A man-eater is an animal that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has killed in self-defense. However, all three cases (especially the last two) may habituate an animal to eating human flesh or to
attacking humans, and may foster the development of man-eating behavior.
Although humans can be attacked by many kinds of non-human animals, man-eaters are those that have incorporated human flesh into their usual diet and actively hunt and kill humans. Most reported cases of man-eaters have involved
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
s,
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
s,
leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
s,
polar bears
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species ...
, and large
crocodilian
Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...
s. However, they are not the only predators that will attack humans if given the chance; a wide variety of species have also been known to adopt humans as usual prey, including various
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
s,
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...
s,
spotted and
striped hyenas.
Felines
Tigers
Tigers are recorded to have killed more people than any other big cat, and have been responsible for more human deaths through direct attack than any other wild mammal.
[Nowak, Ronald M; and Paradiso, John L. Walker's Mammals of the World. 4th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1983. p1088] About 1,000 people were reportedly killed each year in India during the early 1900s, with
one individual Bengal tigress killing 436 people in India.
Tigers killed 129 people in the Sundarbans mangrove forest from 1969 to 1971.
Unlike leopards and lions, man-eating tigers rarely enter human habitations in order to acquire prey. The majority of victims were reportedly in the tiger's territory when the attack took place.
Additionally, tiger attacks mostly occur during daylight hours, unlike those involving leopards and lions.
The
Sundarbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly R ...
is home to approximately 600
royal Bengal tiger
The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna.
The tiger is estimated to have been present i ...
s
who before modern times used to "regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year".
In 2008, a loss of habitat due to the
Cyclone Sidr
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr was a tropical cyclone that resulted in one of the worst natural disasters in Bangladesh. The fourth named storm of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Sidr formed in the central Bay of Bengal, and q ...
led to an increase in the number of attacks on humans in the Indian side of the
Sunderbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in Ganges Delta, the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma River, Padma, Brahmaputra River, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bang ...
, as tigers were crossing over to the Indian side from Bangladesh.
A theory promoted to explain this suggests that since tigers drink
fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
, the
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
of the area waters serve as a destabilizing factor in the diet and life of tigers of Sundarbans, keeping them in constant discomfort and making them extremely aggressive. Other theories include the sharing of their habitat with humans and the consumption of human corpses during floods.
Lions
![Lionsoftsavo2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Lionsoftsavo2008.jpg)
Man-eating lions have been recorded to actively enter human villages at night as well as during the day to acquire prey. This greater assertiveness usually makes man-eating lions easier to dispatch than tigers. Lions typically become man-eaters for the same reasons as tigers: starvation, old age and illness, though as with tigers, some man-eaters were reportedly in perfect health.
The most notorious case of man-eating lions ever documented happened in 1898 in what was then known as British East Africa, now
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. During the construction of a rail bridge over the Tsavo river (part of the Uganda railway) in modern day Tsavo national park, two enormous maneless male Tsavo lions terrorized the railway workers, most of them imported from India, and were believed to have killed or devoured over 130 men. The entire railway project had to be halted as the then British prime minister sounded the alarm. They were eventually tracked and killed by the project’s chief engineer and required 8 men to carry each to camp.
Man-eating lions studies indicate that
African lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...
s eat humans as a supplement to other food, not as a last resort.
In July 2018, a South African news website reported that three rhino poachers were mauled and eaten by lions at Sibuya Game Reserve in Eastern Cape province, South Africa.
Leopards
Man-eating leopards are a small percentage of all leopards, but have undeniably been a menace in some areas;
[Nowak, Ronald M; and Paradiso, John L. Walker's Mammals of the World. 4th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1983. p1090] one leopard in India killed over 200 people.
Jim Corbett
Edward James Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was a British hunter, tracker, naturalist, and author who hunted a number of man-eating tigers and leopards in the Indian subcontinent.
