Which bear is the best hunter?

[Deleted]

State which bear and why.

[King Kodiak]

Polar bear: because its the only pure hunter and its the one that hunts larger game.

[brobear]

Jan 20, 2019 8:21:19 GMT -5 King Kodiak said:

Polar bear: because its the only pure hunter and its the one that hunts larger game.

I agree 100%. A polar bear who is not an accomplished hunter will starve to death. Beached whales are not found often enough. 

[King Kodiak]

I think we all would agree on Polar bear here, its a fact.

[tom]

Polar Bear. 100% Carnivore. He hunts for food or he parishes.

[Deleted]

Polar bear is the best hunter. Even though he doesn't hunt as much ungulates compared to the barren grizzly, the polar bear is still capable of killing ungulates like lone bull musk oxens and out run reindeer over a short distance. Hunting seals, walrus, beluga, and narwhales are difficult.

[OldGreenGrolar]

It's doubtful that the Cave bear actually has stronger BF than Polar bears do though.



The Canine BF of the largest Cave bear (specimen 1392; Greatest skull length = 482.2mm; Zygomatic width = 321.5 mm) in (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234025545_Bite_force_of_the_extinct_cave_bear_Ursus_spelaeus_ROSENMULLER) is 1476 N (Table 3)



Polar bear's Canine BF in (https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1017/S0952836905006643) is 1730 N (Table 7). The Polar bear has Condylobasal skull length = 367.9 mm. Greatest skull length is probably ~ 400 mm. Probably a male, fairly average sized for Polar bears.



I know there are Cave bear's skulls longer than the one above, though i'm not aware of any Cave bear's skulls that are wider than the specimen here. On the other hand, there are Polar bear's skulls that are quite a bit larger than the one here. For instance, on Wildfact (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-the-king-of-the-bears-comparison-between-the-polar-bear-and-the-brown-bear?pid=39037#pid39037), there is a Polar bear skull that measures up to 45.5 cm in length and 29 cm in width.



The methodology is consistent. Both studies employed the 2D dry skull method following Thomason (1991)

Credited to Verdugo from Carnivora.


carnivora.net/european-cave-bear-v-polar-bear-t6070-s10.html

The polar bear being a better hunter and more predatory has a stronger canine bite force but I doubt it has a stronger crushing bite.

[Deleted]

I am gonna go full gangsta and say

THE BROWN BEAR IS THE BEST HUNTER AND FIGHTER

Here are the reasons

The predation feats

They killed

1. Full grown male siberian tigers ( Tiger strongest big cat )

2. Bull Bison ( Largest land mammal in Europe and NA )

3. Bull moose ( Capable of easily goring bears )

4. Bull yak ( A large powerful bovine )

5. Bull muskox ( Very strong animal )

6. Fighting bulls ( Most aggressive cattle )

7. Wolves ( Very efficient pack hunters )

8. Lions ( A very powerful big cat )

9. Cougar ( A ferocious cat )

10. Ussuri wild boar ( most aggressive and powerful wild pig )

[Deleted]

That was all my opinion please dont get angry at me

[King Kodiak]

THE BROWN BEAR IS THE BEST HUNTER AND FIGHTER

Better fighter yes, but no way a better hunter. Polar bears have killed adult male walruses (few cases), and also killed a beluga whale right on the water. Also, polar bears are full time hunters, 100%, while brown bears are omnivores, their meat intake is (around) 10-20%, more or less depending on which population, and this is from both hunting and scavenging.

[Deleted]

Did you check the predation feats I posted

[Deleted]

By feats I mean the list of feats

[brobear]

Best hunter among living bears is not even debatable. Polar bear.
Second place goes to the grizzly ( Ursus arctos horribilis ).

[King Kodiak]

Mar 9, 2020 3:20:10 GMT -5 @kingursusarctos said:

Did you check the predation feats I posted

Yes, and they are great. But for brown bears, hunting is like a tertiary method of obtaining food. First is fish, fruits, and insects, second is scavenging, and third is hunting. 

For polar bears, hunting is the number 1 method.

[Deleted]

Although we all know that the polar bear is a great hunter but I believe we should not underestimate the brown bear.
Polar bears are hypercarnivores and need only meat which has to be hunted. Brown bears are great hunters on their respective side too because they have been known to kill grown moose(700kg), bison (900kg), wild boar (317) and elk (260kg) etc while polar bears also kill large animals as heavier or larger than brown bears do.

The only problem is that the brown bear eats less meat and does not hunt. However, I bet that if the brown bear was also a hypercarnivore then there would be mutiple records on brown bears killing large animals comparable to the sise of prey by polar bear. Although they would mainly take weaker or younger prey but healthy adults would also be taken down.
Further the black bear is also underestimated. Asian black bears are known to kill adult water buffaloes by breaking their necks which is also not an easy task to take such a large and aggressive prey. Spectacled bear is also a good hunter because cattle is not such an easy prey.

In short words I would like to say that brown bears and black bears are hunters comparable to the polar bear but they donot hunt regularly like the polar king. Brownies and Blackies are great hunters but donot regularly which does not mean they are bad or inferior in hunting.
If I imagine all bears as true carnivores so I rank them as good hunters with the biggest prey taken in the shown list:-

1. Polar bear (Narwhal)
2. Brown bear (Amercian bison)
3. Asian black bear (Water buffalo)
4. American black bear (Moose or elk)
5. Spectacled bear (Mountain tapir)

Sun bear, sloth bear and panda bear are out of my mind's list in better hunter because I never knew them as hunting animals.

[brobear]

Depends on the prey choices.
1- Pinnipeds and Cetaceans - polar bear.
2- Ungulates - brown bear.

