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Squackman...

Fungi and bacteria are mainly decomposers.
They are called -Saprophytes- which mean they feed by external digestion of dead organic material.
Fungi are generally classified into 3 divisions where the division of Zygomycota might be of interest to you as these are the decomposers. Rhizopus nigricans (Black- bread mould) is the best commonly known example of this division.

Saprophytically bacteria also plays a role as decomposers. They are almost solely responsible for soil fertility as they play important role of nitrifying / denitifying the soil during the Nitrogen cycle.
They also play an important role in the Carbon cycle- all this during the processes of decomposing dead organic material.

Other examples of decomposers in KNP are: Blowfly species, Flesh flies, Dung beetles, earth worms, Millipedes, Horn moths etc.

Hope it helps

From what you know who do you think has more stamina the lion or tiger. I've hear of lions hunting buffalo before and it lasting for over 3 hours, this was with one lion. I've got to study lions only from books and from videos and I'm amazed by them. I don't know if you have heard of the savuti pride but they were amazing hunters. I'm trailing of now I'm sorry. Ok and the next question who has more speed the lion or tiger, mostly I'm asking about males of the species. Lions live in open plains and have less cover than tigers, thats why i think they need the more speed because they have to chase down their prey for longer distances than tigers need to. Last question, who do you think would win a male lion or male tiger? Thank you if you answer my questions, I'm doing my senior project on lion vs tiger at my high school and these answers would surely help. Thank you very much, i look forward to your reply.

Have a look here Naomi.

If you look for speed, the female lion is actually faster than the male, and also able to sustain a longer chase due to the lower body weight.

I would assume the tiger is more stealthy and the lioness more fit, but this is an interesting approach. The male lions, well, i cannot really bet on them to be rither sprinters or endurance athletes, but where muscle power is needed without speed, eg. buffalo kill, not much alse can compare to them.

Lions being pride animals makes it difficult to judge single animals.

In the animal kingdom, weight, and power to weight ratio is king. The Tiger is bigger, and stronger than Lion, so my "guess" would be that the tiger would take it. As much as I hate to admit that....

Going to the Savuti pride, they are exceptional animals. They have been documented to take down a fully grown elephant on more than one occasion, but then again, they are an exceptionally big pride. I think they are currently sitting on +/- 40 animals.

Good luck with your project!!

Tiger is stronger than a lion.
And has much more adaptable and cunning powers that a lion

Hi Naomi,
I hope this helps.

Tigers are solitary, like leopards and rely on stealth and strength to bring down prey.

Lions are gregarious and hunt in prides, and catch prey by ambush, surrounding and numbers.

Tigers are bigger than lions, although I have seen some monsters in Kgalagadi.

Good luck with your project.

Maybe this has been asked previously, if so, please direct me to the topic or forum; if not please read on:

I have been receiving various answers but none could be qualified as factual.

Could somebody please advise me on which species of Rhino is considered as part of the Big Five, the White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) or the Black Rhino(Diceros bicornis) or anyone of the two???????

I also read with interest that the White Rhino got its name from the dutch word "weit" meaning wide, referring to the wide mouth used for grazing grass etc. (Wikipedia.com)

Would like to get some expert opinion on the big five question with possible references.

With thanks

ELU

Hi there ELU, and welcome to the forums!

Officially the Black Rhino (or hook-lipped rhinoceros) is the Big 5 member, and not the White Rhino (square-lipped rhinoceros). For an explanation of the how and why, click this link.

The name of the "white" rhino does indeed come from the Dutch word "weit" or "wijd", both pronounced the same, and meaning wide, referring to the broad mouth of the white rhino (a grazer), whereas the black rhino is a browser.

Hi all just to add a bit regarding the Lion vs Tiger theory in the early 19th Century wealthy (and quite frankly sick) americans who were no longer satisfied with dog fights decided that they would stage Bears vs African Lions fights as they thought it would provide the ultimate entertainment Grizzly vs the King of Beasts however these fights were invariably over in seconds as the first time the Lion charged one swipe of the Bears paw spelt death for the Lion - the reason ? because the Bears bones density was immense and one swipe resulted in the crushing of the Lions skull. Disappointed in the shows they went in search of another beast which could challenge the Grizzly and they used the Prince of Asia, the Tiger. These fights usually lasted much longer and although results would tend to favour the Grizzlys the Tigers still managed to rack up a few victories due to their cautious style of fighting as they would not allow the bears to land any blows on them as they jockeyed to get behind the bears to attack.

So I think that this question could never be truly answered as they would never encounter each other in their natural environment. I have seen footage on the internet (hopefully they caught them and put them behind bars) of Lions vs Tigers fights and they are not pretty and all of them have been in cages - the Tiger wins against Lionesses and against male lions it usually ended with no victor.

By the way everyone I must apologise as when I said early 19C I meant 1903 and upwards which i have a feeling is the 20 century so apologies for that - By the way Janie I have been looking for that Discovery bit but its been deleted from their site I will continuing looking I am sure that I have seen some of the programes have seen the Tiger vs Crocodile which surprisingly the Tiger wins as they have developed a style where they flip the Croc over on land and tear the belly - very clever Cats but I still prefer the African Lion - in the words of Steve Irwin they're beauties

Everything to SI was a beauty.

There was a swquence of pic on the forum by some lucky one who saw a leopard take out a croc at Silolweni I think