Predators very rarely attack humans, but attacks do happen and these may result in death or serious injury to the human victims. Such attacks tend to receive large amounts of publicity (particularly if tourists are involved), and the animals responsible are normally hunted down and either killed or captured.
Attacks involving predators take place around the world and involve a variety of species, most notably Lions in Africa, Tigers in South East Asia, Leopards in Africa and South East Asia, Wolves in Europe and Asia, and Bears in North America. In fact virtually all the large carnivore species have been reported as being involved in attacks at one time or another.
Rural communities suffer frequent attacks which don't get much publicity. Crocodiles attack people who rely on river water for day to day use as they are vulnerable when they come to the river's edge to fill their water containers.
Many attacks are believed to occur for one of two main reasons - Defence or Food.
Defence attacks may be when the animal feels threatened or trapped, or when it feels its young are at risk. When an animal is threatened or feels trapped, it will often strike out at the threat. Carnivores are not unique in this - Hippos are herbivores yet kill or injure many people. Typically if a hippo is out of the water and is startled or feels threatened it will run straight for the nearest water where it feels safer. If a human is between it and the water, the human is likely to be trampled to death.
Animals are very protective of their young, and will often defend them violently. This means that if humans approach young lion cubs for instance, the mother is very likely to attack to defend them from the perceived threat.
Some animals do deliberately attack humans. It is not clear what makes one animal do this when others do not attack humans, but a number of theories have been put forwards to explain it, and it does seem possible that several of these factors may combine and result in man-eating.
Suggested causes for man-eating are...
When a predator becomes unable to hunt its normal prey because of injury then it is much more likely to go for easy prey - either farmers livestock, or humans. Jim Corbett recorded details of a number of man-eating Tigers and found that in several cases they had a large number of porcupine quills embedded in their legs or feet, while others had suffered injuries from gunshots or other causes, and Corbett believed that these injuries were the cause of the Tigers in question becoming man-eaters. It is perhaps ironic that many of the predators which turn to man-eating after receiving injuries, received those injuries at the hands of man - either with a non-lethal wound (after being shot) or from poachers snares
Once a predator knows that humans are easy prey, they may well teach this behaviour to their offspring thus perpetuating the problem, or in the case of social animals such as lions they may well teach it to other members of their pride. Bruce Patterson suggests that in the case of the Tsavo man-eaters, one of the two lions was the main culprit and that the other learnt its behaviour from the first. The reports of the incidents support this as the early attacks were carried out by only one lion while the second remained nearby, but later attacks involved both lions entering the camps together.
One theory as to why some predators become man eaters is that when bodies are not buried or cremated then they may be eaten by predators such as leopards, lions or tigers which then acquire a taste for human flesh. Jim Corbett documented two man eating leopards in India which killed 525 people between them, and explains that one man eater started its attacks after a cholera epidemic which left many dead, and the second was around the time of the first world war. Hindu's normally cremate corpses, but in cases of war or epidemic where large numbers of people die it may not be practical to cremate the bodies, so a live coal is placed in the corpses mouth and the body is left exposed to the elements where scavengers may find them, so both cases described by Corbett happened after large numbers of human bodies were unable to be disposed of normally and were left out in the open for the carnivores, and Corbett suggests that the leopards started off by eating human corpses while they were plentiful, then as normal conditions returned and there were less corpses to eat the leopards graduated to hunting live humans.
This has also been put forwards as a possible explanation for the man-eaters of Tsavo. Their reign of terror occurred at a time when slave caravans regularly passed through the Tsavo area, and any slaves that collapsed from illness would have simply been left for the scavengers, and the lions may have acquired a taste for humans in this way.
Where prey species have been removed from an area it is likely to be due to one of two reasons - disease or clearance by man (e.g. so the land can be used for farming or for human occupation as towns and cities expand). Whatever the cause, lions and other predators facing a sudden drop in the amount of available prey have very few options - they can either look for a new area to inhabit where prey is more plentiful (which may involve moving through areas inhabited by people), or they can look for new sources of prey in which case farmers livestock or humans quickly become two available options.
Dr Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota studied the number of attacks on humans by Lions in Tanzania and found that lack of the lions natural prey has led to them following bush pigs onto farmland which is generally not fenced (due to the expense of fencing), and where farmers sleep in the fields to protect their crops from damage by animals like the bush pigs. Sleeping farmers are an easy meal for a lion that comes across them.
The number of people killed by man-eaters is actually very low - especially when compared to causes of death such as road accidents or disease.
The human population has increased significantly in the past hundred years or so leading to humans encroaching more and more into the habitat occupied by predators and other wildlife, which means that there are areas where the number of attacks on humans is either not decreasing, or is actually increasing. In other areas the number of people attacked by predators has fallen, due in part to the significant reduction in the predator species population.
