# The Most Dangerous Animal Ever...



## mosaix (Dec 12, 2009)

I know there's a popular idea that Man is the most dangerous animal, but consider this...

Scientists estimate that the female mosquito is responsible for the deaths of perhaps half of all the human beings that ever lived.


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## Sparrow (Dec 12, 2009)

The little critters _are_ nasty.


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## dustinzgirl (Dec 12, 2009)

No, its spiders. I don't care what anybody says and I don't care that its not actually an animal.


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## mosaix (Dec 12, 2009)

dustinzgirl said:


> No, its spiders. I don't care what anybody says and I don't care that its not actually an animal.



I think spiders are allowed to count as 'animals' in this context DG.


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## Overread (Dec 12, 2009)

pfffft mosquitos might have killed a lot of humans, but I bet running close second is people killing people. And besides its not like they have actually managed to wipe us out - infact our populations today are far larger than ever before in the past. Mosquitos thus fail.

Now humans on the other hand - we are rather good a wiping out creatures - to the extent we even have our own mass extinction age now


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## The Ace (Dec 12, 2009)

Yup, and I'd take a close look at the rat flea as well.


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## Vargev (Dec 12, 2009)

I think the humble monkey deserves a mention too, after all it was their blood who gave us HIV.


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## mosaix (Dec 13, 2009)

Vargev said:


> I think the humble monkey deserves a mention too, after all it was their blood who gave us HIV.



Funny you should say that Vargev, this week's New Scientist reports that researchers at the University of Rochester, New York, have found a sequence in the HIV genome that may have originated in ancient cats lending credence the theory that HIV began in tigers or lions before passing to monkeys, then humans.


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## K. Riehl (Dec 13, 2009)

Female mosquitoes were under control due to the development of DDT. 

After DDT was banned in 1972 an estimated additional 30 million deaths occurred from malaria in Africa alone.

Various African countries are defying the international ban on DDT and using it to try and keep the spread of malaria under control.
BBC News | AFRICA | DDT and Africa's war on malaria

WHO Urges Use of DDT in Africa - washingtonpost.com


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## Drachir (Dec 13, 2009)

Overread said:


> pfffft mosquitos might have killed a lot of humans, but I bet running close second is people killing people. And besides its not like they have actually managed to wipe us out - infact our populations today are far larger than ever before in the past. Mosquitos thus fail.
> 
> Now humans on the other hand - we are rather good a wiping out creatures - to the extent we even have our own mass extinction age now




Actually in war disease has almost always been the number one killer.

However, as long as we are awarding prizes why not give number one to the real killers, the microbes that are the actual killers, rather than just the carriers such as the mosquito?


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## Overread (Dec 13, 2009)

K. Riehl said:


> Female mosquitoes were under control due to the development of DDT.
> 
> After DDT was banned in 1972 an estimated additional 30 million deaths occurred from malaria in Africa alone.



South America also has a very similar problem also - though I think some countries there might still use DDT or a similar chemical controler. The key problem though is not the lack of use of DDT, but the fact that (at least in S. America) large areas of the forest are being cleared, which as a result is leaving many pools of water with ideal breeding conditions for more mosquitoes - so there are also very increased numbers to contend with as well.


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## Urien (Dec 13, 2009)




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## AE35Unit (Dec 13, 2009)

dustinzgirl said:


> No, its spiders. I don't care what anybody says and I don't care that its not actually an animal.


Oh theyre definitely animals, and theyre hardly a big threat. I have 4 tarantulas. People are always asking, what if you get bit? But you know youre more likely to get bitten by your family dog than a tarantula!


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## dustinzgirl (Dec 13, 2009)

Trantulas are OK. My aunt had one before. They do not creep me out because most tarantulas are furry and nice until they get effed with. 

Is the brown recluses, wolf spiders, and hobo spiders that scare me. 

Also, in general if we are considering spiders as animals then bacteria would also be animals and I guarantee that bacteria has killed more people than any other animal, regardless of the carrier.


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## AE35Unit (Dec 13, 2009)

Oh dust, tho spiders are definitely animals, bacteria most certainly aren't! They are microbial packets of  DNA and other bits and pieces,but have no mouth nor anus so do not digest food.


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## Window Bar (Dec 16, 2009)

AE35Unit said:


> Oh theyre definitely animals, and theyre hardly a big threat. I have 4 tarantulas. People are always asking, what if you get bit? But you know youre more likely to get bitten by your family dog than a tarantula!



  I'm also more likely to get bitten by my family dog than by a Komodo Dragon, but that doesn't make me want to bring one home.


