Man-eating animals? (1 Viewer)

[Papuan birder]

Do you have any man-eating animals in your country? Or any animals capable of killing and eating humans? If so, please write something about it here, any confirmed records or possibilities.

We got a few here on PNG, during the past weeks a giant saltwater crocodile have been lurking local fishermen’s, at least 9 people have disappeared the last months and most likely is victims, yesterday the responsible creature was caught, it was a huge male saltwater crocodile measuring 6-7m. It was caught just outside Sorong Island by some local hunters and brought into the city, it was HUGE :eek!:

I have never seen such a large creature and I would get rather nervous to meet such a large animal while out fishing in a tiny wooden canoe.

There is probably a few dozens which gets killed and eaten by saltwater crocodiles here on PNG each year, including the surrounding Islands there is probably over 100

Other species which are known to be eating humans here are the smaller New Guinean crocodile, large monitors and New Guinea singing dog, these three species is known to eating small children.

Sharks probably also kill a few dozen people here each year, I read about that two 4 year old girls were killed and eaten by bull sharks somewhere on Biak some weeks ago, there was a fatal attack at Salawati while I was there apparently involving a Great white shark.

We got a few venomous snakes here on PNG but none is known to eat humans as far Iam aware.

And then we got a few cannibals on PNG as well, I don’t have any idea how many people they consume each year

 

[Tannin]

Saltwater Crocodile in the north of Australia, and that's about it. A Dingo will, very rarely, take a small child or baby, but we are talking maybe once a decade.

It's one thing I really like about living in Australia: the tropical north coastline aside, there are no animals that you need be afraid of. (OK, there are venemous snakes and spiders and some of the scorpions could be rather nasty too, but there is no need to be afraid of snakes, just treat them with respect and give them a chance to fade away into the scenery, which is pretty much the only thing they want to do.)

If there were some of the overseas creatures here (Lions, bears, and so on) then every time I heard a roo crashing through the undergrowth I'd have to change my underwear.

 

[Edward]

It's one thing I really like about living in Australia: the tropical north coastline aside, there are no animals that you need be afraid of. (OK, there are venemous snakes and spiders and some of the scorpions could be rather nasty too, but there is no need to be afraid of snakes, just treat them with respect and give them a chance to fade away into the scenery, which is pretty much the only thing they want to do.)

HAHAHA try telling that to any Pom, Tony! My Dad once claimed that he'd been cornered in a Brisbane garden by a possum. British people hear so many horror stories of funnel-web spiders, red-backs, tiger snakes, taipans, sharks etc. that they are amazed any Australian child survives to reach puberty. Of course, I'm made of much sterner stuff than that, although in Australia I did check my inside my shoes every morning after I left them out at night, did check the log I was about to sit on in the bush, something I'd never do in Europe. But you are right there are no big animals to worry about (unlike when I went walking in Mt Kenya NP in January and our guide had an AK47 with him. Thought it was a gimmick until I saw the abundance of elephant and buffalo droppings in the forest).
I was most disappointed not to see any Salties in northern QLD, not for the lack of signs. I fondly remember at a beach just north of Cairns three huge yellow signs warning you of local perils
DANGER OF DEATH
(picture of box jellyfish)
DANGER OF DEATH
(picture of shark)
DANGER OF DEATH
(picture of saltwater crocodile)
And in the background the sea was full of unconcerned bathers!

Icelanders have been terrified for centuries of their biggest carnivore, the Arctic Fox, which is about the size of a spaniel but less vicious. However, every ten years or so a bigger predator drifts over on pack ice from Greenland, and they are shot on sight, and that is the Polar Bear

E

 

[London Birder]

nothing here that I'm aware of except maybe Eagle Owls which are known to actively hunt people ...

can't speak about Australia as I've never been but I swear the Weta's in NZ could easily disembowel a full grown man

 

[Tannin]

Yeah, but the Poms are afraid of Shane Warne too.

Mate, if you want to trade your Polar Bears for our snakes and assorted other creatures, I ain't swapping! A Tiger Snake or a Copperhead, well, he just wants to fade away into the shrubbery and would much rather you didn't see him at all. A bear just might decide that I'm breakfast! No thankyou.

By the way, a little statistic on snakebite fatalities: well over half of all cases of snakebite in Oz involve the human trying to kill the snake. Stupid people - men usually, women have more sense - see a snake and decide to kill it for reasons of "safety". (For this you may read "reasons of too many hormones in the bloodstream, not enough brains to outsmart the green slime on top of that thing you left in the fridge a bit too long".) Every time that idiocy winds up with the human getting bitten, I think "serves you right you stupid bugger". Keep your distance, always make sure that the snake has an avenue of escape, no problem. (And they are utterly beautiful creatures, as wonderful as any bird. Best viewed through a scope, of course.)

And I'm not surprised that people are afraid of possums: the call of the Common Brushtail is (as you know) utterly bloodcurdling. If you ever get down to my neck of the woods, I'll take you to hear (and maybe see) the Yellow-bellied Gliders - now there is the weirdest call you'll hear in quite a while: think of a schizophrenic Common Brushtail with dislexia. And speaking of not being afraid of snakes, I once watched the look on the face of a German friend of mine hearing a kookaburra for the first time and having absolutely no idea what it was. He looked about as scared as I would feel meeting a Polar Bear! Can't blame him really.