He held the rank of colonel in the British Indian ...
was noted to have stated that unlike tigers, which usually became man-eaters because of infirmity, leopards more commonly did so after scavenging on human corpses. In the area that Corbett knew well, dead people are usually
cremated
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
completely, but when there is a bad disease epidemic, the death rate outruns the supply of cremation
pyre
A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...
wood and people burn the body a little and throw it over the edge of the
burning ghat
Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ...
.
In Asia, man-eating leopards usually attack at night, and have been reported to break down doors and thatched roofs in order to reach human prey. Attacks in Africa are reported less often, though there have been occasions where attacks occurred in daylight. Both Corbett and Kenneth Anderson have written that hunting the man eating panther presented more challenges than any other animal. In 2019 in India, an infant was stolen and decapitated by a leopard.
Jaguars
Jaguar attacks on humans are rare nowadays.
In the past, they were more frequent, at least after the arrival of
Conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
s in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. The risk to humans would likely increase if the number of
capybaras
The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...
, the jaguar's primary prey, decreased.
Cougars
Due to the
expanding human population, cougar ranges increasingly overlap with areas inhabited by humans. Attacks on humans are very rare, as cougar prey recognition is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey. Attacks on people, livestock, and pets may occur when a puma habituates to humans or is in a condition of severe starvation. Attacks are most frequent during late spring and summer, when juvenile cougars leave their mothers and search for new territory. Unlike other big cat man-eaters, cougars do not kill humans as a result of old age or food preference, but in defense of their territory. Such behavior has been documented in hunts by humans, where the cougar is flushed out by dogs which it either outruns or mauls some distance away. Then, the cougar circles around and mauls the hunter in ambush attack.
Primates
The only documented man-eaters among the
great apes
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the east ...
are
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
s themselves and
chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
s. As humans encroach further on chimpanzee habitat, the occurrence of them killing human children has allegedly become more common.
Canids
Wolves
![Wolves of Perigord](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Wolves_of_Perigord.jpg)
Contrasted to other carnivorous mammals known to attack humans for food, the frequency with which wolves have been recorded to kill people is rather low, indicating that, though potentially dangerous, wolves are among the least threatening for their size and predatory potential, except for the dog which poses
lethal hazards for reasons other than predation. In the rare cases in which man-eating wolf attacks occur, the majority of victims are children.
Habituation
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning in which an innate (non-reinforced) response to a stimulus decreases after repeated or prolonged presentations of that stimulus. Responses that habituate include those that involve the intact org ...
is a known factor contributing to some man-eating wolf attacks which results from living close to human habitations, causing wolves to lose their fear of humans and consequently approach too closely, much like urban coyotes. Habituation can also happen when people intentionally encourage wolves to approach them, usually by offering them food, or unintentionally, when people do not sufficiently intimidate them.
This is corroborated by accounts demonstrating that wolves in protected areas are more likely to show
boldness
Boldness is the opposite of shyness. To be bold implies a willingness to get things done despite risks. Boldness may be a property that only certain individuals are able to display.
For example, in the context of sociability, a bold person may ...
toward humans than ones in areas where they are actively hunted.
Dingoes
Attacks on humans by
dingo
The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
es are rare, with only two recorded fatalities in Australia. Dingoes are normally shy of humans and avoid encounters with them. The most famous record of a dingo attack was the 1980 disappearance of nine-week-old
Azaria Chamberlain
Azaria ( he, עֲזַרְיָה), or Azarya is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah around five kilometres south-east of Ramle, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Etymology ...
. Her parents reported that they both saw a dingo taking Azaria out of their tent when she and her family were out on a camping trip to
Uluru
Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...
. In 2019 in Australia, a father saved his 14-month-old child from a dingo which had dragged it away.
Domestic dogs
Although dogs have many of the characteristics of bears and big cats, they are unlikely to act as man-eaters themselves. More often humans can be bitten to death by packs of stray dogs, but not eaten. It often occurs in the countries of Eastern Europe, ex-USSR countries, and some South Asian countries like India. Predatory acts by dogs upon humans have occurred, however, and many such incidents were the result of human misconduct.