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## AE35Unit (Dec 16, 2009)

Window Bar said:


> I'm also more likely to get bitten by my family dog than by a Komodo Dragon, but that doesn't make me want to bring one home.


Ah now there's a dangerous animal! If I were in a room with a dog and a komodo dragon I'd feel safer with the dog! Not only are they ferocious predators with an appetite for goats but also their saliva is poisonous so should you get bit by one you're in for a rough ride!


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## thesoothsayer (Dec 16, 2009)

mosaix said:


> I know there's a popular idea that Man is the most dangerous animal, but consider this...
> 
> Scientists estimate that the female mosquito is responsible for the *deaths of perhaps half of all the human beings that ever lived.*



An over-estimate, surely? Hard to believe that they cause so many deaths.


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## Pyan (Dec 16, 2009)

Here's a list, based on the number of humans killed every year...

What Are The Most Dangerous Animals On Earth? - Blurtit


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## Overread (Dec 16, 2009)

odd I always thought hippos were more dangerous than some of the other african wildlife?


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## skeptical (Dec 19, 2009)

I do not know where the blurtit site gets its numbers, but they are not correct.

Mosquitoes cannot be related as the most dangerous, since they do not kill people.  Their 'passengers' do the killing.  eg. the_ Plasmodium_ parasite which causes malaria.

The animal that kills more humans than any other is _Homo sapiens_.

Incidentally, the word 'animal' refers to members of the Kingdom Animalia, of which the simplest are the sponges, and runs through arthropods (including mosquitoes) and up to vertebrates, such as fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.   For this reason, we cannot accept the mosquitoes passengers as animals.  A lot of people think the word 'animal' referes to mammals, which is a different category.

Microorganisms such as bacteria, archaeans, and viruses, plus protozoa (like the Amoeba) are definitely not animals.  Nor are green plants or fungi.

However, I think that listing humans as the animal that kills the most humans, and is thus the most dangerous, while correct, kind of evades the question.

If I rephrase the question as :
Which animal, excepting humans (and not allowing disease carriers), kills more humans by direct attack than any other?

Clue :  it is not listed on the blurtit reference.


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## Drachir (Dec 19, 2009)

After some research, I am volunteering the Asian cobra.  50,000 dead per year.


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## Pyan (Dec 19, 2009)

Hippopotamus?


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## Jardax (Dec 19, 2009)

Black Death (Yersinia pestis) - it killed 25% European habitants in middle age epidemy (14th century).


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## AE35Unit (Dec 19, 2009)

Jardax said:


> Black Death (Yersinia pestis) - it killed 25% European habitants in middle age epidemy (14th century).


Unless I'm mistaken that's a disease not an animal!


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## Jardax (Dec 19, 2009)

It is discutable, even disease is caused by an organism..... but yes, Yersinia is not as big as Hippo is


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## thesoothsayer (Dec 19, 2009)

skeptical said:


> Mosquitoes cannot be related as the most dangerous, since they do not kill people.  Their 'passengers' do the killing.  eg. the_ Plasmodium_ parasite which causes malaria.


Since mosquitoes are the only vectors, then it could be argued that they are part of the whole mechanism that kills people.



skeptical said:


> If I rephrase the question as :
> Which animal, excepting humans (and not allowing disease carriers), kills more humans by direct attack than any other?
> 
> Clue :  it is not listed on the blurtit reference.



I guess Drachir answered this - the cobra. 

Although I must say that I had an encounter with one and won.  
I wonder how many cobras are killed by humans each year?


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## skeptical (Dec 23, 2009)

I do not know where the figure came from for cobra deaths.  According to ;
Romsey Australia: Most Lethal Snake in the World
The total number of snake bite deaths from *all* species is 20,000 per years.

According to :
Cobra - New World Encyclopedia
the majority of bites from cobras do not cause fatalities.

I quote :
_"However, in general, most people survive cobra bites and encounters with cobras. Cobra bites are fatal in about 10 percent of human cases. Cobras typically will only attack a human if provoked or in other extreme circumstances that threaten its survival. Furthermore, for a dangerously venomous snake, the cobra's strikes are quite slow when compared to the almost literally "faster than the eye can see" strikes of such species as __rattlesnakes__. In addition, not all bites result in envenomation and in the case of the cobra the amount of "blank" strikes may be quite high: in one series of recorded bites in Malaysia only 55 percent of strikes had been poisonous._ "

In fact, more than twice as many people die from insect stings each year than from snake bite.
Bee sting blues. - Medical Update | Encyclopedia.com

Of all the insects, the one that kills the most humans is the honeybee.  _Apis mellifera_.   The reason for this is that so many people are allergic to bee stings.  At least 1% of all people in western countries are dangerously allergic.   If stung, and away from medical treatment, a sting can and will quickly result in anaphylactic shock and death.  Death from heart attack triggered by a sting is common.

