Wolf vs Tiger: Who Will Win in a Fight?

We usually consider wolves being the top dog in the canine family while tigers are the top cat in the feline family. In this article, we will compare the specifics of what makes a wolf a wolf and what makes a tiger a tiger before figuring out which one would win in a fight.

What is a Wolf?

The wolf also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. They have pointed ears, elongated snouts, and bushy tails that curl behind them as a means of expression. The average wolf typically weighs somewhere between 80 and 160 pounds. Wolves can live up to 13 years in the wild, but most die long before that age.

What is a Tiger?

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panthera. Tiger is recognized by black vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. The tiger is listed as endangered on IUCN Red list. The major reasons for the decline in the tiger population are habitat destruction and poaching. The Bengal tiger accounts for half of the total tiger population. The tiger is the national animal of India, Malaysia, South Korea and Bangladesh.

Characteristic	Wolf	Tiger
Family	Canines	Feline
Length	2 meters or 6.6 feet long	Male is 8.2 to 13 ft long while the female is. 6.6 to 9 feet long
Weight	14 to 65 kilograms or 31 to 143 lbs.	Male 200 to 660 lbs, Female 140 to 370 lbs
Height	76 cm or 30 inches	Male 36 to 48 inches, Female 30 to 42 inches
Habitat	North America, Eurasia/ Tundra, woodlands, forest, grasslands, and desert habitats	Asia/Rain forests, temperate forests, grasslands, savannas and even mangrove swamps.
Food	Carnivores	Carnivores
Bite Power	400 PSI	1050 PSI
Speed	31 to 37 mph	30 to 40 mph
Color	Combination of white, brown, gray, and black	Orange, white, gold, blue, and black.
Sound	Howling, whimpering, growling, and barking.	Roar, Growl, Snarl
Paws	Large, oval paws with four toes. Long middle toe.	Sickle-shaped with retracted paws.
Senses	Strong sense of smell, can see in the dark and process rapid movement, and can hear high-pitched sounds.	Strong eyesight, hearing, and smell.

Wolf vs Tiger [Differences & Strength Comparison]

In this section, we will take a deeper look at the chart and delve into the differences between a wolf and a tiger.

Wolf vs Tiger: Family

The wolf belongs to the canine family, and the tiger belongs to the feline family. There are 38 subspecies of wolves and can be found in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Tigers or the Panthera tigris belong in the feline family. They are the largest member of the cat family, so since this is the case, you can imagine they are immensely powerful. Subspecies wise, there are only two at the moment. One is the continental tiger, and the other is the sunda tiger.

There have been problems with tiger populations being on the decline because of being hunted.

Wolf vs Tiger: Size

The wolf is the largest living member of the canine family. A male wolf is usually around 2 meters or. 6.6 feet long. This also includes the tail. Females are about 20 percent smaller than males.

Now the wolf might be the largest dog in the canine family, but tigers really dwarfed them when you think about it. A male tiger is 8.2 to 13 ft long while the female is. 6.6 to 9 feet long. Even the female is much larger than a wolf. Don’t count the wolf out yet. They are formidable. Have you seen their teeth?

Wolf vs Tiger: Weight

A wolf’s weight can range from 14 to 65 kilograms, or 31 to 143 pounds. The female wolf is usually twenty percent smaller compared to a male wolf. This is usually something you see in mammals. Tigers also follow this similar rule as well, with the male being larger than the female one.

The male tiger is about 200 to 680 male and a female tiger weighs 140 to 370. As you can see, the male tiger can be two to three times larger than a female tiger. Still, the female tiger is just as amazing as their male counterpart.

Wolf vs Tiger: Height

A wolf stands about 76 centimeters or 30 inches tall at around the shoulder. The height is how tall an animal is when they are standing on all of their fours. Rather than measuring at their head you measure at their shoulder.

For a tiger, they stand at about 2.6 to 3.6. This is for male and female tigers, so you won’t find much difference in-between the two different genders.

Now, if you are comparing wolves and tigers, there is a vast difference in size, so you are going to see one. Put one side by side together and you will know what we are talking about.

Wolf vs Tiger: Habitat

Wolves are widely dispersed and found in North America and Eurasia. We can find them in places in North America like Alaska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, and even Arizona or New Mexico. Habitat wise, they can live in the tundra, woodlands, forest, grasslands, and deserts.

Tigers usually live on the continent of Asia. Habitat wise we usually find them in forests, grasslands, savannas and even mangrove swamps. Unlike wolves, tigers are not so widely dispersed on the planet. It’s a shame that these amazing, beautiful creatures can only be found in one place.