Coyotes
Almost all known predatory
coyote attacks on humans
Coyote attacks are events where coyotes attack humans. While uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries, they have been increasing in frequency, especially in the state of California. Although media reports of such attacks generally identify the a ...
have failed. To date, other than the
Kelly Keen coyote attack and the
Taylor Mitchell coyote attack, all known victims have survived by fighting, fleeing, or being rescued, and only in the latter case was the victim partially eaten, although that case occurred in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
where the local animals are
eastern coyote
An eastern coyote in the snow near the West Virginia–Virginia state line">Virginia.html" ;"title="West Virginia–Virginia">West Virginia–Virginia state line
The eastern coyote is a wild North American canine hybrid with both coyote and wolf ...
s (
coywolves).
Jackals
In June 2019, a nine-year-old boy was killed by
jackal
Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...
s in
Farakka,
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, India. This was witnessed by a neighbor, who saw the child's half-eaten body being dragged by the pack of seven jackals.
Bears
Polar bears
Polar bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...
s, particularly young and undernourished ones, will hunt people for food. Although bears rarely attack humans, bear attacks often cause devastating injuries due to the size and immense strength of the giant land and shoreline carnivores. As with dogs, predatory intent is not necessary; territorial disputes and protection of cubs can result in death by bear attack. Truly man-eating bear attacks are uncommon, but are known to occur when the animals are diseased or natural prey is scarce, often leading them to attack and eat anything they are able to kill.
Brown bears
Brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
s are known to sometimes hunt hikers and campers for food in North America. For example, Lance Crosby, 63, of Billings, Montana, was hiking alone and without bear spray in
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
in August 2015 when he was attacked by a
grizzly bear
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
. The park rules say people should hike in groups and always carry bear spray - a form of pepper spray that is used to deter aggressive bears. His body was found in the Lake Village section of the park in northwest Wyoming.
Timothy Treadwell
Timothy Treadwell (born Timothy William Dexter; April 29, 1957 – October 5, 2003) was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, documentary filmmaker, and founder of the bear-protection organization Grizzly People. He lived among coast ...
and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed and almost fully eaten by a 28-year-old brown bear on October 5, 2003. The bear's stomach was later found to contain human remains and clothing. In July 2008, dozens of starving brown bears killed two geologists working at a
salmon hatchery in
Kamchatka
The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...
. After the partially eaten remains of the two workers were discovered, authorities responded by dispatching hunters to cull or disperse the bears.
American black bears
While
American black bear
The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...
s rarely attack people, lone, predatory black bears are responsible for most fatal black bear attacks on humans in the United States and Canada, according to a study from 2011. Unlike female bears, motivated to attack humans to protect cubs, male black bears actually prey on humans, viewing them as a potential food source.
Asian black bears and Sloth bears
Though usually shy and cautious animals,
Asian black bear
The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sout ...
s are more aggressive toward humans than the brown bears of Eurasia.
[''Bear Anatomy and Physiology'' from Gary Brown's ''The Great Bear Almanac'', Lyons & Burford, Publishers, 1993] Brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
s seldom attack humans on sight, and usually avoid people. They are, however, unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened.
[''Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance'' by Stephen Herrero, Hurtig Publishers Ltd./ Edmonton 1985] In some areas of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
sloth bear
The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as Vulnerable species, vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss ...
s are more feared than tigers, due to their unpredictable temperament.
