Compare Basic Cat Behavior to Basic Bear Behavior

[Deleted]

I wasn't really sure where to post this, but I'm going to post it here.

Credits to Bear Group (Facebook).


"Bear body language tips"



Sitting down, looking away, yawning, standing still. – All elaborate displays of disinterest or low levels of stress. These behaviors show respect or indicate that the bear is deliberately ignoring you and would like you to do likewise.



Nose up, ears forward, standing on all four paws. – The bear is using its highly sensitive nose to identify something it doesn’t recognize.



Standing on hind legs. – Bears stand on their hind legs to get a better look and smell of something they’ve detected.



Head down, ears laid back, body low to the ground. – Ears laid back, as with horses and dogs, signals that the bear is uneasy or nervous. You should back away slowly and always give bears their space.



Ears lowered, but not back all the way, no eye contact, cowering with head lowered, trying to look smaller. – This is submissive behavior; it’s typical of the way a young bear might respond to the presence of an older, dominant bear.



Pawing or slapping the ground or an object. – With black bears, this is almost always blustery behavior meant to intimidate and avoid a physical encounter.

[brobear]

Nice! I would say number #1 rule - always give a bear his space.

[Polar]

Number one rule especially applies to a polar bear...they were born in extremely open areas and they will forever live there so much, their need for space even seems to be genetic. Brown bears usually live in more enclosed areas like forests. It's like this, a wrestler (brown bear) prefers a closed system like an MMA fighting cage, and a boxer (polar bear) prefers a more open room for free, flowing movement like that of a boxing ring. Polar bears (more than almost all other bears) tend to get mental pandemonium when enclosed within a cage or zoo; they simply don't like it.

[brobear]

The first cat evolved roughly 10-million years ago: www.bio-nica.info/biblioteca/O%27brien2007EvolutionCats.pdf 
 
*From the very beginning, all cats have been specialists - precision ambush predators. Every aspect of the cat, from the smallest house cat to the largest tiger, is aimed specifically towards the "hunt and ambush" lifestyle. This includes his super-sensitive hearing, his excellent night vision, his narrow body, his soft padded feet, his speed and agility, and the muscle-power to pull down large herbivores. This includes also the tools of the trade; sharp teeth with long canines and deeply-hooked sharp retractable claws. 
 
bear.org/bear-evolution/ 
 
Bears are the youngest of the carnivore families, having arisen from doglike ancestors during the Eocene Epoch 55 million to 38 million years ago. The earliest bears had the characteristics of both dogs and bears, with heavy-set features and blunter teeth than those of true dogs. 
 
Modern bears appeared in Eurasia around 5 million years ago during the late Miocene Epoch. These bears were relatively small animals, but some types eventually grew quite large. They diversified and spread through Europe, Asia, and North America, eventually reaching South America. Fossils indicate that bears once lived in Africa, with one large primitive species found as far south as present-day South Africa. 
 
The bears (Ursine) form a separate family within the order of carnivora. The bear family can be divided into three subfamilies: the giant panda (Ailuropodinae), the spectacled bear (Tremarctinae), and the real bears (Ursinae). The family of Ursinae consists of six different species, all of which have similar external characteristics like strong claws and a robust body.
 
( first Ursinae bear ) Ursus minimus (Auvergne bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, living from 5.3—1.8 Mya, existing for about 3.5 million years.
 
The first brown bears appeared in Asia roughly 1 million years ago ( probably in China ). 

[brobear]

Conclusion: Cats have been around roughly twice as long as "true bears" - Ursinae bears.

The cat, being a specialized ambush predator, dislikes frontal confrontations for obvious reasons. Number #1: after ten million years of being an ambush predator, a frontal confrontation goes directly against every aspect of his natural instincts. Natural instinct is inherited memory embedded into the DNA. Number #2: The cat reasons that any serious injury from a fight can possibly disable him from hunting long enough to cause starvation.

The bear is an opportunistic omnivore. He has a long list of food choices which includes, but not limited to, various forms of vegetation, brood insects, fish, and meat. To obtain meat, the bear will sometimes hunt and kill his own and sometimes obtain meat as a scavenger. Also, all Ursinae bears are kleptoparasites. This means that for the past five million years ( or more ) bears have been displacing other more efficient predators from their kills. It is therefore within the nature of the bear to accept and even to instigate frontal confrontations. 
   
*Note: Most animals, including those animals who strongly dislike frontal confrontations, will fight within their own species face-to-face.

[OldGreenGrolar]

Cats while powerful also ambush because they have relatively low stamina (in terms of running). If their prey notices them before they are within a few hundred metres away, the prey will escape. Felines claws enable them to hang on to and pull down even powerful prey animals.