Wolf vs Tiger: Food

Wolves are carnivores (meat eaters) and especially love eating large, hoofed animals like bison, elk, deer, and moose. They will eat smaller mammals like beavers, mice, rats, and hares.

Tigers are also carnivores. Tigers can eat termini with elephant calves. However, their preferred diet is moose, deer, cows, pigs, horses, buffalos, and goats due to how large they are. Still, they have a wide variety of prey and will hunt what is around or available at the time being.

So, food/diet wise, wolves and tigers are pretty similar given that they are both meat eaters and hunt similar animals. The biggest one is moose! Trust us, have you ever even seen a moose? They are huge.

Wolf vs Tiger: Bite Power

Wolves have the strongest bite force in the canine family and their bite force is around 400 PSI or pounds per square inch. This is a significant bite and if a human were to get attacked by such a bite, it would definitely cause an issue.

A tiger has a 1050 PSI or bite power. Now just try to take this in for a moment and think about how much stronger a tiger’s bite is than a wolf’s. It’s about two and a half times stronger than the wolves.

One should really rethink calling lions king of the jungle. Tigers are the true kings.

Wolf vs Tiger: Speed

When you are measuring the speed of an animal, you are trying to tell how fast it is going. A wolf’s range of speed falls between 31 to 37 miles per hour. There are a lot of factors at play that can influence how fast a wolf goes. Still, they usually fall somewhere between 31 to 37 like we mentioned above.

A tiger goes as fast as 30 to 40 mph. Like with the wolf, there are factors at play that can influence how fast a tiger is going to run.

Wolf vs Tiger: Color

The most common color of a wolf is a mixture of white, brown, gray, and black. There is also a subspecies of wolf that can be found in the arctic region that could be completely white.

When you think of the regal tiger, there is a usual color or pattern that you think of them being. It’s the orange and black stripes. However, this isn’t the only color that tigers can believe in. They can also be a mixture of orange, white, gold, blue, and black.

Sometimes when you least expect it, an animal that presents as one way in your mind can present as something entirely different. Tigers are no exception to this. Still, they do come with the stereotypical black and orange stripes that we often think about when we picture these regal animals in our minds.

Wolf vs Tiger: Sound

Wolves communicate with howling, whimpering, barking, and growling. There could even be a mixture of sounds like a bark-howl or growl-bark.When people think of wolves, they think of their howling at the moon late at night. However, you should know that there is more to a wolf than just the howl that it can make on the moon.

For tigers, they make typical sounds like roars, growls, and snarls. Now, while lions can make sounds that sound like purrs, tigers cannot even make even a sound that is like a purr.

Wolf vs Tiger: Paws

Wolves have four toes and an oval-shaped paw. The biggest difference is that the middle toe of a wolf is usually longer, with webbing that can be found between their toes.

A tiger has a sickle-shaped with retracted paws. It’s an exceptionally enormous paw that looks similar to other cats out there, but also is unique in its own way.

Wolf vs Tiger: Senses

All the wolves ‘ senses (hearing, smell, vision) are impressive. They have a strong sense of smell, can see in the dark and process rapid movement, and can hear high-pitched sounds. All especially useful for when they want to find their prey or avoid predators (which aren’t many but still). It never hurts to run.

Now lions might be considered kings of the jungle, but tigers are pretty great in their own right. They have strong eyesight, hearing, and smell. Such dominant senses are important for such animals that are dangerous predators so they can hunt their prey.

Who Would Win in a Fight? Wolf or Tiger

Now we are going to finally answer the question you all have been waiting for! Who would be the one to win a fight between a wolf or a tiger? If you are unsure of who would win this fight at this point in the article, then we really don’t know what to tell you because the answer truly is quite obvious.

A tiger is going to win this fight hands down. There really isn’t any debate about it when you think about it. The tiger is two and a half times bigger than the wolf, even when the wolf is at its heaviest. This alone could hurt the wolf. Factor in their bite power, which is a whopping 1050, then the wolf doesn’t even stand a chance.

Remember, this doesn’t mean the wolf isn’t an amazing creature in its own right. It is at the top in the canine family. They truly are great and magnificent creatures, but if they were going to get into a fight with tigers, there is no way they could survive. A pack of wolves couldn’t even take down a tiger.

Even if they could, a lot of the wolves would face serious or non-serious injuries.

Final Thoughts

And there we have it, all your animal lovers out there. We went into all the ways wolves and tigers are alike and are not. Well, to be honest, they are mostly different, but the companions were very necessary so we could answer the question of who would win in a fight?

The tiger is going to be the winner no matter what way you slice it. They are powerful animals at the top of the food chain. I mean, just look at the sheer size of them. It’s no wonder that they would wipe the floor with the wolf during a fight between the two of them.