Eye of the tiger! Amazing pictures show big cats engaging in epic battle

• Dec 22, 2014 
• By Ian Leonard

The tigers came to blows on in a South African game reserve in a dispute over territory

 

These roar-some images show the moment two female tigers came to blows in a bitter dispute over territory.

Rarely seen in the wild, let alone on camera, the dramatic images show a white Siberian tiger and orange-coloured tiger slashing ferociously at each other.

The intense altercation erupted into violence when the smallest of the pair, the orange striped tiger known as Shadow, attempted to expand its hunting ground.

But white tiger, TiBo, wasn't willing to give up the ground without a fight and was forced to use its size and weight to put Shadow firmly back in her place.

After being overpowered, Shadow is seen rolling in the sandy Savannah grass before making a hasty retreat.

The heart-stopping scenes were captured in South Africa's 'Tiger Canyons', a private game reserve that allows visitors to see the endangered species out in the wild.

Caters

Big fight: Two tigers square up to each other

Incredibly, Ukrainian wildlife photographer Alex Kirichko, 49, was only a mere 10 metres from the duo's razor sharp claws but stayed safe in his jeep.

He said: "The two tigers were fighting over territory that day, TiBo was the defender and Shadow was the intruder. "It was a vicious fight but, TiBo, the biggest of the pair managed to win the fight. Shadow ended up on the ground whilst TiBo was circling her, she was clearly in control. "The sound was incredible, if you've ever heard cats fight you know they can be loud but these cats weighed around 28 stone. It happened right before our eyes, I'd say only 10 metres away from our position, I was just glad to be inside the safety of a vehicle."

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