Dr Craig Packer's study found that the number of people killed of injured by Lions in Tanzania has increased significantly since 1990, and attributes this to the large growth (almost 50%) in the human population of Tanzania in this time, which has led to humans encroaching on the areas inhabited by lions.
In India there have been increasing numbers of attacks by leopards around Mumbai (Bombay), and this has been attributed to the large numbers of people illegally living in the city's Sanjay Gandhi National park.
It appears to be the case that once a predator kills a human, they are more likely to repeat this behaviour in the future and become serial man-eaters. This is one of the reasons man-eaters are generally tracked down and shot as quickly as possible - the other being that man-eaters are likely to adapt their behaviour as they learn the best ways to prey on people and to avoid being caught. Corbett records several cases where hunters had made attempts to kill a man-eater and failed, and as a result the man-eater had learnt from its experiences and became far harder to track and kill.
One factor that affects man-eating cases is the opportunities given to the predators by people - the more opportunities given to the predator, the more likely it is that an attack will take place.
Namibia's Etosha national park like many other parks in Africa has a rule that people must not leave their vehicles, yet tourists regularly ignore the rules and either sit at a waterhole with their car door wide open, or they get out of the vehicle completely. On one occasion a lion had been observed eating a zebra near a culvert under the road in Etosha national park, and had last been seen entering the culvert. An hour later a guide saw a tourist stop his car, get out of the vehicle and lie flat on the road so he could look into the culvert to see if the lion was still there - luckily for him it was not there, or he could easily have been killed.
People camping in areas with Lion (and other predators) can reduce their risks by going to the toilet before retiring to bed to avoid having to leave the tent at night when lions, leopards and other predators are most active (and when the darkness makes it far more difficult for people to spot them), and by making sure the tent is fastened (even if it is cooler to leave the tent flap open). Remember that Lions and leopards are members of the cat family, and cats are notorious for their curiosity, so an open tent is something they may decide to explore out of interest. Hyena have been known to see a foot sticking out of a tent as a potential meal (Hyena are known for their habit of trying to eat almost anything just in case its edible and tastes good). A tour guide recently told the author of this article that he had been sleeping next to his vehicle rather than in a tent and had woken up in the night to find a spotted hyena standing over him which luckily then fled.
The best known case of man-eating lions is probably the "Man eaters of Tsavo", but this is by no means an isolated instance of man-eating by lions. Over the years there have been many cases, but these have decreased in frequency and severity over the past century - possibly because there are less lions alive now, possibly because homes are now built more solidly preventing lions from gaining access, and possibly because improved communications mean that when an attack occurs the news is spread much faster so the man-eater can be tracked down quickly and before it has chance to kill many people.
The "Man eaters of Tsavo": In 1898, a railway was being constructed near Tsavo, in what is now Southern Kenya. The railway construction employed several thousand workers housed in temporary camps near the railway line. Two male lions over the course of almost a year preyed upon these workers as they slept at night, bringing the construction to a halt for several weeks, and killing over a hundred workers before they were finally shot. When they first started attacking people their attacks were not always successful, but they quickly became experts and managed to evade numerous attempts to trap or kill them for several long months.
A year and a half after the Tsavo lions were killed, man eaters struck again on the same railway line. At Kimaa station a porter was killed and the lion attempted to get through the station roof to attack the station master, but was foiled by the corrugated iron sheets that made up the roof. A superintendent of the railway police decided to try and kill the lion and had his carriage shunted into a siding overnight, where he and two friends were planning to sit up overnight and watch for the lion. Unfortunately they fell asleep and woke to find the lion had entered the carriage through the open door, which had then slid shut behind it trapping the lion in the carriage with three sleeping men. The lion killed one man before exiting through the window. A few days later a box trap was constructed and the lion captured and after being exhibited for a few days it was shot.
When the railway from Salisbury to Beira was being constructed at Pungwe flats more than 30 people were killed by man-eating lions.
In 1907 at Chiengi in what is now Zambia, a large pale coloured male lion attacked and killed a number of people, and continued this for several months before finally being shot. As with the Tsavo lions, most of the attacks took place at night, and the lion broke through the thin walls of native huts to get at some of its victims.
In an area of Mozambique in 1908 more than 20 people were killed by man-eaters.
During the first world war, several soldiers on guard duty at night near Tsavo were killed by lions.
In 1924 in Tanzania, 23 people were killed by two man-eaters.
In 1925 in Uganda, one man-eater killed 84 people and another killed 44.
One of the worst cases of man-eating took place around Njombe in South West Tanzania. Between 1932 and 1946 a pride of around 15 lions killed around 1500 people before they were finally all killed by the game ranger George Rushby. During the lions reign of terror, a local witchdoctor used the lions activities to extort money from local people by claiming the lions were controlled by him, and getting people to pay tribute (money, livestock or labour) to him for their protection.
