish fighting bulls in Mexico.
IIRC, the bison killed them all, many, many.

The bear everytime! Teeth and claws may be relatively evenly matched but you could not overcome the sheer brute strength of a suficiently motivated adult brown bear.

Single male lions don't usually mess with an adult Buffalo bull. Once upon a time in Asia Minor lions and bears probably fought in the wild. I think a lion could take on an equal sized grizzly bear but no lion could whip a big brownie. The size and strength differential is just too great.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
The Bear skull was 25 7/8. Fine for me. DIY for about $700 all in out of the Bristol Bay region, the last of my 8 years living there. Squared an honest 8 1/2 feet without the typical one foot "stretch".

Frostbit,

That is an outstanding accomplishment. Great trophies. Congratulations.

I only got drawn for a brown bear permit (resident) one time in the 5 years I lived in Alaska.
Jap Bay, Kodiak Island was the drawing permit area.
I got within 300 yards of King Kong of Kodiak, at Jap Bay.
I swear he was a 13-footer and raced off into the willows at racehorce speed!!!
My first time deer hunting on Kodiak, an 8-footer walked around my tent one moonless night,
I felt the earth move. He stuck his nose on my tent wall, then I started blasting with a 340 Weatherby from inside my tent ...

The only animals that have made my hair stand up: Brown bear AND African lion.

In mind, having hunted both and seeing both in up close action for years, brown bear kills the lion. A big brownie is not the everyday killer the lion is, but they are savage fighters and kill each other with regularity. I have found several females killed by big boars trying to protect cubs and saw one of these fights in person across a valley. Terrible thing to watch actually. The lion will brawl then retreat if defeat seems close. A pissed of bear will fight till dead. Bear all the way.

Many years ago I read a news account of a circus act that tried to pair a lion with a black bear, the blackie killed the lion rather quickly from what I remember. I imagine his larger cousin could do the same in short order also. The cats lighter bone structure would be a key weakness I would think.
Best.

quote:

By the way, a lion's swipe is incredibly powerful too. I mean more than we can ever immagine unless witnessed.

Well, somebody has to stand up for the poor lion here.

I recall a PH story (I believe it was in Capstick's first book) where a lion got sick of listening to a leopard's belching noises one night, and then there was a choking sound and then just silence.

In the morning the PH looked and found the lion's tracks leading up to a leopard body with its head missing. Just one swipe is all it took.

Anyway, here's a REAL bear for you - http://www.bing.com/images/sea...D863BF9D&FORM=IQFRBA. You KNOW it took on stuff bigger than it. Wiki says "It might have been the largest carnivorous land mammal that ever lived in North America" and that it probably frightened off American lions.

Short memories around here. This came up before. The answer was the Romans did the groundwork. They had fights from animals all over the Empire. The European answer to the Brown Bear reigned supreme. It crushed opponents, including tigers and lions.
The answer is in the archives of this forum.

Clearly the bear wins. I'm on a budget and the bear hunt is considerably less. So 100% bear.

IMHO The bear every time. Not even a question to me.

such a fight was done many years back. it lasted only minutes, the bear swatted the lion once and broke its neck. this would not be an unusual method for the big bears. once i even watched a rather small griz kill a caribou the same way

If the lion and the bear are roughly same size/weight, the lion wins every time!

What else would you expect me to say?

I would give you 5:1 odds on the 1600lb Brown Bear killing up to four 400-450lb lions in less than 10 minutes, depending on the size of the enclosure they are in and how long since any of them ate...

Jim I just wanted to share that those are some very beautiful skulls and a photo nicely taken for this thread!

Congrats on those fine trophy specimens

quote:

Originally posted by Late-Bloomer:
Jim I just wanted to share that those are some very beautiful skulls and a photo nicely taken for this thread!

Congrats on those fine trophy specimens

Thanks Roland..... iPhone

Bear. Lion weigh on average 450-500 lbs, with a monster being 550-600 lbs. Brown bear weigh in much more than that and up to 1500 pounds. You can decide from that comparison.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Bear. Lion weigh on average 450-500 lbs, with a monster being 550-600 lbs. Brown bear weigh in much more than that and up to 1500 pounds. You can decide from that comparison.

FYI I big brown bear is 1,000lbs. I'm sure 1,200 and maybe even 1,500+ bears exist, but don't imagine it's the norm. Lot's of people claim to shoot 1,500lbs bears, but everyone's leopard is 180-200lbs also............along with the 300-400lbs black bears that are as common as house cats.......

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by Late-Bloomer:
Jim I just wanted to share that those are some very beautiful skulls and a photo nicely taken for this thread!

Congrats on those fine trophy specimens

Thanks Roland..... iPhone

My dear brother you'd be surprise at the LARGE PRINTS I've been making from SMARTPHONES/TABLETS lately!!!

The images have been holding up impeccably well if I do my part

You did well

My money would be on the brown fuzzy.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:
For the hell of it..... I say lion will win. Much more agile and faster....

and lions being smart will:

take the advantage to strike when the bear is hibernating
or
Agree to the fight only on his African home turf climate, where the Alaskan Grizzly will be suffering debilitating heat-stroke. .....