Watch: Ferocious Fight Between Tiger and Bear Caught on Video

ROAR. GRRR.

ROAR. GRRR.

(Paws gnashing). (Blood).

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That's how I imagined a fight would go between a tiger and bear.

Thankfully, we don't have to imagine anymore. It happened! And, just like every crappy elementary school event and terrible concert, someone had the presence of mind to videotape it. The only difference is, a tiger vs. bear clash isn't terrible! It's a little bit scary, like nature itself—consider, for instance, the vastness of the ocean, its rolling tides and unknowable depths, its unfeeling and boundless capacity for both destruction and beauty. But ultimately the tiger-bear fight is kind of neat. And don't worry, both critters walked away with just injuries.

The fight between furry killing machines went down at an Indian national park earlier this week and the footage has since gone viral. Akshay Kumar, the chief naturalist at Bamboo Forest Safari Lodge in Maharashtra's Tadoba National Park, said the incident happened as he was leading a safari tour and that it was mother sloth bear protecting her cub from a particularly territorial tiger. 

"The tiger attacked the bear more than five minutes. It went after the sloth bear but she kept charging in order to protect her cub," Kumar told NDTV. "It went on for 15 minutes. The tiger was roaring. It was a severe fight."

The video shows a slow build-up in the fight. At several points it looks like the bear is done for, but she manages to wriggle away. After some turns charging one another the tiger and bear go their separate ways. 

So, there it is. The battle royale we all imagined. And, to be clear, there were some roars and gnashing paws. So, I was pretty close.