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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:46:58 GMT -5
Sloth Bear Melursus Ursinus Prey/Predator Relations shaggygod.proboards.com/Predation has been surmised to be responsible for several behavioural traits of the sloth bear. Joshi et al. (1999) reported that in Chitwan, females with cubs and subadults of both sexes were rarely active at night, whereas adult males and lone adult females were at least as active at night as during the day. They proposed that this difference was related to avoidance of nocturnal predators. However, Yoganand K. (unpubl. data) discerned that the activity patterns of sloth bears in Panna are not much affected by predator activity and daytime heat was the major influencing factor. Predators are probably the reason female sloth bears give birth in an underground den, staying in the den for several weeks attending to the cubs, and carrying the cubs on their back for several months while foraging. Tigers attack and kill sloth bears occasionally (Joshi et al. 1999 and the references therein), however encounters between them are fairly common (Yoganand unpubl. data). Leopards (Kurt and Jayasuriya 1968), dholes, and even jackals (filmed in the BBC film “Land of the Tiger”) could be a threat to cubs. Sloth bears do not climb trees as a means of escape or in response to disturbance, but either run away or respond with a loud charge and stand-up display. They may also actively avoid predators or humans when they became aware of their presence well in advance (Yoganand unpubl. data). Laurie and Seidensticker (1977) observed that the aggressive behaviour of sloth bears may be a consequence of not being able to rely on trees for escape, in a habitat that holds tree-climbing predators like leopards, and also makes it advantageous to live in fairly open habitats. Sloth bears probably consider humans as predators. At close quarters they reacted to human presence, as they would do to a predator (Laurie and Seidensticker 1977, Yoganand K. pers. observ.). They usually roared and ran away, or roared and attacked humans before retreating. Bear attacks on humans are common throughout the range, where bears and humans co-occur (Garshelis et al. 1999a, Yoganand et al. 1999, Rajpurohit and Krausman 2000). home.comcast.net/~cefprice/slothbear/Products/sloth_bear_final.PDF Original post by Warsaw.
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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:50:15 GMT -5
Grrraaahhh wrote: shaggygod.proboards.com/The sloth bear's aggressive behavior is defensive in nature. Sloth bear's are not good tree climbers like their Asiatic black bear cousins. The sloth bear has found good success with this tactic. The GSFB was a kleptoparasite, it would use its sheer size to intimidate other carnivores to steal their food output but it should be obvious that there were also violent encounters against rival carnivores and again the GSFB dominated unless the numbers were against him. The brown bear is a true omnivore so its method and reason to fight is all together different but as we know, brown bears also rob other carnivores of their food including wolves, cougars, tigers, etc. On your last point, we do not have enough information. There seems to be a gap or so between current research/data & older hunting accounts on sloth bear/tiger relations as it relates to successful predation. Still, I do find current sloth bear/tiger studies interesting especially as it relates to people arguing about the at parity tiger/brown bear match up as these species of bears are inferior to the brown bear. From the limited literature, it appears despite being inferior to the tiger (especially males); larger adult male sloth bears and large male Asiatic black bears (e.g., J. Corbett 1953; I.V. Seryodkin, 2006) are both dangerous opponents for the tiger. Follow up: Sloth bears exhibit several adaptations to their sub-tropical and tropical habitat and to their diet. The various interacting selective pressures on the species have apparently constrained it to evolve several seemingly paradoxical morphological features. To suit the tropics, it has no underfur; however, it has a long coat that perhaps helps in defending it from insect bites and also perhaps to exaggerate its size to predators (such as tiger and leopard) or conspecifics. The sloth bear’s low metabolic rate and high thermal conductance (McNab 1992) may be advantageous in the hot climates where it lives, in that it reduces heat production and facilitates heat loss. Sloth bears seem to also have a behavioural adaptation to avoid hot weather conditions in their habitat by reducing daytime activity (Yoganand unpubl. data).
