# Tiger vs. Wolf: Who wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 24, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456 "2004-12-24T07:34:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/1 "2004-12-24T07:34:05Z")
This has been a long-running debate/argument at work, so I turn to the Teeming Millions. A lone wolf and a solitary tiger are placed in the Roman Coliseum and fight to the death. Which one will emerge victorius? I’m saying the tiger, based off of size, speed, strength and the fact that it is used to hunting alone. My coworker says the wolf, for the same reasons plus higher intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/2 "2004-12-24T07:37:30Z")
the tiger would win easily ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/3 "2004-12-24T08:14:14Z")
yeah, the tiger would win. I would bet that it would take at least 3 wolves to kill a tiger, which they would then be able to do easily. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/4 "2004-12-24T08:41:25Z")
Man, it’s not even close. A Tiger can weigh almost 700 pounds. Tigers have claws they use as weapons. A Tiger would kill a wolf in one swipe. I don’t think three wolves could kill a big tiger. I’m not even sure a pack of wolves could. Animals in the tiger’s class would be Grizzly bears, maybe a Silverback Gorilla, a couple of other animals. BIG animals. Supreme predators. Wolves aren’t even in the same ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/5 "2004-12-24T08:50:26Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Man, it’s not even close. A Tiger can weigh almost 700 pounds. Tigers have claws they use as weapons. A Tiger would kill a wolf in one swipe. > > I don’t think three wolves could kill a big tiger. I’m not even sure a pack of wolves could. > > Animals in the tiger’s class would be Grizzly bears, maybe a Silverback Gorilla, a couple of other animals. BIG animals. Supreme predators. Wolves aren’t even in the same ballpark. I agree, a Wolf is more like the neighbor’s dog on steroids but a Tiger is a…Tiger. I wouldn’t be able to call a Tiger VS a Bear or Lion but a Wolf. I am pretty sure that the wolf would be the Tiger’s lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/6 "2004-12-24T09:01:00Z")
A pack of wolves might not be enough to take down a full grown male tiger. Tigers are among the planet’s elite land predators, along with lions and the larger bears (grizzly and polar), which also are large, fast, and have sharp claws. A healthy adult male Bengal tiger vs. a healthy adult male Kodiak or polar bear, now that would be a battle. ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/7 "2004-12-24T10:16:39Z")
Definitely Tiger. The real questions remains though: Will there ever be a boy that can swim faster than a sharK? ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/8 "2004-12-24T10:20:48Z")
I’ve got a rather nice encyclopaedia of animals at home and read about a Siberian Tiger (a particularly large one btw) taking down 13 wolves before the rest of the pack brought him down. Difficult to cite tho, so you’ll have to take my word. Catsurvivalist describes diet of the tiger [here](http://www.catsurvivaltrust.org/tiger.htm) (page down to Diet), which does include wolf… I suspect the wolf would a) need to be alone and b) the tiger pretty hungry. Although I have a soft spot for wolves, Tigers are awesome creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/9 "2004-12-24T12:52:43Z")
This may come as a surprise, but I also have a soft spot for wolves. 😛 Still, this isn’t even a fair fight. Tigers have it better than wolves in almost every department in this fight. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/10 "2004-12-24T13:14:11Z")
> [@TastesLikeBurning](#): > > Definitely Tiger. > > The real questions remains though: > > Will there ever be a boy that can swim faster than a sharK? First to the OP, Tiger paws down. Second to **TastesLikeBurning** over a short distance (IE. a pool), swimming for their life, maybe Thorpe, or Phelps, in open water, not a chance. No matter how great of a swimmer you are you can’t beat millions of years of Evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/11 "2004-12-24T13:18:21Z")
Rev. Phelps? Not that I wouldn’t be interested in seeing him **try** to swim faster than a shark. I would definately be cheering for the shark though. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/12 "2004-12-24T13:18:54Z")
Don’t forget that until Mowgli joined the pack the brotherhood of wolves feared Sherkhan more than anything but man. It was Mowgli’s cunning, working together with his brothers, that allowed them to slay the lame one\*. \*And Sherkhan was an old, somewhat lame tiger who had taken to attacking livestock, which is against the Law of the Jungle. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/13 "2004-12-24T13:40:51Z")