The situation is worse in third world countries with poor medical care.  The actual figures are vague, since deaths in most places from bee sting are poorly recorded, and in fact, many bee sting deaths are listed as death by heart failure.   However, the total number of deaths from bee sting each year world-wide is many, many thousands.   More than cobra bites.


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## J-WO (Dec 23, 2009)

Jardax said:


> It is discutable, even disease is caused by an organism..... but yes, Yersinia is not as big as Hippo is




Wow, imagine if it was...


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## Drachir (Dec 23, 2009)

I used this source, Skeptical.  I have no idea how accurate it is.
Top 10 Most Deadly Animals - Listverse

However, this seems to back it up.  
Russell's Viper - Russell's Viper Snake, Indian Russells Viper, Russels Viper Information


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## mosaix (Jan 18, 2010)

Two points:

First: If someone injected me with malaria I think it would be fair to say that the person who injected me had killed me.

Second: _In the entire history of mankind_ it is the mosquito that has killed most of us. That may not be the case in modern times, on a day to day basis, but throughout history it claims the prize.


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## Vir (Jan 18, 2010)

if its most dangerous animal rather than the animal that has killed the most humans i would pick a bear or some other ferocious mammal 

If i was stuck in a room with the most dangerous animal, i would rather it be a mosquito that i can just swat a mosquito with my shoe, than a bear which i stand no chance against


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## Boneman (Jan 18, 2010)

> By Mosaix
> _First: If someone injected me with malaria I think it would be fair to say that the person who injected me had killed me.
> _


 
Only if you died... a lot of people get malaria and survive...


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## Vargev (Jan 18, 2010)

I would have to disagree with the statement that bacteria are not animals, just because they are a single celled *organism* it doesnt mean that they dont have the same right to be called an animal as say a whale does.

Therefore the animal that is the most dangerous ever is bacteria, in all its forms, since every disease that humanity has ever faced has in some way come from them.


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## chrispenycate (Jan 18, 2010)

Bacteria and fungi are not classed as animals or plants, but completely different phyla. This is not because of their unicellularity, but because of other technical differences (I should have got my biologist to answer this one.

And without bacteria, we'd all be dead. Yes, some of them are bad eggs, but only a tiny minority; a whole bunch of them are essential to the survival of all macroscopic life on Earth. They could go on without us; the inverse is not true.


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## Clansman (Jan 18, 2010)

Actually, you are all wrong.  The most dangerous animal on earth is:

YouTube - Holy Grail - Killer Bunny

The Rabbit!  ("What's it do?  Nibble your bum?")


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## skeptical (Jan 20, 2010)

The definition of the word 'animal' leads lots of us astray.  I remember getting into a big argument with the moderator of a trivial pursuits game.   The question was :  "What is the only animal that cannot jump?"   The answer they were looking for was the elephant.   However, they were technically totally wrong, even though the official trivial pursuits answer was elephant.  What they *should* have asked was ;  "What is the only mammal than cannot jump?"   In fact, heaps of animals cannot jump, such as slugs and snails, earthworms etc.

The word 'animal' has a correct scientific useage, and since this is the science/nature part of the forum, we should try to use words according to proper scientific meaning.   'Animal' means a member of the animal kingdom.

By this definition, bacteria, archaeans, protists, fungi, and plants are not included.  However, everything from flatworms and jellyfish, corals, sea squirts, through worms, insects, fish, birds, reptiles and mammals are.


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## mosaix (Jan 22, 2010)

Vir said:


> if its most dangerous animal rather than the animal that has killed the most humans i would pick a bear or some other ferocious mammal
> 
> If i was stuck in a room with the most dangerous animal, i would rather it be a mosquito that i can just swat a mosquito with my shoe, than a bear which i stand no chance against



The thing is though, Vir is that, most of the time, you don't know the mosquito is there.


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## Chinook (Jan 22, 2010)

Vargev said:


> I would have to disagree with the statement that bacteria are not animals, just because they are a single celled *organism* it doesnt mean that they dont have the same right to be called an animal as say a whale does.



Yay! Finally, someone who cares about the plight of bacteria. 

Just look at them. So small and defenseless. Totally incapable of speaking up for them selves. If anyone ever needed an advocate, it's the _*Bacteria*_.

Save the Bacteria!


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## mosaix (May 27, 2014)

mosaix said:


> I know there's a popular idea that Man is the most dangerous animal, but consider this...
> 
> Scientists estimate that the female mosquito is responsible for the deaths of perhaps half of all the human beings that ever lived.