Bears on the other hand are generally larger as well as bulkier. This gives them more powerful forearms even at weight and size parity. While felines are capable of fighting face to face (e.g. cougars fight face to face against wolves), bears do more so I believe. They have the ability to find food (e.g. soft berries) easier even though they might suffer broken jaws etc.

Cats can fight face to face but they dodge more than the bulkier bears do.

[OldGreenGrolar]

i.imgflip.com/2o6yr7.gifThis lioness did well face to face but she is also using her agility.

carnivora.net/lioness-v-grizzly-bear-sow-t4429-s105.html#p122659

From Carnivora.

[OldGreenGrolar]

The female grizzly on the other hand did step back from the horns twice but the way she took down her prey is different from the way the lioness did.

In other words felines use a combination of agility and strength while bears use more brute strength with a bit of agility.

[brobear]

Bear/Big Cat face-off scenario results IMO.
To start with there is only two reasons for a big cat to fight with a bear face-to-face. ( 1 ) the big cat feels cornered or trapped and feels that he has no alternative. ( 2 ) the big cat has had multiple hunt failures and is now quite desperate. It has become a matter of fight or starvation.

1- 150-pound sun bear vs leopard or cougar - bear.
2- 300-pound sloth bear vs jaguar - bear.
3- 300-pound Andean bear vs jaguar - bear.
4- 400-pound Himalayan black bear vs lion or tiger - bear.
5- 400-pound Haida Gwaii black bear vs lion or tiger - bear.
Full Grown ( 600+ pound ) male Brown Bear or a male Polar Bear vs any big cat species from any time period - bear.  
  
*The BEAR truly is the Achilles' heel of the big cats. 

[brobear]

The fanboys are in complete utter denial of basic cat behavior. But yes, its real: animaldiversity.org/accounts/Felidae/

Behavior
With the exception of lions (Panthera leo), which form prides, felids are solitary animals that only come together to mate. They tend to hunt at night (for an exception see Acinonyx jubatus) and, although most are primarily nocturnal, activity levels peak during dusk and dawn. Most cats are exceptional climbers and some species are skilled swimmers. When conspecifics meet, their tail posture, position of the ears, and exposure of teeth reveals their level of tolerance. Scent marking, rubbing, and scratching trees are used to mark territorial boundaries and communicate dominance and fertility. (Boorer, 1970; Kelsey-Wood, 1989; Turner, 1997)

Most felids stalk, crouch, wait, and pounce while hunting prey. They avoid long chases typical of canids and are considered ambush predators. Small prey are killed with a specialized bite to the base of the skull, which severs the spinal cord. Large prey are typically killed by suffocation. Prior to eating, some species drag carcass by the nape to a secluded location. Most small cats feed by crouching over their prey without using their paws, whereas large cats eat while lying down. Felids are instinctive hunters and, if given the opportunity, they will kill more prey than they can eat. (Boorer, 1970; Feldhamer, et al., 1999; Grzimek, 2003; Leyhausen, 1979)

[brobear]

An American black bear will walk up to a cougar who is feeding on the remains of a prey animal he killed. The cougar might attempt to bluff the bear with hisses, snarls, and paw-strikes that generally do not connect. If this bluff fails, the cougar will simply relinquish his kill and walk away, leaving the carcass to the bear.
This is basic cat behavior. When a sloth bear walks up to a leopard who is feeding on the remains of a prey animal he killed, this exact same scenario plays out. Now consider that the size ratio between the American black bear and the cougar pretty-much match the size-ration between the sloth bear and the leopard. Taking this a step forward, their size ratios pretty-much match the size ratio between an Amur tiger and an Ussuri brown bear.

Therefore, in most cases, when a tiger sees a full-grown male brown bear walking towards himself and his kill, the tiger will relinquish the carcass and walk away.

Exceptions to the rule:
1- the tiger is a young inexperienced tiger who overrates his own abilities.
2- this tiger has had multiple failed hunting attempts and so must choose between fighting the bear or starvation.

[brobear]

www.lonetreevet.com/blog/wild-and-domestic-cats/

Some of the shared attributes include:
Sleep –Both wild and domestic cats spend between 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping.
Smell – Wild and domesticated cats have great senses of smell and both will use their open mouths to smell better.
Food – Both wild and domestic cats are obligatory carnivores, which means they rely, primarily, on a meat diet, being much better able to digest meat proteins over plant material.
Self-grooming – Wild and domesticated cats both groom themselves a lot, anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of their waking hours.
Stalking – All cats, big and small, will stalk their prey and generally confine their hunting to dusk, nighttime, and dawn.
Playing – Cats of all shapes and sizes enjoy a good session of laser pointer chase, unraveling a role of string or toilet paper, and even playing in boxes.
Catnip – Although mostly due to the genetics of certain family lines, half of both wild and domesticated cat populations will react strongly to and enjoy catnip.
Territory marking – All types of cats use similar methods to mark their respective territories, including, spraying, face rubbing to distribute their scent via the glands on their faces, to scratching — a tree trunk if you’re a lion, the couch if you’re a cat.
Vocalizing – Much like the meowing and chirping you hear from your cat, big cats have their own ways of “talking” to one another that can sound similar.
Food Games – Domesticated cats often play with their food or hide it (after catching a mouse). Wild cats will often hide their kill by moving it somewhere else or burying it, in order to save it for a later meal.
Kneading – No one knows for certain why cats knead, perhaps, it’s a carry-over from nursing and a show of contentment, but we do know that wild felines also engage in this endearing behavior.