Hyenas
Although
hyena
Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...
s readily feed upon human corpses, they are generally very wary of humans and less dangerous than the big cats whose territory overlaps with theirs. Nonetheless, both the
spotted hyena
The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...
and the smaller
striped hyena are powerful predators quite capable of killing an adult human, and are known to attack people when food is scarce. Like most predators, hyena attacks tend to target women, children, and infirm men, though both species can and do attack healthy adult males on occasion. The spotted hyena is the more dangerous of the two species, being larger, more predatory, and more aggressive than the striped hyena. The
brown hyena
The brown hyena (''Parahyaena brunnea''), also called strandwolf, is a species of hyena found in Namibia, Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and South Africa. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Parahyaena''. It ...
and
aardwolf
The aardwolf (''Proteles cristata'') is an insectivorous species of hyena, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth-wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called maanhaar-jackal (Afrikaans for " mane-jackal"), termite-eatin ...
are not known to prey on humans.
Suidae
Pigs
Pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
s are competent predators and can kill and eat helpless humans unable to escape them.
Numerous
animal trial
In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human animal. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. In modern times, it is considered in most criminal justic ...
s in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
involved pigs accused of eating children. In 2019, a woman was attacked and killed by a herd of feral hogs in rural Texas. She died due to
exsanguination
Exsanguination is death caused by loss of blood. Depending upon the health of the individual, people usually die from losing half to two-thirds of their blood; a loss of roughly one-third of the blood volume is considered very serious. Even a sing ...
from bite wounds.
Rodents
Rats
Despite small individual size,
rats in large numbers can kill helpless people by eating humans alive.
Rat torture
Rat torture is the use of rats to torture a victim by encouraging them to attack and eat the victim alive.
History
The "Rats Dungeon", or "Dungeon of the Rats", was a feature of the Tower of London alleged by Roman Catholic writers from the Eli ...
has been documented by
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
.
Large sized rats (some as big as a small cat) have been seen to feed upon human corpses in mortuaries in India.
Reptiles
Crocodiles
Crocodile attacks on people are common in places where crocodiles are native. The
saltwater
Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...
and
Nile crocodile
The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...
s are responsible for more attacks and more deaths than any other wild predator that attacks humans for food. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks are attributed to the Nile crocodile within
sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. Because many relatively healthy populations of Nile crocodiles occur in East Africa, their proximity to people living in poverty and/or without infrastructure has made it likely that the Nile crocodile is responsible for more attacks on humans than all other species combined. One notorious man eating crocodilian was
Gustave. In Australia, crocodiles have also been responsible for several deaths in the tropical north of the country. The
mugger crocodile
The mugger crocodile (''Crocodylus palustris'') is a medium-sized broad- snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshes, ...
is another man-eater that kills many people in Asia each year, although not to the same level as the saltwater and Nile crocodiles. All crocodile species are also dangerous to humans, but most do not actively prey on them.
Alligators
Despite their manifest ability to kill prey similar to or larger than humans in size and their commonness in an area of dense human settlement (the southeastern United States, especially Florida),
American alligator
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the g ...
s rarely prey upon humans. Even so, there have been several notable instances of alligators opportunistically attacking humans, especially the careless, small children, and elderly. Unlike the far more dangerous saltwater and Nile crocodiles, the majority of alligators avoid contact with humans if possible, especially if they have been hunted. Incidents have happened, and they may not all have been predatory in nature.
Snakes
Only very few species of snakes are physically capable of swallowing an adult human. Although quite a few claims have been made about giant snakes swallowing adult humans, only a limited number have been confirmed. In 2017 in Indonesia, an
adult was discovered inside of a python, and on 14 June 2018 a 54-year-old woman named Wa Tiba was eaten by a reticulated python, which had slithered into her garden at her home. Large constricting snakes will sometimes constrict and kill prey that are too large to swallow. Also, multiple cases are documented of medium-sized ( to ) captive
Burmese python
The Burmese python (''Python bivittatus'') is one of the largest species of snakes. It is native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Until 2009, it was considered a subspecies of the Indian python ...
s constricting and killing humans, including several nonintoxicated, healthy adult men, one of whom was a "student" zookeeper.
In the zookeeper case, the python was attempting to swallow the zookeeper's head when other keepers intervened.
