Would Martial Arts be useful for an intelligent, powerful, quadrupedal animal?
Humans developed martial arts to give themselves an advantage in combat against untrained, but possibly stronger or better-armed opponents. Presumably, martial arts are one way of making up for the fact that we humans have rather pathetic natural combat abilities as compared to other animals our size (no claws, small teeth, poor bite force, thin skin, etc).
If a large, powerful and naturally armed animal like a tiger, jaguar, or bear was also just as intelligent as a human, would such creatures benefit from developing their own martial arts, either to fight humans, or to fight each other?
Phrased another way: would sapient creatures with physical attributes similar to tigers or bears have any need for martial arts?
(The question of what any given species' physiology would allow in terms of mobility, reach, and grasping will be posed in another thread.)
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1 answer
Yes, and after all, why not.
Non-sentient animals have already some form of combat practice coded-in their genome or they learn in in their life (e.g., wolf who hunts in packs or lunge for the throat of the prey, male deers who compete with their antlers, and so on). This is not comparable to martial arts, but is a good example of what nature does to bring out each species peculiar characteristic.
A sentient animal is somewhat forced to choose. It could try to rely on its instincts alone - again, this is not different from what we do, since dangerous situations trigger the "fight or flee" response - or bring its rationality into the fight.
Instincts alone are great, and it may seem that a fierce animal, such as a tiger, doesn't need any kind of martial art to come by. But instincts can be tricked: an animal may be scared by a bigger one of its species, by a bigger, unknown one, by something it doesn't understand, by fire ... Strength is tricky in the same way, since you can develop your strength, but you may always find someone stronger than you.
Martial art - at least most martial arts that I know of - brings technique and some sort of cold-headed attitude into the fight. It's difficult to imagine what it would be like for a tiger, but it could rely in knowing what the best muscles in its body are, how to exploit them, and how to optimize most attacks. Remember that a lesser amount of force can be more effective, if delivered in a right, precise way, than trying to hit randomly at full strength.
Martial arts could teach our sentient animal when it's a good idea to bite, to lunge, to circle around an enemy, to stalk them, and so on. What to do if it faces other of its kind - or other threatening animals, or again humans with or without weapons.
The example of @user2851843 is a good one, since the armored bears are - by definition - armored. Those armors provide protection to the bear delicate parts - as the underbelly or the throat - and can provide protection from bullets or from the claws of another bear (at least for some time).
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