Humans may be the one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth, but any of these deadly predators could give us a run for our money. Take a look at...
- Gustave, the Burundian Crocodile With a Body Count in the Hundreds
- The Lions of Tsavo Killed as Many as 135 People
- When Wolves Hunted in the Streets of Paris
- The Malawi "Terror Beast"
- Kesagake, the Sankebetsu Bear
- The Beast of Gévaudan Killed Around 100 People
- The New Jersey Shark Behind "Jaws"
- The 436 Kills of the "Champawat Tigress" Make Her the Deadliest Single Animal in History
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| Nile crocodiles are ambush predators... (Anonymous) |
Gustave, the Burundian Crocodile With a Body Count in the Hundreds
Crocodiles are pretty intimidating creatures in general - but few compare to Gustave, the man eating crocodile of Burundi.Gustave was (or possibly still is...) a Nile crocodile that lived around Lake Tanganyika and reached an abnormally large size for his species.
Nile crocodiles normally hunt prey like zebra, fish or wildebeest, but Gustave favored slower victims due to his bulk. Would you like to guess how a human compares to a zebra in terms of mobility?
The enormous croc is rumored to have killed hundreds of people, with reports going back as far as 1987. Surviving witnesses were able to identify him due to a distinctive scar (probably from a bullet) on his head.
J.H. Patterson described the aftermath of an attack, noting the shredded remains of the victim and the destruction of their camp. The locals named the beasts "Ghost" and "Darkness" thanks to the stealthy tactics used by the man-eating cats.
The first to have a brush with the bear were the Ikeda family. The creature appeared on their doorstep, stole some corn and fled without causing any harm. Emboldened by the successful raid, the bear came back... but was wounded and driven off by a group of gun-armed villagers.
The beast next appeared outside the home of the Ota family - this time it entered the swelling and killed a young woman and the child she was babysitting. Another hunting party located her remains and fired on the bear, but again, only wounded it.
In an attempt to protect the survivors and kill the beast, the villagers stood guard outside the Ota and the neighboring Miyouke households. The bear made another appearance and fled from the guards... drawing them off. Intentional or not, the bear doubled back and entered the now-vulnerable Miyouke house, killing or maiming anyone it came across.
An experienced tracker called Yamamoto Heikichi and a second hunter finally dispatched Kesagake with a head and heart shot from within 20m. The "Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident Reconstruction Location" built in the area commemorates the five-day killing spree.
Things began in 1916 Beach Haven, when Charles Vansant was attacked by something that tore the flesh from his leg as he swam - resulting in him bleeding to death. The idea of a shark attack was actually quite outlandish at the time - some people even blamed the local sea turtles as they were known to "snap."
Five days later, observers thought they saw local bell-boy Charles Bruder get into difficulty - it looked like his red canoe had capsized and partially sunk. The reality was rather grimmer - both of his legs had been bitten off, with the red patch below the surface being a cloud of his blood.
The killer croc was estimated to be 20ft in length and over a ton in weight, covered in scars from his battles with prey and hunters. There are those that claim the beast is dead... but just like a slasher movie villain, no hard evidence has emerged to confirm his demise.
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| Can you spot them? (Jonny_Joka) |
The Lions of Tsavo Killed as Many as 135 People
Building a railway can be dangerous enough without the local wildlife treating the workers as a buffet!
In 1898, railway crews constructing a bridge over the Tsavo River in Africa drew the attention of some big cats. It seemed that a pair of local lions had developed a taste for human flesh - and some estimates put their total kill count as high as 135 people.Tsavo lions are actually bigger and larger than the lions of the savannah, but their lack of large manes (the heat of the area would make them utterly crippling) gives them a very sleek outline.
J.H. Patterson described the aftermath of an attack, noting the shredded remains of the victim and the destruction of their camp. The locals named the beasts "Ghost" and "Darkness" thanks to the stealthy tactics used by the man-eating cats.
The cats may have developed a taste for human flesh after feasting on the human remains left in the wake of slave caravans. It also seems that one of the lions was sick - and an unprepared human would make much easier prey than a wary zebra.
The lions were eventually hunted down by Patterson, who would go on to become a game warden and write about his experiences. While the celebrity man-eaters may be dead, other Tsavo lions will still prey on humans if given the chance!
Curiously, a similar set of attacks had occurred the previous year - with five deaths and twenty mutilations occurring before the creature (identified by officials as a rabid hyena) was brought down. Some of the locals questioned that identification though, noting that the beast didn't have the hind legs of a hyena.
The lions were eventually hunted down by Patterson, who would go on to become a game warden and write about his experiences. While the celebrity man-eaters may be dead, other Tsavo lions will still prey on humans if given the chance!
When Wolves Hunted in the Streets of Paris
Let's take a trip back to 1450 France. The Hundred Years War had depleted Paris of able bodied soldiers and hunters, while the city walls were languishing in a state of disrepair.
It was into this weakened Paris that a pack of starving wolves descended, led by a large individual nicknamed "Courtaud" or "Bobtail." Perhaps emboldened by the shallow-buried victims of war found in outlying villages, these beasts ravaged the streets and feasted on Parisians during their stay. Their killing spree only ended when they were lured into the courtyard of Notre Dame Cathedral and stoned to death by an enraged mob of townsfolk.
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| Hyenas have a powerful bite... (BPBricklayer) |
The Malawi "Terror Beast"
In 2003 over 4,000 people fled from the mountain villages of Malawi, seeking strength in numbers against the "terror beast."