In addition, at least one Burmese python as small as constricted and killed an intoxicated adult man.
A large constricting snake may constrict or swallow an infant or a small child, a threat that is legitimate and empirically proven. Cases of python attacks on children have been recorded for the
green anaconda
The green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus''), also known as the giant Emerald anaconda, common anaconda, common water boa or sucuri, is a boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest and one of the longest known extant snake species. Lik ...
,
the African rock python, and the Burmese python.
In the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, more than a quarter of
Aeta
The Aeta (Ayta ), Agta, or Dumagat, are collective terms for several Filipino indigenous peoples who live in various parts of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. They are considered to be part of the Negrito ethnic groups and share common ...
men (a modern forest-dwelling hunter-gatherer group) have reported surviving
reticulated python
The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's longest snake, and is among the three heaviest. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its w ...
predation attempts.
Pythons are nonvenomous, ambush predators, and both the Aeta and pythons hunt deer, wild pigs, and monkeys, making them competitors and prey.
In South Africa in 2002, a 10-year-old boy was swallowed whole by a African Rock Python, but cases like these are empirically observed and recorded, but not entirely confirmed unlike the cases mentioned above.
In Australia there has been one recorded case of an
Amethystine python
The amethystine python ('' Simalia amethistina'', formerly known as ''Morelia amethistina''), also known as the scrub python or ''sanca permata'' in Indonesian, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is found ...
attempting to consume an adult human.
Lizards
Large
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...
s are the only known lizard species to occasionally attack and consume humans. Because they live on remote islands, attacks are infrequent and may go unreported. Despite their large size, attacks on people are often unsuccessful and the victims manage to escape with their lives, albeit severely wounded.
Birds
Some evidence supports the contention that the
African crowned eagle occasionally views human children as prey, with a witness account of one attack (in which the victim, a seven-year-old boy, survived and the eagle was killed), and the discovery of part of a human child skull in a nest. This would make it the only living bird known to prey on humans, although other birds such as ostriches and
cassowaries
Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on their sternum bones) and are native t ...
have killed humans in self-defense and a
lammergeier
The bearded vulture (''Gypaetus barbatus''), also known as the lammergeier and ossifrage, is a very large bird of prey and the only member of the genus ''Gypaetus''. Traditionally considered an Old World vulture, it actually forms a separate mi ...
might have killed
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
by accident. Various large raptors like
golden eagles
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...
are reported attacking humans, but its unclear if they intend to eat them or if they have ever been successful in killing one.
A series of incidents in which a
martial eagle
The martial eagle (''Polemaetus bellicosus'') is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa.Ferguson-Lees & Christie, ''Raptors of the World''. Houghton Mifflin Company (2001), . It is the only member of the genus ''Polemaetus''. A species of t ...
attacked and killed one human child as well as injuring two others was recorded in Ethiopia in 2019.
Some fossil evidence indicates large
birds of prey
Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators ...
occasionally preyed on prehistoric hominids. The
Taung Child
The Taung Child (or Taung Baby) is the fossilised skull of a young ''Australopithecus africanus''. It was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa. Raymond Dart described it as a new species ...
, an early human found in Africa, is believed to have been killed by an eagle-like bird similar to the
crowned eagle
The crowned eagle, also known as the African crowned eagle or the crowned hawk-eagle (''Stephanoaetus coronatus''), is a large bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to eastern areas.Sinclair & Ryan (2003) ...
. The extinct
Haast's eagle
Haast's eagle (''Hieraaetus moorei'') is an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand, commonly accepted to be the pouakai of Māori legend.[New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...]
, and this conclusion would be consistent with
Maori folklore. ''
Leptoptilos robustus
''Leptoptilos robustus'' (from reek: thin, slender+ reek: soft featherand atin: strong is an extinct species of large-bodied stork belonging to the genus ''Leptoptilos'' that lived on the island of Flores in Indonesia during the Pleistocene ...