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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:53:15 GMT -5
From G.P. Sanderson, Thirteen Years Among The Wild Beasts Of India (1907): shaggygod.proboards.com/A strange example of a tiger's departing from the usual food of the Felidae, is that of a large male near Poonjoor some years ago, that is said to have killed and eaten several bears. The account of his doings in the Poonjoor jungles was given me by old Bommay Gouda, whom I have already mentioned as having lived all his life amongst tigers, bears, and elephants and as an authority whose interesting accounts of the habits and peculiarities of the occupants of the jungles could be relied on. It appears that this tiger killed several bears at different times whilst feeding, coining from behind and seizing them by the nape of the neck, and bearing them down (no pun intended), after a struggle, by his weight and strength. Towards corroborating this account some Sholagas at the other end of the hills, twenty miles away, and who knew nothing of what Bommay Gouda had told me, gave me a similar account; adding that a bear had been thus killed and partially eaten in a clearing where they were watching their crops early one morning. This was doubtless the same tiger. My Morlay trackers also told me that some years ago they surrounded a bear and her three-parts grown cub with nets in a date-grove close to which my bungalow now stands at Morlay. The bears broke through the nets, the big she being severely speared in doing so, and both got clear away to a ravine a mile distant. Next morning they were found together, dead, and the large bear partially eaten by a tiger whose marks were all around. Whether she had died of her wounds or had been killed by the tiger the men had not taken sufficient notice at the time to be able to tell me, but the cub had been killed. This was also probably the work of the same tiger. The carcass of a bear which I once shot at Yerlsariga, and which was dragged to some distance from the tents after being skinned, was partially eaten by a leopard that night, which shows that the Felidae do not always confine themselves to cattle and game. p.273-274 (PROBABLE AGE ATTAINED BY TIGERS).
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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:54:05 GMT -5
From F.C. HICKS, FORTY YEARS AMONG THE WILD ANIMALS OF INDIA (1910): shaggygod.proboards.com/In fact, there are few living things in the jungles which a bear has cause to be afraid of, except, perhaps, a tiger; but though I have known a tiger to kill and eat a bear, on the other hand, I have seen a bear stand up to a full-grown tigress and drive it right out of the jungle. p.301 (BEAR HUNTING). On one occasion, in 1893, while inspecting the Khatoli block in the north-east corner of the J ubbulpore District, on the borders of the Native State of Rewah, I came across the fresh tracks of a very large male tiger, and as I had little else to do just then, I amused myself by following up his tracks to see where he had gone to. While doing so, I also came across the fresh footprints of a large male bear, and the possibilities of their having met occurred to me, which lent an additional interest to my task. Going up the bed of a somewhat wide nalla, the tracks led into a smaller one (A) to the east, and presently one of my men called out to me to come and see what he had found. On reaching the spot where he was standing in some long grass, I saw that the grass had been trampled down fiat and smeared with blood over an area of about twenty yards square, from the appearances of which it was evident that two large animals had been fighting here for a considerable period of time. To one side of this arena was another trail of blood, and on following this for a short way, we found the remains of a full-grown bear — the head, feet, portions of the skin and bunches of hair lying about. Near by also was a pool of water, by which were the footprints of the tiger showing where he had drunk water after his meal. The whole thing was perfectly clear: after a prolonged fight, the tiger had killed and eaten the bear — a thing which I had never known to occur before in all my experience, though, on one occasion, I saw a bear drive a tigress out