[brobear]

Very difficult to search for information on basic cat behavior as the word "cat" triggers domesticated house cat topics... as if cat means house cat. Very aggravating.

[King Kodiak]

Most felids stalk, crouch, wait, and pounce while hunting prey. They avoid long chases typical of canids and are considered ambush predators.

Great brobear. After tons and tons of reports and many videos, it is proven 100% that felids are officially classified as "ambush predators". Therefore proving 100% that when they hunt a bear or any other animal, its by ambush, not a head on fight. Most likely more than 90% of the hunts are ambushes. Basic cat behavior.

[brobear]

Aug 18, 2020 10:38:17 GMT -5 brobear said:

Very difficult to search for information on basic cat behavior as the word "cat" triggers domesticated house cat topics... as if cat means house cat. Very aggravating.

Speaking of house cats; we have all witnessed their instinctive ambush behavior if you have ever observed kittens or grown cats at play. They will stalk and ambush each other. Puppies or bear cubs simply charge towards each other and wrestle. But with cats; its all about the stalk and ambush.

[King Kodiak]

Book: The minds and manners of wild animals.

At the New York zoological park, a male jaguar killed a female jaguar, "he had determined to murder her, but had cunningly concealed his purpose until his victim was fully in his power"

Bears usually fight "on the square" openly and above-board, rarely committing foul murder. If one bear hates another, he attacks at the very first opportunity. He does not cunningly wait to catch the offender at a disadvantage and beyond the possibility of rescue. Sometimes a captive bear kills a cage-mate or mauls a keeper, but not by the sneaking methods of the human assasin who shoots in the dark and runs away.






books.google.com/books?id=1o85AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA290&dq=bear+kills+jaguar&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiEw760g8XtAhWip1kKHQ7tDFkQ6AEwBnoECAcQAg

[brobear]

Fantablulous find King Kodiak. Finally, an animal trainer is straight-up and puts it in plain English. The bear, like his close relative, the dog, just goes straight up to his enemy and attacks. I compare the bear to the Samurai, the courageous warrior. I compare the cat to the Ninja, the secretive assassin.

[King Kodiak]

brobear :

Thanks bro. This just confirms what we already knew. That is the difference between bear and cat behavior.

[brobear]

www.livescience.com/cats-track-owners

You can't hide from your cat, so don't even try. Cats create "mental maps" using audio cues, scientists have discovered. Your cat is probably keeping track of where you are, even if your feline friend isn't in the same room with you and can't see you.

Scientists recently learned that domestic cats create "mental maps" that tell them where nearby humans are located, based on where sounds are coming from. The researchers tested cats by playing recordings of human voices calling the cats' names; they then played those recordings again, only this time through a speaker in a different place, so that the same sounds came from farther away.

The cats acted surprised when the familiar voice came from a location that they didn't expect, based on what they had already heard. This suggests that cats spatially orient their unseen human companions using audio cues — a cognitive ability that was previously unknown in felines.

Knowing that something continues to exist even if it's out of sight (as the cats demonstrated in their responses) is called object permanence, and it's a test that researchers use to measure animal intelligence. Human infants typically begin to develop object permanence when they're around 8 months old, and this ability becomes more refined when babies reach 10 to 12 months old; at that stage, babies can find hidden objects, and they begin to realize that their parents and caregivers don't disappear just because they can't be seen, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Prior research has demonstrated object permanence in primates such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus); and in nonprimates such as Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius), bears (Melursus ursinus and Helarctos malayanus euryspilus), dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis catus), scientists reported Nov. 10 in the open-access journal PLOS One. 
 
*Melursus ursinus - sloth bear / Helarctos malayanus - sun bear.

[brobear]

The minds and manners of wild animals, by William Temple Hornaday, American zoologist and conservationist.

Bears usually fight "on the square" openly and above-board, rarely committing foul murder. If one bear hates another, he attacks at the very first opportunity. He does not cunningly wait to catch the offender at a disadvantage and beyond the possibility of rescue. Sometimes a captive bear kills a cage-mate or mauls a keeper, but not by the sneaking methods of the human assasin who shoots in the dark and runs away.