In 1950 in Malawi 14 people were killed by lions.
In 1958 at Mgori in Tanzania a man-eater struck and for a year continued killing people and caused an entire village to be evacuated before the lion was finally shot.
In 1963 in the Serengeti a tourist was pulled from his tent and killed. The lion was quickly tracked down and shot. This is the last reported case in the Serengeti.
Between 1988 and 1990 Indian Biologist Vasant Saberwal recorded 81 attacks by Asiatic lions in India's Gir sanctuary, which resulted in 16 deaths, which was almost double the figure for the previous decade. The attacks occured in areas where until 1987 the lions had been fed meat to promote tourism, and the lions had become accustomed to humans
In the early 1990s there were many reports of people being eaten in the Kruger park in South Africa. The victims were refugees illegally crossing the border from Mozambique, and they chose to travel at night to evade capture by the authorities. Unfortunately as they crossed the Kruger national park many of them fell victim to attacks from lions. No accurate numbers of victims exist, but there are believed to have been a considerable number.
The "Man-eater of Mfuwe". In 1991, at least six people were killed by a man-eating Lion near Mfuwe near Zambia's South Luangwa National Park. The first two recorded attacks were unseen, with just the lions tracks and drag marks marking the scene of the attack, but the lion was seen during the third attack and was reported as being a lioness. Despite several lionesses being shot by game scouts in the area where the attacks had occurred the attacks continued before the lion was finally killed by an American tourist on a hunting safari who spent three weeks sitting watching bait before managing to shoot the lion. The lion was found to be a large maneless male lion
In 1997 five lions were killed after 11 illegal immigrants were killed crossing the Kruger park.
In August 1999 a man was pulled from his tent in Zimbabwe and eaten by a group of lions. The lions were quickly tracked down and shot by the authorities. The tent flaps had not been secured so at least one lion was able to enter the tent and seize the victim
In 2002 a lion dragged the body of an illegal immigrant from mozambique through the South African town of Phalaborwa - again the victim had died crossing the Kruger park at night.
In 2003/4 a lion killed at least 35 people over a period of almost two years in the coastal Rufiji river district of Tanzania, around 150Km South of Dar es Salaam. When killed, the lion was found to be a young male around three and a half years old. It is believed the lion may have learnt its behaviour from its mother, but that its attacks may have been triggered by a toothache ! Researchers examining the body found a large abcess under a broken tooth, and the theory is that this caused the lion too much pain when eating its normal prey, so it switched to humans instead.
In 2005 a man was killed by lions near the entrance to the Kruger national park at Limpopo.
In September 2005, attacks by lions in Ethiopia's Soro district, around 400Km south of the capital Addis Ababa resulted in at least 20 people being killed along with over 750 domestic animals, after the lions were forced to leave their natural habitat in search of food due to deforestation. The attacks also resulted in over 1000 people fleeing their homes to head to safer areas. Government officials were reported to be hunting the lions in an attempt to kill them to protect the local population.
These are just some of the recorded cases of man eating by lions - the list
would be too long to present a fully comprehensive list.
Researchers for the GTZ wildlife programme in Tanzania examined records and
found a figure of around 20 people killed by lions every year in Tanzania, but
believe that these records are not complete and suggest a figure two or three
times as high. Tanzania is believed to have the largest lion population in
Africa, and unlike many countries is very tolerant of lions outside the
protected areas, with the lions like all wildlife having legal protection. In
contrast, farmers in Namibia are able to shoot lions on their land to protect
their livestock. Tanzania does shoot a number of lions each year that have been
involved in attacks or are threatening humans, and also issues a limited number
of hunting permits to tourists.
Most lion attacks take place at night, when the lion is most active, and the GTZ research shows that in Tanzania most cases either involved lions forcing their way into poorly constructed dwellings through thatched grass or mud walls, or through the thatched roof, or the lions attacking peope on a dungu (a raised platform) who are watching over the crops to chase or scare away animals that may raid the fields.
One common misconception is that man-eaters are all old or injured lions that are no longer able to hunt their normal prey. While this is true in some cases, it is not always the case. The Tsavo lions were both reported to be in their prime - fit and in excellent condition, and this has also been the case in a number of other cases where man-eaters have been shot and found to be in good condition. Some man-eaters do resort to hunting humans after they become to old or injured to successfully hunt their normal prey - the Mgori lion had several broken teeth after being shot and as a result was unable to kill his normal prey so after eating porcupines for a while (and being injured further by the porcupines quills) he eventually resorted to attacking humans. Research from Uganda by Adrian Treves and Lisa Naughton-Treves suggests that most attacks on humans by carnivores are carried out by fit and healthy animals, with only 14% of attacks by lions being carried out by disabled or wounded animals,
Despite the number of attacks listed above, most people are at very little risk of ever becoming victim to a lion attack, and stand more chance of being killed in a car crash than being attacked by a lion.