'' might have preyed on both ''
Homo floresiensis
''Homo floresiensis'' also known as "Flores Man"; nicknamed "Hobbit") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago.
The remains of an i ...
'' and anatomically modern humans, and the
Malagasy crowned eagle
The Malagasy crowned eagle (''Stephanoaetus mahery''), also known as the Madagascar crowned hawk-eagle, is an extinct large bird of prey endemic to Madagascar.
It has been proposed that this bird, combined with elephant bird eggs, were the sourc ...
,
teratorns
Teratornithidae is an extinct family (biology), family of very large Bird of prey, birds of prey that lived in North and South America from the Oligocene, Late Oligocene to the Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene. They include some of the largest known ...
,
Woodward's eagle
Woodward's eagle (''Buteogallus woodwardi'') is an extinct species of eagle that lived in North America and the Caribbean during the Late Pleistocene.
It is one of the largest birds of prey ever found, with an estimated total length , slightly ...
and ''
Caracara major'' are similar in size to the Haast's eagle, implying that they similarly could pose a threat to a human being.
Fish
Sharks
![Shark warning - Salt Rock South Africa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Shark_warning_-_Salt_Rock_South_Africa.jpg)
Contrary to popular belief, only a limited number of shark species are known to pose a serious threat to humans. The species that are most dangerous can be indiscriminate and will take any potential meal they happen to come across (as an oceanic whitetip might eat a person floating in the water after a shipwreck), or may bite out of curiosity or mistaken identity (as with a great white shark attacking a human on a surfboard possibly because it resembles its favoured prey, a seal).
Of more than 568
shark species, only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the
great white shark
The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
,
tiger shark
The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of requiem shark and the last extant member of the family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, capable of attaining a length over . Populations are found in many tropical and tempera ...
,
bull shark
The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in riv ...
,
[ISA]
Statistics on Attacking Species of Shark
/ref> and the oceanic whitetip shark
The oceanic whitetip shark (''Carcharhinus longimanus''), also known as shipwreck shark, Brown Milbert's sand bar shark, brown shark, lesser white shark, nigano shark, oceanic white-tipped whaler, and silvertip shark, is a large pelagic requiem ...
. These sharks, being large, powerful predators, may sometimes attack and kill humans; it is worth noting that they have all been filmed in open water by unprotected divers.
Piranhas
Attacks by piranhas
A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...
resulting in deaths have occurred in the Amazon basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...
. In 2011, a drunk 18-year-old man was attacked and killed in Rosario del Yata, Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
. In 2012, a five-year-old Brazilian girl was attacked and killed by a shoal of ''P. nattereri''. Some Brazilian rivers have warning signs about lethal piranhas.
Catfish
Reports have been made of goonch catfish eating humans in the Kali River in India. Additionally there have been reports of Wels catfish
The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been introd ...
killing and eating humans in Europe. Large predatory catfish such as the Redtail catfish and Piraiba are thought to have contributed to the loss of life when the Sobral Santos II ferry sank in the Amazon River in 1981.
Groupers
The Giant grouper
The giant grouper (''Epinephelus lanceolatus''), also known as the Queensland grouper, brindle grouper or mottled-brown sea bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serr ...
is one of the largest species of bony fish in the world, reaching a maximum length of 3 meters and weight of 600 kilograms. There have been cases of this species attacking and possibly consuming humans, along with the closely-related Atlantic goliath grouper
The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara (''Epinephelus itajara''), formerly known as the jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest species of bony fish. The species can be found in the west ranging from northeaste ...
.
Invertebrates
Cephalopods
Some large cephalopods, in particular the Humboldt squid
The Humboldt squid (''Dosidicus gigas''), also known as jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid (EN), and Pota in Peru or Jibia in Chile (ES) is a large, predatory squid living in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus ''D ...
, are said to attack and eat humans.