of a beat. A tiger who could kill a large male bear was obviously a beast worth trying for; but as I then had only three men with me, and the jungles were very heavy all round, I was unable to beat for him there and then. However, I immediately sent for my buffs and tied them round the block of jungle in which I suspected the tiger to be, tying one buff at the mouth of the nalla (A) where he had killed the bear, as I felt certain he would return in the evening to contemplate the scene of his late fight. Next morning it was this buff that was reported to have been killed by the tiger, who had dragged the carcase across the bed of the larger nalla into the triangular block of jungle to the west, in which I have killed tigers repeatedly on several occasions. By local enquiry, I learnt that this tiger had come across from the Rewah forests, and was said to be a very dark-coloured game-killer with an exceptionally nasty temper. Hearing that he belonged to the Rewah forests, I determined to beat him in that direction, namely, to the east; and in order to avoid beating him back over his kill, I moved further north up the bed of the nalla, and selected my post (at D) just inside the jungle with the open bed of the nalla behind me, for a tiger generally halts on reaching such an open place and so gives an opportunity for a steady shot. Also, in view of his reputed nasty temper, I resorted to double stops, that is, placed two men together in each tree, so that they might have greater confidence in acting up to their duties. For the same reason also, I gave instructions that after standing still and shouting for five minutes, three shots were to be fired along the line of beaters, which would get the tiger on the move in the opposite direction and render it less likely to attempt a charge back over the beaters, though I knew that this would make him liable to come along at a great pace, wherein I merely accepted the lesser of the two necessary evils, but I was depending on the open bed of the nalla behind me to pull him up and so enable me to obtain a standing shot. The beat commenced as directed, and about five minutes later there was a great hubbub among the stops to my left, intermingled with a considerable amount of roaring, and I was half afraid that the tiger had broken through. But when the noise quietened down, one of my orderlies, whom I had posted among the stops in that direction, shouted the intimation that the tiger was coming in my direction. All was then quiet for about twenty minutes, when suddenly a similar hubbub commenced among my right-wing stops. But the men all acted well, and the tiger came roaring down their line at full speed. I first saw him when he was about two hundred yards in front, coming along with great leaping bounds like a greyhound in the long grass. Wishing to make him pull up, I took out my shrill Australian whistle, and when he was within about fifty yards of my position, I gave a piercing blast. The effect was instantaneous — the tiger pulled up short with his forelegs thrust out before him in order to arrest his impetus. The next moment I had planted a bullet in his neck, bringing him in a heap on to his nose, with the blood pouring out of his mouth. I then gave him the second barrel, and re-loaded to await the arrival of the beaters. There was no other tiger in the beat, so when the beaters came up, I got down and enjoyed a cigar while seated on the body of my prize. He was indeed an exceptionally dark-coloured tiger, very compactly and muscularly built, without an ounce of superfluous fat, very different to a fat, lumpy cattle-lifter who would think twice before attacking a bear in the manner in which this one had done. However, he had not got off scot-free from the bear, for there was a ragged wound across one of his cheeks, where the bear had apparently given him a severe clout with his paw, as well as a bad bite through his right forearm, besides a number of minor wounds and scratches on various portions of his body — so the old bear -had died game. The wonder to me is that the tiger was bold enough to attack such an animal so persistently, for they usually give them a wide berth; it must have been sheer savageness of temperament that prompted the tiger to do this. p.503-506 (TIGER KILLING AND EATING A BEAR).
