Lion vs tiger, who is the strongest

 

The comparison between Lions and Tigers has always been a hot topic to discuss. People simply cannot stop arguing about who is the strongest land predator in the animal Kingdom. Well, there is the ending line,"tigers are bigger than lions". Which is true but bigger doesn't always mean better. So, let's go on a deep analysis about their diet, hunting strategy and rivals and you will probably find your answers. 

Tigers and Lions both are from the feline family which consists of other big cats like jaguar, cheetah, leopard and even your domestic cat. Both are the descendants of Panthera blytheae, who roamed around Asia about 6 million years ago. These two are the biggest big cats in existence. Both of them possess extreme strength, indorace and have evolved to become the apex predators they are today. 

Tiger: Panthera Tigris or more known as tiger is the biggest cat species in the world. The first tiger to ever be described scientifically was in 1758. Once spread widely around different parts of the world, their population has declined significantly due to hunting. Now they are only found in the Siberian temperate forests to tropical forests and the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia and some parts of Sumatra. The IUCN Red List declared the tiger as endangered in 1986. Currently (2022) their population is estimated to be around 4,500 matured individuals. 

Just like most felines, tigers live a solitary life and get together only during meeting season. Tigers have a muscular build with big and powerful forelimbs, large head and a tail that is half in length to their body. They can be easily differentiated from other cats due to the unique black stripes on their body of various orange shades. Males generally have a length between 250 to 400 cm and weight upto 300 kg. Females on the other hand are much smaller with a length of 200 to 280 cm and weight of upto 170 kg. The Royal Bengal Tiger and the Siberian Tiger are the biggest species of tigers with some specimens weighing up to 400 kg. 

Lion: Lions or Panthera Leo are the second largest cats native to India and Africa. Due to the massive population decline in the 1990s, they were declared Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List in 1996. Currently there are estimated to be aroy 20,000 specimy around the world. Lions have a short and round head, broad chest also round neck and ears. Their fur can vary from yellowish to dark brown. The males have an excessive amount of thick hair covering their neck and chest. This makes it easier to differentiate from females and other big cats. 

Unlike most of the feline predators, lions don't hunt or live a solitary life. They live with a group which is called a pride, a pride consists of a dominant male lion, although the pride can have multiple male lions but only one of them will be the dominant one. The pride also has several female or lionesses, they do most of the hunting job and the male lions protect the pride from other predators like hyenas, who are their arch rivals in the wild. 

Conclusion: So, in the end, if we think practically both of these animals will never face each other due their habitats. Both lions and tigers have evolved according to their surroundings and weather. But if we break the odds and hypothetically they fight 1v1, the tiger has a slight advantage due to its size and agility. The tiger also has a greater bite force (around 1050 psi) than of a lion's (around 650 psi). But it mostly depends on their health and mood. They are living animals, they are not pokemons with fixed stats, programmed in a computer. The fight could go either way and they might even choose not to fight at all because that's what sigmas do.