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Duke, J.A.
Tigress attacking a sloth bear
1921  Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (26): 659-659

On the night of the 10th of this month a tigress and cubs killed one of my kills in a nullah, and I sat up with a friend. It was a bright moonlight night. About 7-30 we suddenly heard an appalling noise about 150 yards away on our right and behind us. It sounded like two tigers fighting. Then we saw a bear coming hurrying and stumbling along the nullah from our right. It was gasping for breath, and when it got just in front of up on the opposite bank of the nullah, it suddenly uttered a roar and jumped round, as bears do when they think something is attacking them. I thought the tigress must be following, so I advised my friend not to shoot. The bear now went on a few yards, and sat down to get breath, gasping and occasionally moaning. Then it went off towards our left, still muttering and complaining, and unfortunately for itself crossed the nullah into the jungle behind us. Suddenly the uproar commenced again, and it was obvious that the tigress had gone for the poor old bear again. The howls of the bear, and the roars of the tigress went off through the forest, and gradually faded away in the distance. After they had died away I heard tho plaintive calls of what I thought at the time were bear cubs, but which might have been tiger cubs, going off in the same direction. The tigress never came back to the kill. I have heard of tigers killing bears, but I suppose I shall never be so near seeing the performance as I was on the night of which I write.

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