Who would win in the ultimate catfight between a lion and a tiger?

We humans love to ask these kinds of questions don’t we? I once watched an entire documentary that was devoted to discovering which predator would win between a hippopotamus and a Tiger Shark (the hippo won by a slight margin).

Sometimes the questions are interesting but unanswerable, like when we compare athletes from two separate eras, such as Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson, or a young Michael Jordan versus a young Kobe Bryant (answers: Muhammad Ali; Kobe Bryant).

At other times though the questions are purely fanciful, like who would win between Superman and Mighty Mouse, or between Batman and the Wolverine.

The catfight question though is a legitimate one, and since a Bengal Tiger and an African Lion are roughly the same size, people throughout history have sought to answer it.

Historians record the outcomes of staged battles between African lions and Asian tigers in the Roman Coliseum, and today there has been enough observation both in the wild and in captivity to come up with a consistent answer.

One-on-one the tiger usually wins.

Despite the fact that lions seem to be built to fight, with protective manes encircling their jugulars, tigers are usually more aggressive and dominant.

The exception to this rule; however, is when the two great cats fight in teams. A pride of lions will outfight a team of tigers, because while tigers are fiercer individually, lions are better at fighting as a group.

This little piece of nature trivia has an interesting parallel for our lives doesn’t it? We are safer and more effective in teams. Even if we have a more introverted temperament (like I do), we are safer when our lives are interlocked with a band of sisters or brothers.

One of my former teachers wrote, “Lone rangers build reputations but they don’t build people or nations. That takes community.”

Let’s find, latch onto, and contribute to a people-building, nation-changing community. Let’s stay entrenched with our band of brothers or sisters, so that when our various days of testing come, we will emerge victorious.