Indian bison and water buffalo can kill tigers

Tigers will kill any animal that puts itself in a vulnerable position and there are few animals which the tiger avoids and does not try and kill. Elephants and rhinoceroses are rarely killed. But tigers have a tendency to attack and kill animals which are considerably larger than themselves. In fact they need large prey items in order to consume enough flesh to survive in relative comfort.

Massive Indian bison can kill a tiger and you can see why. Photo in public domain.

However, large prey animal such as water buffalo and Indian bison (gaur) can be very formidable, dangerous and there are records of tigers being killed by these animals often after a gruesome and deadly struggle.

Scientists have recorded these events and I can repeat a couple of their accounts here. A scientist called Anderson reported a long battle in which an Indian bison repeatedly gored and trampled to death a tiger. The undergrowth where the battle happened was trodden down and flattened.

"The undergrowth had been torn up and trodden down by the combatants, and to one side of this arena lay the carcass of a tiger that had been repeatedly gored and trampled by a bison [guar]."

Foran, another scientist, watched the fight between a water buffalo cow and a tiger. The water buffalo bowled over the tiger like ninepins and then rammed him against the trunk of a large tree. The water buffalo gored the tiger over and over. She lifted the dying, mangled body of the tiger on her horns and threw it away with ease and disdain. Yes, these large bovids are dangerous to tigers but they still attack them optimistically.

However they are aware of the dangers and tigers in Nagarahole rarely attack Indian bison in dense cover. Nagarahole is a tiger reserve and a national park located in Kodagu district and Mysore district in Karnataka, India. It is one of India's premier tiger reserves.