Most Powerful Animal Bites

https://www.fieldandstream.com/10-most-powerful-animal-bites-on-planet/


Good afternoon all,

This is most appropriate place for article - I believe.

It's a good article with good pictures.

Article about "Love at first BITE" and thus excludes species like the Boa Constricter and their cousins.

At Polar Bear section, note the term "hypercarnivore". Believe the kind of prey called "North Face Clad" is an invasive species.

Note the commenters' mention of the Killer Whale and Rats.

 

I think that rabid animal bites must rank pretty high.

Here's a recent video (this week) of a bobcat attacking a woman. Luckily, her husband was right there with his carry handgun. Miraculously, he was able to get the apocalypse-kitty-of-death off his wife, then throw the beast a good 10 ft. away. With this time afforded, he pulls his handgun from his belt, chases the bobcat, and kills it with his pistol.

Since he managed to shoot the cat to death, it was taken to a lab and found to have rabies. Both man and wife had to take the rabies vaccinations. Handguns CAN come in handy. It's a bother strapping a shotgun to your side, day to day. What a freak situation! Most times, it is a semi-human with no brain, but lots of aggression.



Dalewick, I want to hear some of your bobcat stories! Even though I've always lived near the mountains and/or wilderness areas that had bobcats and mountain lions, I have NEVER ONCE seen nor heard one screaming. My kin told me that a screaming mountain lion would send chills down your back because they sound just like a woman screaming. Please tell us more, Mr. Dalewick. When living in the Midwest, a full-sized mountain lion wandered into a nearby neighborhood. It got close to a school, so the squishy-soft suburbanites were pooping their pants about it.

I've seen bears. They come down out of the mountains, but it is rare. When they do show up; if not bothered, they will return to the mountains. If they find out there is delicious kitchen trash to be eaten, they will return. We had a frequent-flyer bear in our neighborhood due to a fellow's apple orchard. I have a high-power rifle sitting behind me right now that would kill a big bear; however, I don't keep it there for bears. I've heard lots of stories of people shushing bears away -- me, I wouldn't try that, but know that bears are very rarely aggressive ... again, I'm not going to test that myself. My dad was the gambler; not me.

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Sorry to disappoint OG, but I don't have any great Bobcat or Mountain lion stories. I've trapped and hunted both for the government and for fur and I learned to keep my distance. Every cat in a trap will take a major jump at you the moment your eyes are diverted from them. All the way to the end of the chain or cable and reach with there free foot for you as far as they can. It's scary enough when a bobcat does it but the first time it's a lion...that's underwear changing time. My first lion missed me by about 9 inches. So close, I felt the air off of his paw. Getting shot at isn't that scary.

All of the lions that I worked had either killed livestock or humans. Some things you can't forget, no matter how much you want to. Cats are super efficient killers. I've worked sheep kills where the lion killed over 100 sheep in one night. Ate on 1 or sometimes 2 sheep and just killed the rest because it could. People don't realize how strong a mountain lion is. They routinely kill full grown bull elk. Were talking a 200 pound cats (or less) killing a animal that's over 1000 pounds and able to fend off wolves. I even found a black bear out in Washington that had been killed by a mountain lion. They are tough.

My rules for bears...If it's a black bear, fight for your life. If he attacked a human, your on the dinner menu.
If it's a grizzly, play dead and pray your not. Unless your armed and a good shot. If the bear attacked out of hunger, your dead. If it attacked for any other reason, playing dead will get you torn up but you might live.
If it's a polar bear and you don't have a gun you had mental issues going into the situation. Don't worry though, you are on the menu regardless, fight until your dead. Polar bears like a little sport. Wildlife biologist humor.

I have interacted with 6 of the 10 animals on that list and only one makes me nervous and jumpy. Salt water Crocs. was close to them in Asia and in Australia and the speed and surprise of that attack was nothing short of incredible. Saw a 12 foot croc take a full grown male red kangaroo with what looked like " 0" effort. Grabbed it across it's body and in less than 2 seconds it was gone from sight. I'm not wild about big alligators, but they don't impress the way a salty does.

Jaguar and tigers would share my number 2 place. I hope to see wild lions some day.

Dale

 

Dale,

I'm assuming the mountain lions of which you speak were out West. Have you seen or had to deal with mountain lions in the Appalachians?

I'd really like to know.

In the 1960s, I heard stories, but they were just that, a story here'n'there. I figured they'd been wiped out. A bad run of moonshine can make a man see monsters. Lately, past couple of decades, I've heard and increasing number of stories.

https://inhabitat.com/wildlife-officials-deny-mountain-lions-are-back-in-the-blue-ridge-mountains/

https://appalachiantrail.com/20160704/extinct-mountain-lion-attacks-appalachian-trail-hiker/

Cougar caught on video?


There have been some sightings in West Tennessee; the land is rolling out there turning to flatland as you get near (200 milies) the Mississippi.







Monroe county is north of Chattanooga and South of Knoxville


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I interacted with 3 lions while working for the government. All 3 were killing sheep or goats in high country of Randolph and Pendleton counties. I don't believe any of the lions left in the Appalachians are of the eastern subspecies of mountain lion. I believe they are from animals taken out west and transported back east or were pets that the owner finally realized were too dangerous to keep. My coworker found one dead on a main road in Pocahontas county that appeared to have had it's nails cut.

Back at the time Mountain lions were protected as an state endangered species in WV even though the state claimed there were no lions in the state. Lion populations out west are high enough now that they are starting to migrate east ward. I know of one that was tagged and collared in Utah and was killed in Michigan. That had to be quite the trip.
Within the next 20 years I fully expect WV to have a breeding population of lions and wolves. It will be interesting to see how the locals deal with that. The insurance companies will be delighted.

As far as the stories of "black panthers", I think they were nipping at the moonshine too much. Sitting at a campsite talking with the campers one evening and 2 of them started pointing across the river and yelling black panther. When I turned and looked, it was a black bear. Imagination can make people see a lot of things. Those folks weren't even drinking. Too my knowledge there has never been a confirmed specimen of a melanistic mountain lion...EVER. Black panthers are actually a black form of leopard or jaguar. I have seen those and the definitely are not a Mountain Lion and not anywhere near the Appalachians naturally. We have a large cat rehabilitation center in my county and a couple years back we had a mysterious appearance of a African lioness out in the woods that confronted a bow hunter. It left without attacking. The rehab center swore it wasn't one of there's.

Dale