 

[Grousemore]

Yeah, but the Poms are afraid of Shane Warne too.

Not any more, after reclaiming the Ashes last year B

 

[Hanno]

Grew up, and started birding, in Kenya. The biggest killer is the humble Mosquito, but there are, of course, Lions, Elephants, Crocodiles, snakes, etc. The animal I am most wary off though is the Hippo, many people get killed by those. They are herbivores, of course, but very territorial, and when surprised on dry land, very, very dangerous.

In Viet Nam, where I live now, there are still a few Tigers, but not enough to make them a concern. Snakes have all ended up pickled in rice wine. The Waterbuffaloes go crazy sometimes, it is better to steer clear of them.

 

[samuel walker]

Alligators in the south score on a few people each year. Attacks and deaths are occuring from mountain lions or cougars in the west.
Sam

 

[Amazonas_Alex]

Anacondas, jaguars and black caimans are all capable of killing and eating humans, I doubt that cougars in this part of the world is large enough to kill a human, maybe small kids but I never heard about it.

The only animals which regulary kill an eats humans here is the Black caiman and I suppose a few gets killed around Leticia each year.


I have heard som shocking stories of black caimans killing half the human population in some small rainforest villages.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Has anyone seen the excellent film 'Grizzly Man' made by Werner Herzog about Tim Treadwell. Tim was an enthusiast of bears who spent several summers living with Grizzlies in Alaska until an 'altercation' in which Tim and his girlfriend came off worse. Tim loved the bears, and the bears loved Tim. Tasty.

 

[rosbifs]

Papua New Guinea of my wish list!

 

[Edward]

Has anyone seen the excellent film 'Grizzly Man' made by Werner Herzog about Tim Treadwell. Tim was an enthusiast of bears who spent several summers living with Grizzlies in Alaska until an 'altercation' in which Tim and his girlfriend came off worse. Tim loved the bears, and the bears loved Tim. Tasty.

Yes, I was going to mention that today but you beat me to it. I saw it at a film festival here last autumn and it is a superb film (as you'd expect from Herzog - shades of the holy fool Kaspar Hauser and Klaus Kinski in Treadwell as well), one of the best documentaries I've seen. Treadwell was a very complex character, full of paradox, one moment showing nerves of steel, the next toe-curlingly sentimental, he had an ego the size of Alaska and a very strange Disneyfied view of nature, which proved his undoing. Although Treadwell was an easy target for ridicule, Herzog never stooped to doing so. The film put me off the idea of hiking in Alaska though.

E

 

[jurek]

Domestic dogs bite people to death every month in Europe. More Europeans die that way than Australians of crocs and sharks combined.

 

[Papuan birder]

Grew up, and started birding, in Kenya. The biggest killer is the humble Mosquito, but there are, of course, Lions, Elephants, Crocodiles, snakes, etc. The animal I am most wary off though is the Hippo, many people get killed by those. They are herbivores, of course, but very territorial, and when surprised on dry land, very, very dangerous.

In Viet Nam, where I live now, there are still a few Tigers, but not enough to make them a concern. Snakes have all ended up pickled in rice wine. The Waterbuffaloes go crazy sometimes, it is better to steer clear of them.

Yes I read somewhere that Hippos was considered the most dangerous non venomous animal in Africa. I saw some in Kenya, they seems very clumpsy and friendly I guess that way some many gets killed by them.

 

[cuckooroller]

I have some photos on my HDD somewhere of an necroscopy of a huge python in the Philippines - had a full-grown man inside. Not a pleasant way to pass on!!

 

[deborah4]

nothing here that I'm aware of except maybe Eagle Owls which are known to actively hunt people ...

Only pets and children LB - let's keep it in perspective eh!

Also the extremely venomous viper known as the adder who leaps out from long grass and attacks walkers frequently

 

[Papuan birder]

I have some photos on my HDD somewhere of an necroscopy of a huge python in the Philippines - had a full-grown man inside. Not a pleasant way to pass on!!

I think I have seen these photos, the responsible is a reticultated python, right?

I have also seen a photo from the Malaysian peninsula, in that case it where also a reticulated python.

I suppose there is very few snake species which actually eats humans. The reticulated python, green anaconda and African python is the only ones I have found which are known man-eaters, any other snakes?

Even fewer lizards, Komodo dragon and Salvadori monitor as far as I know.

 

[cuckooroller]

Here's a photo. Yes, a Reticulated. I think on Mindanao, but not sure.

 

[Hanno]

Yes I read somewhere that Hippos was considered the most dangerous non venomous animal in Africa. I saw some in Kenya, they seems very clumpsy and friendly I guess that way some many gets killed by them.

Never make that mistake. Clumsy? No way, they are extemely fast, both in and out of the water. And the teeth can easily cut you in two.

As for the guy in the snake, it is almost certainly a fake. Whilst I do not doubt that some of the larger snakes could swallow a (small) human being, that particular photo has been around for years, with different locations, species, etc. A full account and explanation is here: Snake swallows man

 

[Chris D]

I know there's some funky bacteria that will "eat your flesh".

As for crocs...........here's the dried head of a Mamberamo beastie for sale on the streets of Jayapura. Look at the thickness of the teeth.