These days, attacks by man eating Tigers are fairly rare in comparison with levels a hundred years ago when huge numbers of people were killed by Tigers. Official statistics show that in India in 1902, over a thousand people were reported to have been killed by Tigers, and since it is likely that many attacks went unreported, this figure is likely to err on the low side.
One of the most notorious cases of a man eating tiger was the Champawat man eater, which in the 1930s killed around 436 people in Nepal and India over a period of several years before being killed by Jim Corbett (who the Corbett Tiger reserve is named after). Jim Corbett's books document a number of cases of Tigers killing livestock as well as several man-eaters - he is responsible for hunting down and killing 10 man-eaters which had been responsible for many hundreds of deaths in remote areas of India, and there is little doubt that his actions saved the lives of many more people. The attacks documented by Jim Corbett all occurred during daylight when people were active outside tending livestock, cutting grass or collecting firewood.
In 1998 Wildlife officials in Malaysia caught and killed a tiger that had killed two men in the space of three days. The hunt lasted 8 days and involved police as well as zoo and park department staff, and resulted in a number of local residents being moved from their homes till the Tiger was captured. An examination of the Tigers body found an old gunshot wound, and it is believed this may have restricted its ability to hunt its normal prey and thus caused it to start preying on people.
In 1998 in Thailand's Khao Yai national park, a Tiger attacked and wounded two people before being tracked down and shot.
Bangladesh and India have regular problems with man eating Tigers in the Sundarbans area. The Sundarbans is the worlds largest mangrove forest and is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. Local people living and farming around the edges of the Sundarbans often fall prey to Tigers, as do people who collect honey in the area, and around 15-20 people a year are killed by the Sundarbans Tiger population (a significant reduction from the figure of around 45 that was the norm during the period 1975-1982). One tactic adopted by local people is to wear masks of human faces ont he back of their head. The idea is that as most tiger attacks involve the Tiger approaching the victim from behind, then if the Tiger sees a face it will believe the person is watching them and is less likely to attack. Another approach has been to use human dummies rigged up to give an electric shock to any Tiger that attacks it - the aim is to make the Tigers associate attacking human figures with a nasty shock and thus deter them from attacking humans.
In the early 20th Century Jim Corbett killed two man eating leopards that had killed 525 people - one had killed 400 victims, the other 125. The details of the attacks that Corbett records show that the attacks all took place at night (in contrast to the Tiger attacks in the same region which all took place during the day).
In June 2004, Indian authorities captured three leopards in Mumbai believed to be responsible for at least 12 deaths in that month alone and many more since the beginning of 2003.
In July 2005 a snow leopard was shot dead in Northern Pakistan after six women had been killed. A trap was placed for the man-eater near where the last victim had been killed, and the snow leopard was caught but escaped before being shot dead. Police had obtained special permission to kill the snow leopard - a species normally protected under Pakistani law.
In the 1950s, beginning in 1955 in the Mulanje district of Malawi, 27 people died as a result of spotted hyena attacks that lasted for several years. The attacks all took place between September and January - the hottest part of the year, when people were sleeping outdoors or in unprotected locations to keep as cool as possible.
The Tanzania Standard in January 1968 reported that more than 60 people had been bitten by Hyenas at Loliondo
In Kenya in 1975, a girl who fell asleep while watching camels was attacked and injured by a spotted hyena
In early 1992 Spotted Hyena attacked and killed at least six people including a five year old boy near the city of Blantyre in Malawi. All the attacks took place at night. People in rural parts of Malawi often sleep outside either because it is cooler or to protect crops from wildlife.
In March 1993 attacks by a Spotted Hyena in Malawi led to around 4000 people leaving four villages for several days before returning once they were given armed protection from the Hyena which had killed at least three people and severely injured 16 others. Wildlife officials suspect the animal was rabid
In 1995, an American tourist was pulled from her tent near the Serengeti by a spotted hyena and was badly injured before she was rescued by people from the camp.
In June 2008, three Spotted Hyenas attacked people around Lilongwe in Malawi. Three people were killed and a number of other people were also bitten. Two of the Hyenas tested positive for rabies in tests after they were killed. The Spotted Hyenas were living in forest/woodland and attacked people near the Bunda College of Agriculture in Lilongwe.
B. Patterson - The lions of Tsavo
J.H. Patterson - Man-eaters of Tsavo
J. Corbett - The Jim Corbett Omnibus
H. Kruuk - Hunter and Hunted
C. Packer - Nature magazine volume 436, 18 August 2005
© Predator Conservation Trust.