Death tolls
Individual man-eater death tolls include:
* 436 — Champawat tiger
The Champawat Tiger was a Bengal Tigress responsible for an estimated 436 deaths in Nepal and the Kumaon division of India, during the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. Her attacks have been listed in the ...
(Nepal/India)
* 400 — Leopard of Panar
Leopard attacks are attacks inflicted upon humans, other leopards and other animals by the leopard. The frequency of leopard attacks on humans varies by geographical region and historical period. Despite the leopard's (''Panthera pardus'') extensi ...
(Northern India)
* 300+ — Gustave (crocodile)
Gustave is a large male Nile crocodile from Burundi. He is notorious for being a man-eater and is rumored to have killed as many as 300 people from the banks of the Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika. Though the actual numb ...
(Burundi), rumoured
* 150 — Leopard of the Central Provinces of India
* 135 — Tsavo's man-eating lions (Kenya)
* 125+ — Leopard of Rudraprayag
The Leopard of Rudraprayag was a male man-eating leopard, reputed to have killed over 125 people. It was eventually killed by hunter and author Jim Corbett.
Attacks
The first victim of the leopard was from Benji Village, and was killed in ...
(India)
* 113+ (a 1987 study suggests that the beast had killed up to 500 victims) — Beast of Gévaudan
The Beast of Gévaudan (french: La Bête du Gévaudan, ; oc, La Bèstia de Gavaudan) is the historic name associated with a man-eating animal or animals that terrorised the former province of Gévaudan (consisting of the modern-day department of ...
(France)
* 100 - Leopard of Golis Range (Somaliland), Leopard of Kahani (India) and Tigress Of Bhimashankar (India)
* 90+ - Chiengi lion (Africa)
* 83 - Osama Crocodile (Africa)
* 64 - Tigers of Chowgarh
The Tigers of Chowgarh were a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers, consisting of an old tigress and her sub-adult cub, which for over a five-year period killed a reported 64 people in eastern Kumaon over an area spanning . The tigress was attacking hu ...
(India)
* 60+ - Wolves of Uttar Pradesh (India) [ Jhala, Y.V. and D.K. Sharma. 1997. Child-lifting by wolves in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Journal of Wildlife Research 2(2):94–101]
* 50+ — Osama Lion (Africa)
* 43 - Namelieza Lion (Africa) [
* 42 — Leopard of Gummalapur (India)
* 40 — Wolves of Paris (France)
* 36 - Mulanje Hyenas (Africa)
* 30+ - Leopard of Mulher Valley (India) ]
* 24 - Tiger of the Dudhwa National Park
The Dudhwa National Park is a national park in the Terai belt of marshy grasslands in northern Uttar Pradesh, India. It stretches over an area of , with a buffer zone of . It is part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the Kheri and Lakhimpur distric ...
(India)
* 22 — Kirov wolf attacks (Russia) and Wolves of Turku
The Wolves of Turku were a trio of man-eating wolves which in 1880 and 1881 killed 22 children in Turku, Finland. The average age
of the victims of these wolves was 5.9 years. Their depredations caused such concern that the local and national gove ...
(Finland)
* 18 — Beast of Sarlat (likely a rabid wolf) (France)
* 17 — Wolves of Ashta (India)
* 15 — Tigress of Jowlagiri (Jowlagiri)
* 13 — Wolves of Hazaribagh (India) and Tigress of Yavatmal (India)
* 12 — Wolf of Gysinge
The Wolf of Gysinge was a man-eating wolf which, in three months, attacked and killed many children in Gysinge near central Sweden in the early 1820s.
Attacks
During a three-month period between December 30, 1820, and March 27, 1821, the wolf at ...
(Sweden), Sloth bear of Mysore
The Sloth bear of Mysore was an unusually aggressive Indian sloth bear responsible for the deaths of at least 12 people and the mauling of two dozen others in 1957. It was killed by Kenneth Anderson, who described it in his memoirs ''Man-Eaters ...