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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:55:49 GMT -5
From the publication, The Book of the Tiger by Reginald George Burton (1933): shaggygod.proboards.com/The Indian sloth bear does not escape the hunger of the Tiger, but can scarcely be numbered among his aggressive enemies, although a bear was seen to attack and begin biting a dead Tiger which had just been shot. Bears no doubt not infrequently fall victims, and I recollect the inhabitants of a village in the Melghat forest bringing to camp the skin of a large bear which they said they had killed after it had been badly mauled by a Tiger with which it had had a prolonged struggle. The skin bore tooth and claw marks, and there was no reason to doubt the truth of their story; but the bear could probably not put up much of a fight against so formidable and agile an antagonist. I have found remains of bears eaten by Tigers, and have also beaten both animals out of the same cover. A bear was seen by Sir S. Eardley-Wilmot to gallop through a jungle and stop on reaching a road. A Tiger appeared on the road fifty yards off, and began stalking the bear, stopping when the bear stopped, and sinking on its belly when the bear moved on. This went on until only ten feet separated the two animals. Meanwhile two other Tigers came out and lay down to watch. The bear left the road and entered a patch of grass, the Tiger followed, but turned away when the bear rushed roaring at him. In another beat a wounded Tiger rushed at a bear with a cub on her back; the bear made off yelling, and another bear, where a Tiger was in the beat, howling dismally, fled to the hills. p.106-107 (same thread
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Post by brobear on Mar 27, 2017 2:57:12 GMT -5
Material Extract Morality risk for subadults and adults shaggygod.proboards.com/"During 4 years of study we received no reports of bear poaching in or immediately outside the park, and we documented only one death of a radio-collared bear. This was an old (based on tooth wear) male who died of an unknown but apparently natural cause. The only cases of mortality risk that we observed were five aggressive encounters between adult sloth bears and tigers. In one case a large (131 kg) male sloth bear slapped the face of a tiger and pushed it away. In two other cases sloth bears charged tigers and then ran off. In the fourth case a tiger was seen entering a patch of tall grass occupied by a radio-collared female with her cubs. The bear growled and three tigers were observed running from the tall grass in two directions. In the fifth case a tiger entered tall grass where a sloth bear mother and two cubs were radio-located, but the tiger left as a result of our disturbance." Source: Joshi, A. R., D. L. Garshelis, and L. D. Smith. 1995. Sociobiology of the myrmecophagous sloth bear in Nepal. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1690–1704.
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Post by brobear on May 18, 2017 2:25:19 GMT -5
wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/0MCarnivor/ursidae/melursus/Melursus_ursinus/13Melursus_ursinusBehSocial.htm A sloth bear was observed slapping the face of a tiger and pushing it away. Sloth bears were also observed chasing off tigers. (J30.77.w1) In the Bandhavgharh National Park in 1988, a female with two cubs on her back was charged by a tiger and apparently charged back, using body movements to keep her cubs safely on her back; both the tiger and the bear soon retreated. However, two incidents of tigers killing and eating adult sloth bears were reported also. (J356.117.w1) The main defence of cubs against predators and other bears is riding on their mother's back. (J178.100.w1) Sloth bears either run away, or use a "spectacular charge and stand-up display." (J178.100.w1) Since its predators also climb trees, climbing trees would not be an effective defensive behaviour, and it may be advantageous for these bears to live in fairly open habitat. (J178.100.w1) If encountering humans at close range, they react as to other predators: roar and run away, or roar and attack then retreat. (J178.100.w1)
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Post by brobear on May 18, 2017 2:43:44 GMT -5
animaldiversity.org/accounts/Melursus_ursinus/ Predation These bears only risk predation from large predators such as tigers and leopards. Female sloth bears with cubs will occasionally vary from their nocturnal tendencies to avoid these nocturnal predators (Ward and Kynaston, 1995). Known Predators tigers (Panthera tigris) leopards (Panthera pardus) other bears (Ursinae)
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Post by brobear on May 18, 2017 3:13:45 GMT -5
