Tourists on a wildlife safari in central India were treated to a rare and vicious fight for survival between a sloth bear defending its young and a huge Bengal tiger. “It went after the sloth bear, but she kept charging in order to protect her cub,” he said. It was a severe fight.”The mother bear, at one stage, was pinned down in the tiger’s jaws, seemingly overpowered by her superior opponent, before managing to throw off her assailant. Standing at full height on hind legs, the mother bear plunged back into the contest, relentlessly charging the big cat until it slunk away to cool off in a nearby pond, cowed and defeated. Indian sloth bears – long kept as dancing pets for entertainment until the practise was outlawed – have distinctive long snouts and a white V pattern on their chest, and are still hunted by poachers.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 05, 2018 06:22 UTC