Distress Call from a Sloth Bear A sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus ) Prelude A few days back in December 2021, I had seen a video doing rounds in many whatsapp groups, extolling the great valour of a sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus ) that challenged an adult tiger ( Panthera tigiris ), which was stalking at the bear within the confines of the Maharashtra’s Tadoba National Park in Central India. The apex predator was giving his best to bite the neck of the bear with an effort to severe the jugular vein or to break its spinal cord, usual of a tiger's hunting tactics, in the face of stiff resistance and aggressive fight back from the sloth bear. Sloth bear as such is gifted with curved sickle-shaped claws, exceptionally long for their body size, which come in handy when fighting off the predator. In fact, at one time the sloth bear took an upper hand and was found chasing the top carnivore. As luck had it for the bear, the tiger at the end retreated, accepted his defeat and got into a w
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