*Observation: A sloth bear will either stand his ground and fight or flee from a large predator, depending on circumstance and individuality. Unlike other small-to-medium size bears, a sloth bear does not scamper up a tree to escape danger. Why? My first thought was, he cannot climb as quickly as, say, a sun bear or a black bear. But in fact, he can. Sloth bears are excellent tree climbers. So then, why not escape danger by darting up a tree? The answer is in post #1 of 'Evolution of Tropical Bears'. If evolutionists are correct, and I believe they are, then the sloth bear branched off from the grizzly lineage back during the early-to-mid Pleistocene. His ancestors lived in some open environment where trees were few and widely scattered. His only options, when threatened by a predator were fight or flee. Since most large predators could catch a bear, fight was usually the better choice. Therefore, climbing a tree to escape danger is simply not an inherited response.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2018 13:14:21 GMT -5
Credits to Mritunjay Kumar Tiwary. Face Off!! The #tiger is the apex #predator in #wildindia but the #indian #slothbear is no mug when it comes to defending itself. This #bear, despite being grieviously injured, managed to chase away and escape the clutches of this #bigcat as can be seen from the two pictures. Growling vociferously and fighting aggressively, the sloth bear proved that adversity can be fought off by determination, tenacity and aggression. Patience in midday sweltering heat helped me witness and capture this #animalbehavior — Tadoba National Park.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2018 20:02:20 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 18:41:36 GMT -5
Credits to Anesh An Tadoba. The video of the fight between the Sloth bear and the tiger Matkasur. www.facebook.com/anesh.nikode.1/videos/827157894141108/And for this interaction, the always instructing comments by Peter at Wildfact: wildfact.com/forum/topic-big-cat-interactions-interspecific-conflicts?pid=51946#pid51946The tiger is lying over the bear, which is on its back and resisting. This means the bear has the opportunity to use his hind legs. A big risk, that is. Largely as a result of a significant size and weight advantage, the tiger restrained the bear for some time. The grip, however, had little effect. This means the tiger didn't get to a vital spot. Maybe he invested a lot of energy in mauling the skin of the bear. I also noticed the tiger didn't use his large fore-arms to get to a significant advantage, but to keep the bear down. Another advantage lost. When the struggling bear managed to use the claws of the hind legs, the tiger was severely scratched and forced to let go. Painful, but not unlucky as the bear could also have ripped his belly.
After the struggle, the bear, now on its hindlegs, tried to bluff the tiger. Again the neck was exposed. The tiger, more than once, repeated his initial mistake. Every time he tried, the bear got out more quickly than before. When out of options and wasted, the bear advanced once more. This time, the tiger decided to retreat. This although the bear, as a result of a lack of size and weapons, wasn't able to hurt, let alone kill, the tiger. All in all, I get to a poor performance at best.
As tigers are reluctant to abandon an attack, my guess is it was initiated by the tiger. He might give it another try, but my guess is the outcome could be similar if not worse.
Amur tigers attack bears in another way. This is what Bart Schleyer saw in Russia (go to the paragraph in red):
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Post by brobear on Mar 2, 2018 8:25:15 GMT -5
Sloth bears are fighters. Very often able to fight off a tiger. However, a sloth bear win seems never to result in a dead tiger. Amur tigers normally choose a bear smaller than himself by about 100 pounds ( 45 kg )... sub-adult bears. In the rare events when a tiger fights and kills a mature she-bear, sometimes near weight-parity, I believe that in these cases the tiger simply underestimates the size of the bear. At weight parity, the tiger has a significant advantage in height and length.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 6:00:34 GMT -5
The first time I saw it, I thought the tiger was a subadult or a young male. So I thought that was nice from the bear.
But then when Pckts said it was Matkasur I was very, very surprised that such a small bear could not only bear that attack, but also turn back the tide and chase away a dominant male that has been undefeated for the past 1 1/2 to 2 years in his kingdom.
It kind of makes you think about it.
If a smaller, and clearly overpowered, Sloth bear can take this beating and win, at least to save his life, then what would a hairy and angry 600 kg Grizzly bear do to said tiger?...