(India) and Leopard of Punanai (Sri Lanka) [ (A shortened account of the story by Roper S. Agar as published in the Sri Lanka Wildlife Society's magazine Loris Volume 1, December 1938, No. 5.)]
* 11 — Port St-John Shark Attacks (South Africa Second Beach 2001–Present)
* 10 - Gaver Tigers
Gaver Tigers were man-eating tigers identified in Bardiya National Park of Nepal. By April 2021, the tigers killed ten people and injured several others. Three of the tigers were captured and transferred to rescue centers. One of the tigers escap ...
(India)
* 9 - Wolf of Cusago (Italy) [ Oriani, A. & Comincini, M]
Morti causate dal lupo in Lombardia e nel Piemonte Orientale nel XVIII secolo
, in atti del Seminario "Vivere la morte nel Settecento", Santa Margherita Ligure 30 settembre - 2 ottobre 2002
* 7 — Tiger of Mundachipallam
Kenneth Douglas Stewart Anderson (8 March 1910 – 30 August 1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.
Biography
Kenneth Anderson was born in Bolarum, Secunderabad and came fr ...
(South India), Sankebetsu bear (Japan) and Tigress of Moradabad
* 6 — Mfuwe man eating lion (Zambia) and Crocodile of Bang Mood (Thailand)
* 5 - Tiger of Segur (India)
* 4 — Wolf of Soissons
The Wolf of Soissons was a man-eating wolf which terrorized the commune of Soissons northeast of Paris over a period of two days in 1765, attacking eighteen people, four of whom died from their wounds.
The first victim of the wolf was a pregnant ...
(France), New Jersey Shark (North New Jersey) and Thak man-eater
The Thak man-eater was a female Bengal tiger who killed and ate four human victims (two women, two men) between September and November 1938. She was operating in Kumaon, at the Nepalese border, between the villages Thak, Chuka, Kot Kindri and Se ...
(India)
* 3 — Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills
Kenneth Douglas Stewart Anderson (8 March 1910 – 30 August 1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.
Biography
Kenneth Anderson was born in Bolarum, Secunderabad and came fr ...
(India)
* uncertain number (source states that the number of victim could be as high as 1500, but the events are credited as somewhat fictionalized) - Lions of Njombe (Africa)
* uncertain number - Battle of Ramree Island Crocodile attacks (Myanmar)
* uncertain number — Wolf of Ansbach
The Wolf of Ansbach was a man-eating wolf that attacked and killed an unknown number of people in the Principality of Ansbach in 1685, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire.
History
Initially a nuisance preying on livestock, the wolf soon began at ...
(Holy Roman Empire)
* uncertain number (some sources state that the number of victims could be as high as 150) — USS ''Indianapolis'' shark attacks (Philippines Sea)
* uncertain number — IIT Gandhinagar stray dog attacks (India)
See also
* Animal attack
Animal attacks are violent attacks caused by non-human animals against humans, one of the most common being bites. These attacks are a cause of human injuries and fatalities worldwide. According to the ''2012 U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics ...
* ''Damnatio ad bestias
''Damnatio ad bestias'' (Latin for "condemnation to beasts") was a form of Roman capital punishment where the condemned person was killed by wild animals, usually lions or other big cats. This form of execution, which first appeared during the Ro ...
'', an ancient form of execution where condemned prisoners were killed by animals
* Human–wildlife conflict
Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) refers to the negative interactions between human and wild animals, with undesirable consequences both for people and their resources, on the one hand, and wildlife and their habitats on the other (IUCN 2020). HWC ...
* Malawi Terror Beast
* Man-eating plant
A man-eating plant is a legendary carnivorous plant large enough to kill and consume a human or other large animal. Various such myths and fictional tales exist around the world.
The Madagascar tree
The earliest known report of a man-eating plan ...
, various legendary large carnivorous plants
References
{{Animal bites and stings
Animal attacks
Anthropophagy
Deaths due to animal attacks