> [@Epimetheus](#): > > Rev. Phelps? Not that I wouldn’t be interested in seeing him **try** to swim faster than a shark. I would definately be cheering for the shark though. I was referring to Michael Phelps, the guys who won 6(?) medals this summer in the olympics. But if you want to see the Rev go down that way… ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/14 "2004-12-24T14:03:54Z")
**Facts** : 1. Tigers are mammals. 2. Tigers fight ALL the time. 3. The purpose of the tiger is to flip out and kill things. Tigers can kill anything they want. They bite off heads \*all \*the time and don’t even think twice about it. These guys are so crazy and awesome that they flip out \*all \* the time. I heard that there was this tiger who was eating his dinner and when some monkey dropped a banana, the tiger killed the whole jungle. If you don’t believe that tigers can kill a wolf, you better get a life right now or they will bite your head off! It’s an easy choice, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/15 "2004-12-24T14:16:18Z")
You got that right, **Aesiron**. Tigers are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet. I also read in a nature book that siberian tigers kick wolf ass. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/16 "2004-12-24T14:17:13Z")
The tiger, if it’s prepared. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/17 "2004-12-24T14:27:35Z")
The greatest golfer in the world versus an aging CNN commentator? Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/18 "2004-12-24T15:08:52Z")
> [@Ender\_Will](#): > > I’m saying the tiger, based off of size, speed, strength and the fact that it is used to hunting alone. My coworker says the wolf, for the same reasons plus higher intelligence. Does your coworker really think that wolves hunt alone? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/19 "2004-12-24T15:40:20Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > \*And Sherkhan was an old, somewhat lame tiger who had taken to attacking livestock, which is against the Law of the Jungle. I think Shere Khan was always lame (Lungri, his mother called him, “Lame One”), and he was not depicted as old, I don’t think–just evil, lazy and merciless. Also, attacking man was almost always against the law of the jungle (except for one night, which was the tiger’s right!): > [@](#): > > The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting-grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him. They say too – and it is true – that man-eaters become mangy, and lose their teeth. But it was OK to kill cattle. In fact, Bagheera bought Mowgli’s life by giving the indifferent pack a bull he had killed and hidden close by (much to Shere Khan’s anger): > [@](#): > > “To kill a naked cub is shame. Besides, he may make better sport for you when he is grown. Baloo has spoken in his behalf. Now to Baloo’s word I will add one bull, and a fat one, newly killed, not half a mile from here, if ye will accept the man’s cub according to the Law. Is it difficult?” I love the Jungle Book (so does my son–we used to read it together when he was little). Wolves and tigers are cool. But a tiger kills a wolf easily. Unless the wolf is packing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456/20 "2004-12-24T16:37:54Z")
Heck, I’d put my money on a Mountain Lion (Cougar) against a Wolf. And they are in the same weight class. A Tiger? Against a Wolf? I don’t think your co-workers know what a Tiger really is. From [Animalinfo.org](http://Animalinfo.org) - The Tiger\* The tiger is the largest member of the cat family, with the Amur (Siberian) tiger weighing as much as 360 kg (790 lb). Although it is found in a variety of habitats, the tiger always requires dense vegetative cover, an adequate supply of large ungulate prey (mainly deer and wild pigs), and access to a reliable source of water. The principal **prey of the tiger** consists of various species of deer and wild pigs, usually in the **50 - 200 kg (110 - 440 lb)** range. These include sambar, chital, swamp deer, red deer, rusa deer and wild boar. It will also take young elephants and rhinos and smaller species such as monkeys, birds, reptiles and fish.\* From [Animalinfo.org](http://Animalinfo.org) - The Wolf\* The red wolf weighs **18 - 41 kg (40 - 90 lb)**. It has utilized habitats including upland and bottomland forests, wetlands, bushland and coastal prairies. It has been reported to capture animals up to the size of small deer, including pigs, nutria, raccoons, muskrats, other rodents and rabbits. It will also eat carrion.\* The principle prey of the Tiger is up to 4 times bigger than a large Wolf. Your co-workers need less Disney and more Nature Channel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-vs-wolf-who-wins/281456.md?page=2)