[Deleted]

This is a well-known statement that a 
"Lion and tiger is a better hunter than bear." --But I tend to disagree with that. Because:-

When it comes to hunting so there are two types:-

1. Ambush hunting     2. Head-on hunting

Ambush hunting
 In this hunting, big cats are designed the perfect. The have agility, soft paws, good sight and flexible body. Both tigers and lion are masters in this tactic especially the tiger. As we all know that tiger is classified as a strict ambush hunter and will never attack in head on attack. Bears are poor in this tactic and are not designed for this type of hunting.

Head-on hunting

Interestingly,  bears are superior in this type of hunting. As big  cats are ambusher so they are bad in this. For example, tiger kill sloth bears in ambush but back off when the hunt becomes head on with the bear beacuse the tiger is not designed for this hunting. Tigers are also known to be beaten by many animals in face off but have killed gaurs in ambush. So in the face-off topic the tiger loses and is whipped out. Tiger is only the winner in ambush fight. Face-off, tiger out.

Now there remains only the lion and the bear. Bears as are known to kill large mammals in face-off fights. In face-off hunting the bear is matchless but the lion is also known to kill buffaloes in head on hunt. Note lion's ambush and pride advantage is excluded. To clarify this situation, we have further two more types of head-on hunting:-

1. Fleeing-prey hunt  2. Attacking-prey hunt

(A) Fleeing-prey hunt

This is a well know fact that anything that flees becomes vulnerable.  It is often said that 'Jo dar gia wo maar gia' ( one who fears will die). In wild, every prey who feared from the predator will be teared by the predator. Suze does not matter when fear is making the prey flee. Lion take the buffalo's fleeing opportunity in face-off hunting.
We have seen that lions sometimes kill a buffaloes bravely in the head on attack but note that what is the situation of the buffalo.  If the buffalo is running then absolutely the lion will attack it from behind, approach to the neck and strangulte it to death. Bears can also do that by first catching and then breaking the spine or neck.

(B) Attacking-prey hunt

So both the lion and bear passed the fleeing-prey hunt topic and got full numbers in that exam! (Lol) But now that who will prevail in this scenario where the fleeing prey becomes attacking prey. First see the lion,
In many videos you have seen that lions are killed by attack of buffaloes. Fleeing  buffaloes completely become invincible if they stand their ground. In this stage the lions faces the horns of the bovid instead of the buffalo's back if the bovid is fleeing. Lion are always killed by attacking buffaoes. In this the lion fails.
Now come to the bears. Bears have been known to perform better than lions in this prey attack hunt. The vest example could be found in spanish bull vs grizzly bears. Although that was not hunt yet that proved that a bear can kill an attacking bull which a lion cannot. Hunting an attacking thing is more dangerous than anyother type of hunt. Bear has prevailed in this hunt.

Conclusion:- 

We see the better and more risky hunter topic members were a single lion, tiger and a bear.

The tiger won from the stealth hunting which was the least risky hunting. The tiger only scored in the ambush once but further failed in head-on hunt. So both the lion and bear surpassed the tiger.
Lion and bear came into the head-on hunt topic. Here both these beast qualified in the fleeing-prey hunt and went further to the attacking-prey hunt. In this the bear won and the lion lost. (All reason given above).So finally we see that:-

1#...Tiger is only an ambush hunter. This predator hunt with least risk, least danger and attack unfairly.

2#...Lion is risky and hunt dangerously the fleeing prey but is defeated by attacking bovid which shows that lions lose hunt if bovid attack.

3#...Bear are not ambush hunters. They hunt and kill both fleeing and attacking bovids.

This proves that a bear is a better hunter than a lion or tiger when the prey in taken in a fair attack (non-ambush condition). 

[brobear]

Quote: 3#...Bear are not ambush hunters. They hunt and kill both fleeing and attacking bovids.

*This is not a valid statement. Polar bear primarily hunt by stealth and ambush. Brown bears very often ambush large ungulates. There is no such thing as "head-on hunting". The predator cannot kill a large herbivore until he catches it. With some herbivores, such as a bull, a bison, a caribou, or a moose, the prey might stop and turn to fight. In such a case, then yes, the bear will fight him head-on.
Unlike big cats and canids, bears are not specialists. All cats are specialists - ambush predators. A wolf is a specialist - chase and catch predator. A bear can do both. But not as good at either as the big cat or the wolf. To say that a bear is a better hunter than either the cat or the wolf is simply incorrect ( polar bear possible exception ). If a brown bear was a great hunter, he would have no reason to sleep through the long Winter months.
But we can say with confidence that a bear is a better fighter than a big cat.

[King Kodiak]

I would say polar bears hunt by ambush most times, but also head on. 

There is no data on this, its just my personal opinion, but i would say brown bears hunt head on most times and use ambush not so many times. 

The main difference between bears and felines is that when the ambush fails, the felines abort and run away. Bears on the other hand, keep the hunt going head on.

Anyhow, there is no doubt that the polar bear is the best hunter for a bear.

[brobear]

Quote: There is no data on this, its just my personal opinion, but i would say brown bears hunt head on most times and use ambush not so many times.

*The bear has to catch his dinner. Example, a moose is not going to stand still while the bear strolls up to him to start a fight. Most often, the brown bear ambushes the moose. He will chase a wounded or sick moose ( chase and catch ), but a healthy moose can outrun a bear.

Quote: The main difference between bears and felines is that when the ambush fails, the felines abort and run away. Bears on the other hand, keep the hunt going head on.

*I agree; although a big cat does not retreat from every prey animal. But ( again ) there is no such thing as a "head-on hunter". Healthy prey animals do not stand still to be attacked.

There are two basic types of predators - Ambush predators and chase and catch predators. The bear ( as explained in the topic: "Jack-of-all-Trades vs Specialist" ) wears both hats.