Who Would Win?

Allow a short indulgence for some background before I get to the absurd point of this post...

Last Wednesday, Amy and I were at a church small group gathering in the home of some friends. We're unofficially helping to lead a group for people with questions about faith, life, and Christ. For example, the previous week, we spent most of our time on the big questions "What about people who never get a chance to hear about Jesus?" and "Does God know the future?". Building on the whole knowing the future angle, this past week we spent most of the time talking about prayer, if prayer works, if God changes His mind, and stuff like that.

I say "most of the time" because somewhere down the line, we started talking about animals, which led to talking about different animals around the world, which led to grizzly bears. And the big question was "Who would win in a fight between a grizzly bear and a lion?"

Tonight, Amy and I rented "Grizzly Man," a documentary about Timothy Treadwell who spent thirteen summers living in the Alaskan wilderness with grizzly bears. I had heard his story on NPR a few years back in the States and still had grizzly bears in the back of my mind. Secretly, I was hoping that Treadwell had taped a bear fighting a lion. He didn't. But you should still check out the movie, which has more to do with a troubled soul searching for purpose than bears. There is at least one good bear fight, though.

Anyway, since the movie didn't answer my question, I'm turning to you, the dear faithful readers of this blog. Full grown grizzly bear versus a full grown lion... who would win?

Comments

[Aeriale]

This Alaskan is going to have to say the grizzly bear would be the champion of that one. And Timothy was a troubled soul indeed!

[alison]

As a fellow Alaskan, and one who lives in a remote wilderness setting with lots of brown bears around (brown bears - altho the same species as grizzlies, tend to be bigger because they eat salmon...a distinction Timothy Treadwell never made known in all his "education"), I agree that a bear would win!

[steven]

Thanks for weighing in on this very important question. :) Since the Alaskans are biased, here is my devil's advocate approach for the King of the Beasts, the African lion:

The argument for the lion is simple: agility and experience. The lion is much more agile than the bear, and much quicker. Thus, a lion might be able to attack the grizzly bear from behind or gain an advantage by attacking an unprotected area. Also, the lion is a more experienced hunter and killer. While catching fish is an impressive trick, the lion hunts large game for every meal. It kills large animals on a regular basis, including extremely dangerous animals like the Cape Buffalo. So the lion will have the experience advantage in handling larger and stronger animals.

I think, though, that the lion's incredibly muscular body would be its downfall. It would take a lion a long time to claw and bite through the bear's thick fur and fat to get to vital organs, while one swipe or bite from the grizzly that connected would do some serious damage to the lean lion.

I say we introduce some grizzlies to Kruger National Park here in South Africa and see what happens. We'll call it "improved biodiversity."

Funny... two Alaskans vote for the bear... all the Africans in our conversation here voted for the lion. You gotta dance with the one that brung ya.

PS - I can't believe I've wasted time thinking about this.

[violet]

I'm suggesting you've left out an important element -- the venue. Where will this fight be staged? Don't you think the climate would affect outcome -- not to mention the fan advantage?

[Aeriale]

Hee, hee. Absolutely hysterical, Violet! And, Alison, where do you live? I live in the Native Village of Kiana in the NW Arctic Borough.

[Sav Palmer]

I just polled my family and I got 6 for the lion and 1 for the grizzly. I agree that the lion's muscular body would be the downfall, but his agility and experience with larger animals (like you said) would ultimately result in a VICTORY!!!
Man you keep life interesting. Love you guys.

[steven]

Just so everyone knows how important this is, the question was a big hit in conversation both last night and again tonight. Clearly, this is a question that the world is desperate to have answered.

Violet, you bring up a great point. I'm thinking that to be fair, the fight should be scheduled home-and-home like in sports. One fight in grizzly territory and one on the lion's home field. That way the lion has to fight in the cold and the bear in the heat. But the fans... lions hunt in prides, so crowd control might be tougher in Africa.

Sav, your family is the first group of Americans to go with the lion. Good for you for thinking out of the box. And the fact that seven of you thought about it enough to answer just proves how important this debate is. Or how bored we all are. One or the other. :)

[duane]

I'm not sure why some people think that experience hunting gazelle and zebra would give the lion ANY advantage over a bear. Sure, the lion may be able to sneak up on the bear, but once that advantage is over, the bear would definitely have the strength advantage and the toughness advantage. Hence, the bear would win.

Of course, if we're talking disney cartoons, Simba would take care of Baloo in no time flat.

[elisa]

OK... as if this conversation needs this much attention with all that's going on in the world, but this former Alaskan is just itching to get in on this!!

I would have to say brown bear -- hands down!! I know I've never seen a lion at full sprint with my own two eyes, but I've seen a brown bear and man, they can truck it!!! And the argument about the lion hunting larger prey, come on. Brown bear take down humans all the time. (OK, this is really getting ridiculous and I'm sitting here laughing out loud by myself.)

No one has even mentioned a Kodiak brown bear. That should up the ante a bit. Those guys are enormous. The lion's lean body would definitely be its downfall.

The weather aspect of the argument is definitely an intriguing one. When my family left Alaska and arrived in South Texas in July, I not only thought I had died and gone to hell, I couldn't STAND outside for 15 minutes without getting heat stroke. I was rendered useless. In Africa, the lion might have an edge.

BTW, you know you're super cool when 3 Alaskans comment on your blog!! :-) How did you get to be so lucky Steven?

[Steve Hayes]

The lion wuill lie down with the lamb, but will it lie down with the bear?

The lion will definitely win the the bear is hibernating.