This unidentified creature killed at least three people and mauled another sixteen, with the attacks mangling facial features and maiming limbs.
Curiously, a similar set of attacks had occurred the previous year - with five deaths and twenty mutilations occurring before the creature (identified by officials as a rabid hyena) was brought down. Some of the locals questioned that identification though, noting that the beast didn't have the hind legs of a hyena.
It should be noted that the bite of a hyena is very strong (around 6-7 times as powerful as that of a human) and they would easily be capable of inflicting this kind of damage.
Kesagake, the Sankebetsu Bear
In 1915, the inhabitants of Sankebetsu Rokusen Sawa in Japan experienced an onslaught of ursine attacks. A particularly large Ussuri brown bear (dubbed Kesagake) had come out of hibernation early - and it had woken hungry.The first to have a brush with the bear were the Ikeda family. The creature appeared on their doorstep, stole some corn and fled without causing any harm. Emboldened by the successful raid, the bear came back... but was wounded and driven off by a group of gun-armed villagers.
The beast next appeared outside the home of the Ota family - this time it entered the swelling and killed a young woman and the child she was babysitting. Another hunting party located her remains and fired on the bear, but again, only wounded it.
In an attempt to protect the survivors and kill the beast, the villagers stood guard outside the Ota and the neighboring Miyouke households. The bear made another appearance and fled from the guards... drawing them off. Intentional or not, the bear doubled back and entered the now-vulnerable Miyouke house, killing or maiming anyone it came across.
An experienced tracker called Yamamoto Heikichi and a second hunter finally dispatched Kesagake with a head and heart shot from within 20m. The "Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident Reconstruction Location" built in the area commemorates the five-day killing spree.
The Beast of Gévaudan Killed Around 100 People
I mentioned wolves in Paris above, but that's not the only time France has been terrorized by a wolf (or wolf-like creature.)
In 1764 a mysterious creature menaced a herder and her cattle - but the animals instinctively formed a wall of beef around her and the creature backed off. Jeanne Boulet wasn't so fortunate - the sheep she was tending offered little deterrent to the hungry predator that came for her. A third victim lived long enough to gasp that she'd been attacked by "une bête horrible" or a horrible beast - leading to the name, the Beast of Gévaudan.
Soldiers and professional hunters tried to bring down the creature but to no avail - rumor claimed that the beast was impervious to musket-fire. It continued to take the isolated and vulnerable (with witnesses describing it as "like a wolf, but not a wolf") and eventually racked up a body count of around 100.
It didn't always win fights though - in one instance, a group of young boys were able to drive it off with makeshift spears (and even rescued one of their number it had grabbed in the process.) During another attack, Marie-Jeanne Vallet managed to impale the beast as it leapt for her... only for it to roll into the river she was fording and escape.
The "Beast" was allegedly killed by François Antoine (gunbearer for King Louis XV) but the attacks resumed a couple of months later. They only stopped when local farmer Jean Chastel shot a second large beast - though the body decayed rapidly in the summer heat and had largely rotted by the time it could be examined in Paris.
As a result, we don't actually know what the Beast was. Suggestions include a large (but otherwise normal) wolf, a wolf-war dog hybrid, a hyena, a lion or even a human serial killer using trained animals as their weapon!
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| Cue the "Jaws" theme... (4bplusme) |
The New Jersey Shark Behind "Jaws"
Sharks are viewed (perhaps unfairly) as one of the most dangerous creatures in the ocean. Part of the blame for that can be lain at the... fins of the New Jersey Shark.
Things began in 1916 Beach Haven, when Charles Vansant was attacked by something that tore the flesh from his leg as he swam - resulting in him bleeding to death. The idea of a shark attack was actually quite outlandish at the time - some people even blamed the local sea turtles as they were known to "snap."
Five days later, observers thought they saw local bell-boy Charles Bruder get into difficulty - it looked like his red canoe had capsized and partially sunk. The reality was rather grimmer - both of his legs had been bitten off, with the red patch below the surface being a cloud of his blood.
The predatory fish went on to kill a further two victims (a young boy and his would-be rescuer) before it was killed by a pair of fishermen who spotted it stalking them.
The creature turned out to be a great white shark, with sources claiming that it had a stomach-full of human flesh and bones.
The 436 Kills of the "Champawat Tigress" Make Her the Deadliest Single Animal in History
The tale of the deadliest animal in history is also one of revenge. With prey made scarce by human expansion and a jaw smashed by an incompetent hunter's bullet, a tigress made the fateful choice to hunt slower, overconfident prey... us.
Her early attacks targeted small villages in Nepal, where they were written off as local tragedies. Attitudes began to change as the the body count rose, with a regiment of Nepalese soldiers being deployed to take her out around the time she was at two-hundred kills. They failed.
Rather than stay in the soldier-filled forest, the tigress swam the Sharda River and arrived in India. It wasn't long before she resumed her hunt, always targeting the isolated and vulnerable, usually women and children near the forest's edge - and unusually, frequently during daylight. She'd also relocate between kills, making her incredibly hard to track.
It was an experienced hunter named Jim Corbett who brought her down, following the blood trail of a recent kill and using around three hundred drumming and shouting villagers to flush her out, while positioning himself in her likely escape path.
The plan worked - but now Corbett was facing the enraged and charging Bengal tigress. His shots punched home, but failed to bring her down - until he grabbed a shotgun from one of the villagers and finished her with an almost point-blank blast from a mere 20ft away.
Thanks for reading - for more creepy creatures, check out...