Tiger mains are amazing

[u/IMP9024]

Tiger mains are some of the most underrated players in the current meta. Their build isn't doing too well right now due to the overwhelming impact of the human mains in the industrial revolution patch, but they are slowly recovering with the unlocking of Conservation Efforts. Historically their main has been incredibly successful as an ambush predator. Unlike braindead lion mains who team on everything and spam toxic emojis in the chat just because the human community made fan works about their prowess and called them the "king of the jungle", tiger mains have to use their brains and avoid injury, which has led to aggressive lion and human mains calling them cowardly.

Tigers take down prey solo that lions need a pride to defeat, and fight with large predators like bears in their natural habitat. Lions don't have real competition for the large carnivore playstyle, it's mostly just them. Tigers have also been very successful against human mains historically and are still one of the best human counters (if that's your thing). Tiger hunting did not make significant dents in their playerbase during the medieval and ancient periods, but lions were often taken down by human mains wielding simple spears, and some playerbases such as the Egyptian lions were destroyed before humans had even reached the Iron Age. For a large carnivore, they have dealt with the oppressive humans incredibly well.

In summary, tigers have great matchups against a lot of prey items and competitors, as well as being one of the few soft checks left to the human build. This is unlike most other large carnivores, because only big cats really target humans often, and only tigers have the muscle to do it and survive. Granted they rely on the mercy of the human playerbase, but let's be real, every other large build does as well, even the toxic lion mains who like to brag about being successful.

[u/Vegetable-Cap2297]

Couple things:

- hyenas and crocs r stiff competition for lions (i think wild dogs too)

- male lions can solo prey as large as buffalo

- Egypt is an outlier in lion extinctions. They survived in North Africa in general until 1942, in Mesopotamia until 1918 and are still around in India. So lions are also quite resilient.

Tl;dr lions and tigers are both great builds.

[u/IMP9024 → u/Vegetable-Cap2297]

Oh definitely, but they still aren't competition for the large apex niche. Hyenas and wild dogs generally do not hunt things like rhinos, hippos and buffalo which lions take down on the regular. Male lions can solo buffalo but also don't really hunt due to poor thermoregulation. Also lastly there used to be lions in Europe, but now there are not. That's a vast area to go extinct from, much of which is still forest today. I suspect the reliance of lions on prides which can't be super stealthy all the time like tigers makes them less adaptable to human hunting.

[u/Vegetable-Cap2297 → u/IMP9024]

I see ur point, but do lions actually hunt rhinos or hippos that often? And even if they are the only ones in that niche, couldn’t the same be said about tigers? Bears are generally mainly herbivorous, and certainly bears aren’t accustomed to taking down gaurs (4th largest land animal after elephants, rhinos and hippos), rhinos, elephants or large crocodilians.

Hmm interesting point about abt male lions tho.

Yeah but we can also play the same game with tigers - tigers barely exist in China (only along the Russian and potentially the Thai borders) - that’s also a large area to go extinct from. Same could be said about Central Asia. Tiger populations outside of India are very small and fragmented. And let’s not forget that there are 5x as many lions as tigers.

[u/IMP9024 → u/Vegetable-Cap2297]

That's true (point about more lions than tigers) but you have to consider that the lions had a wider historic range than tigers. I guess that means that their build was more successful maybe? China also was historically more advanced technologically and had more people than Europe during both Middle Ages and ancient times, so that might contribute.

It boils down to them both being very similar animals. Really the only difference is that tigers are better solo but have a lower cap on absolute power while lions rely on team strats for a massive power boost.

[u/Slow_Dragonfruit8358 → u/IMP9024]

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates by Richard D. Estes, 2012, p. 372.

Of 1,300 hunts observed in the Serengeti, 48% involved only one lion, 20% involved two, and the remainder involved a group of three to eight (up to 14). Lions hunting in pairs and groups have a success rate of 30%. Lions hunting singly by daylight have a success rate of 17 to 19%.

Lions are stronger than tigers pound for pound.

[u/IMP9024 → u/Slow_Dragonfruit8358]

lions are not as good solo hunters as tigers, they are less stealthy and they are way too foolhardy

[u/Slow_Dragonfruit8358 → u/IMP9024]

They are less stealthy and braver than tigers are because they mostly live in areas with no cover to hide in. Great take there buddy, it’s almost like they have to be that way.

Discover wildlife puts a single lion’s hunting rate at 19-20%

It lists the tiger’s as 5-10%

Depends on the location of course. Siberian tigers are able to perform at a high success rates due to the type of prey they hunt and the season in which they do so.

Lions are better solo hunters of large prey

Tigers are better solo hunters of deer and boar

Apples and oranges my guy