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Post by brobear on Mar 4, 2018 13:39:41 GMT -5
Don't wish to stray far from sloth bear topic; but I doubt that a tiger ever chooses a mature boar grizzly as potential prey. I have also read that, while little is known about sloth bear origins, some experts believe that they are an offshoot of Ursus arctos... ? From Wiki: Sloth bears may have reached their current form in the early Pleistocene, the time when the bear family specialized and dispersed. A fragment of fossilized humerus from the Pleistocene, found in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool Basin is identical to the humerus of a modern sloth bear. The fossilized skulls of a bear once named Melursus theobaldi found in the Shivaliks from the early Pleistocene or early Pliocene are thought by certain authors to represent an intermediate stage between sloth bears and ancestral brown bears. M. theobaldi itself had teeth intermediate in size between sloth bears and other bear species, though its palate was the same size as the former species, leading to the theory that it is the sloth bear's direct ancestor. Sloth bears probably arose during the mid-Pliocene and evolved in the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear shows evidence of having undergone a convergent evolution similar to that of other ant-eating mammals
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Post by brobear on Mar 7, 2018 10:52:27 GMT -5
Words by Wolverine - Greatearth, sloth bear always target the face of the enemy, its a rool, whatever is this enemy - human, , tiger, leopard etc. 90% of human victims of sloth bear attacks have a terribly mauled faces (look at the photos) - scalped heads, lost eyes. ears, thorn big parts of the face etc. Same is with the tiger. Sloth bear is relatively small and weak animal (twice smaller than tiger) thatswhy it cant kill a tiger or inflict a serious body injuries to him. So the only way to neutralize a tiger and save his life for sloth bear is to target the face and more specially the eyes, because if tiger loose his sight he is done. That doesn't mean that you are going to see in any corner of jungles roaming a blind tigers. Actually tigers know very well for this danger so when they have an violent encounter with sloth bear they keep their faces and eyes out of the range of the long claws of sloth bear, actually thatswhy Indian tigers avoid close encounters with sloth bears. They hunt them if the bear doesn't known about tiger's presence, attacking the bear suddennly from behind with neck bite, but if bear has localised the tiger and knows about his presence and turn face to face than tiger usualy withdraws. Brown bear from Ussuriland in same time is enough big and powerful and could potentially neutralise a tiger in many different ways , so it doesn't need to target tiger's face during close encounter so it's tactics should be tottaly diferent. That's my humble opinion. I finished with this topic. Later we can talk with you about Jankovski and Korea and why there are so many leopards in his book.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2018 9:26:58 GMT -5
For reference, here's a look at some of the injuries the little sloth bear caused on the tiger.
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Post by brobear on Mar 30, 2018 18:16:50 GMT -5
... shaggygod.proboards.com/ Encounters between sloth bears and leopards are rare, often occurring in the evening at and around kill sites. In 1968, Kurt and Jayasuriya report of a sloth bear eaten by a leopard at Yala National Park, India. The details? The bear victim was either a young adult or sub adult female sloth bear described as three-quarter grown. The encounter occurred by a palu tree but whether the leopard was hunting the bear or if the meeting was a chance encounter is unclear. The authors stated the park staff were have to recorded only one other meeting between these two species in Yala National Park where a leopard was killed by a bear. The seriously injured bear was later destroyed by park officials. No other details of the encounter were provided. Kurt, F. and Jayasuriya, A. (1968). Notes on a dead bear. Loris, 11: 182-183.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2018 18:39:42 GMT -5
... Encounters between sloth bears and leopards are rare, often occurring in the evening at and around kill sites. In 1968, Kurt and Jayasuriya report of a sloth bear eaten by a leopard at Yala National Park, India. The details? The bear victim was either a young adult or sub adult female sloth bear described as three-quarter grown. The encounter occurred by a palu tree but whether the leopard was hunting the bear or if the meeting was a chance encounter is unclear. The authors stated the park staff were have to recorded only one other meeting between these two species in Yala National Park where a leopard was killed by a bear. The seriously injured bear was later destroyed by park officials. No other details of the encounter were provided. Kurt, F. and Jayasuriya, A. (1968). Notes on a dead bear. Loris, 11: 182-183. Exactly my point. Obviously we don't know all the details, but I guarantee that you can find more events of leopards mixing it up with competitors than that of a cougar. epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOINEW&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=TOICH/2011/02/14&ID=Ar00601
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 16:21:57 GMT -5
The video of the fight between the Sloth bear and Matkasur.
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