Be afraid, be very afraid...

BBC News - Study: UK cities becoming mosquito-friendly habitats

_Changes to UK urban areas  provide habitats for mosquitoes, including species known to spread  malaria and West Nile virus, a study suggests._

_Warmer ambient temperatures and more water containers in  gardens are bringing mosquitoes into closer contact with people, say  scientists._


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## Null_Zone (May 27, 2014)

Until fairly recently most of Europe including the UK was an happy home to malarial carrying mosquitoes Though I believe one of the less fatal strains of malaria. 

There was simply a concentrated effort made to get ride of them despite the Nazi's re-introduction of the disease.


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## JoanDrake (May 27, 2014)

Vargev said:


> I would have to disagree with the statement that bacteria are not animals, just because they are a single celled *organism* it doesnt mean that they dont have the same right to be called an animal as say a whale does.
> 
> Therefore the animal that is the most dangerous ever is bacteria, in all its forms, since every disease that humanity has ever faced has in some way come from them.




There is some question that disease actually comes completely from terrestrial sources.


Diseases from Space - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


If this book is true then our own bacteria were probably all benign in mammals before man even evolved. Our most damaging enemy then is extraterrestrial diseases


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## Brian G Turner (May 27, 2014)

JoanDrake said:


> There is some question that disease actually comes completely from terrestrial sources.
> 
> Diseases from Space - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Cheers for the link! Interesting to see that book's treatment as a "fringe idea" on Wikipedia, as the two authors are some of the most respected names in 20th century astronomy. 

Another of my ideas that someone else beat me to!


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## Ice fyre (May 28, 2014)

Thing is, are we looking at potential, or actual deaths caused by animal?

I understand some Jellyfish *Shudders* Can kill people in wetsuits, their stingers move so fast they can actually go through most tougher substances. The portugese manowar is particular *Euuughhhhhh* creature, not just one creature but a colony of many *euuuuggh* 

I REALLY HATE JELLYFISH!


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## Phyrebrat (May 28, 2014)

I can't believe that in the four years that this thread has been active, no one has mentioned my sister .

Although I agree with the mosquito as the most deadly (regardless of whether it is just a vector or not) I think in terms of ick factor and so on. So on those grounds I would put forward.



Blue-Ringed Octopus
Mantis Shrimp
Stone Fish
If you're interested in what having malaria is like, this is my experience:



I contracted malaria in Ghana last year (when kicking up a fuss about it on my return to the UK because of the £100+ I had to pay for the prophylactics that clearly did sweet FA, I learnt that all they do is soften the symptoms if you catch it, not prevent infection!).


However - and this is going to sound weird - it was one of the best experiences of my life. It lasted 3 days; from Fri-Sun, so I only missed one day of training (Fri) and because of the infection, I was exposed to some incredible experiences.


I mentioned to one of the villagers on the first day that I felt nauseated and my bones ached as if I had flu. He immediately called a friend who came over in his tro tro and drove me on largely road-less routes to the nearest biggest town where a worker from the Accra transport company jumped in as he knew the doctor in the hospital in a suburb of Accra. After an hour we arrived at the hosp and after 30 mins my blood had been tested and I was diagnosed. Then the doctor, and the other two walked me to the pharmacy where I paid around £3 for the treatment and was given advice - underlining many times 'he has to eat, no matter how much he doesn't want to.'


Then they all came back to the village (except the doc) and I was taken to my hut and told to sleep. One villager lost about 5 hours revenue on his tro tro, and the other a days' wages from the bus company. Later on the chief's son, Akaa, came to me. He and I were good friends and he told me to close my eyes 'and dream'. I went into a semi-meditative state but was aware of him doing something. I opened my eyes and he was in a trance like state, making little claps over my body and talking in a language that wasn't Twi, Fante, Ga or Ewe. He was pouring alcohol on the ground every now and then. I closed my eyes and at some point fell asleep



The next day was pretty much just bad belly, aching bones and constant nausea, and a fight with the villagers who were trying to get me to eat. I knew I should but the smell of food made my stomach churn. I have had a few friends over the years complain of morning sickness and this is what I imagined they suffered, except this lasted for 3 days solid.


Throughout the days the villagers brought me gifts (which I did find a bit worrying) and made libations on the ground.


The final night (Sunday) was the strangest as the hallucinations got worse. I woke around 3 AM and the walls of the hut were covered in orange lizards which were about 3 feet long. They moved slowly along the wall and were so vivid they looked real. I knew I was hallucinating, and also figured that as snakes at reptiles are symbls of healing in many cultures, that I must be over the worst.


