[Jeff Higgins]

Well, I can see it is going to be difficult to discuss this with someone who actually believes there is anything the least bit valid about those first two YouTube videos. The multiple camera angles, the close up of the cute, cowering kitten, and other clues would hint to most of us that the first one is at least a bit contrived. That, and the female bear is not much bigger than the cat - brown bear sows are typically not even half the size of the boars. In the second video, the small Asian bear (one of the smallest in the world) runs off (preceded by the same multiple camera angles "filming the confrontation"). Then we see a tiger (the same tiger? who knows) eating something small, black and furry. We are told it's the bear. Maybe, maybe not. The legs on whatever it was are awfully tiny.

Anyway, I'm out. I see this devolving the same way so many threads on this forum devolve. Someone with absolutely no knowledge of the topic beyond what he has gleaned from T.V., YouTube, and Wikipedia is trying his level best to appear an expert. Whatever.

I've hunted pretty much accross the west, from Alaska to Wyoming. I've shot a few critters in my day, including black bear and cougar. I've seen, first hand, how they react. I've hired guides who have vastly more experience than I could ever hope to attain in my lifetime. Some have "swapped hunts" with African guides, and have had the incredible good fortune to bag animals on both continents that I can only dream of bagging. Some have hunted the Kamchachta Peninsula for even bigger browns than can be found on coastal Alaska and B.C. I've spent a good deal of time in remote hunting camps with men like this, men with first-hand experience. I've learned alot from them. To a man they will tell you (the ones that have crossed over the the Russian side), as I stated above, tigers leave the area when a big boar sets up home. Stories abound regarding finding the remains of what used to be a pretty good cat. The rest, who have hunted the big cats of Africa and the big browns of Alaska, will tell you in no uncertain terms which is the more formidable.

I'll readily admit I'm no expert here, having never witnessed a confrontation of this sort, nor having taken a big brown or a lion. In light of that, I will defer to those who have taken these animals, and have run across the results of a confrontation.