The next day - Monday - I woke with a fierce hunger and I ate ravenously. I danced from 9am - 2pm as usual and felt a little weak but not so bad as you may imagine (I'd lost just under 10lbs). The funny thing was that I always have hated Coca Cola but I was craving it and must have sunk down a small reservoir of it for the rest of the trip! 


Later Akaa took me to the Solo Forest telling me 'we have to return the lizards.' You can imagine my shock. So we went into the trail and a similar calling ritual was done by a tiny stream full of small tilapia. 



It has to be the singularly most odd experience of my life. When you're stripped of your mobile, reliable electricity, hot water, the Facebook culture, everything starts to take on a different hue. When your sickness is messing with your mind, all that shamanistic fringe stuff seems so much more real.

pH


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## JoanDrake (May 31, 2014)

The one that scares me most is the Australian Sea Snake, which is not just highly venomous but has no antivenom and is aggressive to boot.


And then there's the Polar Bear, which, as Craig Ferguson says, have no fear of man and will stalk you. "You'll think you've gotten away but there he'll be on the plane home, behind a newspaper in a big floppy hat"


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## paranoid marvin (Jun 1, 2014)

I remember hearing once that if animals believed in the Devil , he'd look like a human being.

Man is by far the most dangerous animal, because he doesn't just kill for food,territory or in defence of himself and his family, he kills for fun - including his fellow human beings. I don't think there's any other animal that does this.


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## Mirannan (Jun 1, 2014)

paranoid marvin said:


> I remember hearing once that if animals believed in the Devil , he'd look like a human being.
> 
> Man is by far the most dangerous animal, because he doesn't just kill for food,territory or in defence of himself and his family, he kills for fun - including his fellow human beings. I don't think there's any other animal that does this.



And worst of all, we bear grudges. One puzzle about predatory animals, at least those that have spent time living near humans, is that large and efficient predators such as lions and tigers don't prey on humans very much unless and until they become injured or old and can't predate very efficiently. After all, humans are slow, weak and have blunted senses compared to many prey animals - on a first look, we ought to make good prey.

One explanation is this: A lion that decides to prey on humans has a very much decreased chance of reproducing, after its first kill. Because a man-eating lion is going to die - and probably quite soon. We bear grudges, and use tactics and artificial weapons. Advantage us. And having a taste for human flesh is therefore a gross evolutionary disadvantage.

One fact in support of this hypothesis is that predators not much in contact with humans - polar bears for example - have no such inhibitions.


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## Hex (Jun 1, 2014)

That's a really interesting theory, but surely mankind's advantage has only really been in the last few hundred years or so, which isn't very long in evolutionary terms. Also, I guess, this implies that having a taste -- or not -- for human flesh is primarily an inherited characteristic?

I tried to find out more but hadn't much luck. Boo. I like these stories.


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## Mirannan (Jun 2, 2014)

Hex - I disagree with the "last few hundred years" bit. Consider that an old-established coming of age ritual among the Masai is for the candidate to go out alone and kill a lion with a spear. Since there are still Masai, it would seem that the majority succeeded.

Although bows and arrows with the arrows having flint or obsidian heads, and spears, are inefficient weapons compared to guns (for example) they still give people capabilities that animals don't have.

BTW, the taste for human flesh (or lack of it) might be learned. Although I'm not a zoologist, I believe that most predators teach their young to hunt. And to such animals, humans probably have a distinctive smell. I can easily imagine a half-grown lion that starts stalking a human seen in the distance being severely cuffed by Mama Lioness.


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## JoanDrake (Jun 2, 2014)

Mirannan said:


> Hex - I disagree with the "last few hundred years" bit. Consider that an old-established coming of age ritual among the Masai is for the candidate to go out alone and kill a lion with a spear. Since there are still Masai, it would seem that the majority succeeded.
> 
> Although bows and arrows with the arrows having flint or obsidian heads, and spears, are inefficient weapons compared to guns (for example) they still give people capabilities that animals don't have.
> 
> BTW, the taste for human flesh (or lack of it) might be learned. Although I'm not a zoologist, I believe that most predators teach their young to hunt. And to such animals, humans probably have a distinctive smell. I can easily imagine a half-grown lion that starts stalking a human seen in the distance being severely cuffed by Mama Lioness.




According to one book I read which seemed well-researched wild animals regard humans with what humans would call "superstitious dread" They're deathly afraid of us, but don't know why. It's unlikely a lion or anything else would learn a behavior this specific, and most wild animals have it, even when thy don't know how to hunt, which an animal will not if it's not taught, (though it can pick it up on its own.)


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