The Man-Eaters Trivia Quiz

Answer: anthropophagous

Anthropomorphism means "attributing human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects." Anthropophobia is "the fear of humans or human companionship." Anthropophilic means "loving or preferring humans." It is sometimes used to describe parasites such as lice that prefer human hosts, but not large predators.

Answer: wolves

Actually, Morris listed three specific species: the Bengal tiger, the Nile crocodile, and the great white shark. However, whether these three species are actually the most anthropophagous representatives of their group is much disputed. In this question I've decided to avoid the controversy and name just the order or family of animal rather than the precise species. Crocodiles, sharks, and tigers are undisputed as the three major groups of animals that eat humans. We'll discuss some of the specific species in other questions.

Answer: mako shark

There's a tremendous amount of disagreement about which sharks are most dangerous to humans. According to National Geographic, the most shark attacks are by bull sharks. According to Wikipedia, the oceanic whitetip shark "has attacked more humans than all other shark species combined." And according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, the great white rules the roost as the greatest man-eater.

None of them, however, cite the mako as being anthropophagous. Although there have been rumours of makos killing humans, I have not found even a single confirmed instance on any of the sites I've read. (Accidental hit-and-run encounters with makos do take place, but remember, this quiz is about man-eaters, not man-bumpers.) It seems that although the mako is large, fast, and deadly, it is also pretty strict about its preference for tuna and swordfish.

Answer: surfing

It seems sharks don't really like the taste of human. Compared to fish and marine mammals, we are very hard-boned and indigestible. However, a surfboard approximates the silhouette of a seal, and seal is a much-loved delicacy to a shark, leading to many attacks on surfers.

Answer: more than 20 million

In other words, we eat sharks more than a million times as often as sharks eat us. A million times! Keep that in mind next time you read a panicky "shark attack" story in the media.

Answer: Mindoro crocodile

Just as with the sharks, there is enormous disagreement about what is the most dangerous crocodile. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many of these animals live in remote areas where keeping records is not a major concern. However, the top two on everyone's list are the Nile crocodile of Africa, and the saltwater (estuarine) crocodile of Australia and Southeast Asia. Below those are three species that on RARE occasions have been know to devour a human: the black caiman, the mugger crocodile, and the American alligator.

There are 23 species of crocodilian altogether. So, with two major man-eaters, and three occasional man-eaters, there are 18 species that never dine on us at all. Nonetheless, all crocodilians, even the tiny species, should be treated with caution. Even if the smaller ones wouldn't eat you, they could still deliver a nasty bite in defense of their territory.

The Mindoro crocodile, also called the Phillipine freshwater crocodile, is one of the smallest of these critters.

Answer: Nile crocodile

The Upper Nile flows through savannah, the original home and native habitat of Homo sapiens. Tigers and saltwater crocodiles have only become major predators of man since we invaded the mangrove swamps, which we are definitely not well evolved for. Sharks, of course, hunt and eat humans in the sea, another non-native habitat for us.

The ancient Egyptians well knew and respected the awesome power of the Nile crocodile. Sobek was the main Egyptian crocodile god, and there were other Egyptian gods with a crocodilian connection. Set is known to have hidden inside the body of a crocodile to escape punishment for his crimes. Re and Horus both wore a crocodile head at certain points in their history.

Answer: Gustave

Gustave was a 6 metre (20 foot) Nile crocodile that patrolled the shores of Lake Tanganyika for (an estimated) 60 years. He became famous when he was featured in National Geographic magazine in March of 2005. There have been no attacks since then, so it is possible that Gustave finally died.

Answer: Ramree Island, Burma

The battle of Ramree Island was fought in January and February of 1945. On the 19th of February the last Japanese defenders were attempting to retreat to the mainland, wading across 10 miles of mangrove swamps. 900 left the island, and only 500 reached the mainland.

It has been alleged that most of the remainder were eaten by the thousands of saltwater crocodiles that lived in the area. If true, it is the greatest animal disaster of all time, which is how it is listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records." However, sceptics have cast doubt on the story, pointing out that none of the survivors reported being attacked. If there were 400 successful attacks by crocs that night, there should have been at least a few unsuccessful ones.

The sceptics say that disease, exhaustion, British gunfire, and ordinary drowning probably claimed most of the 400 Japanese lives. Even if this is true, however, crocodiles are opportunistic feeders, and though they may not have killed many of the soldiers, they still would have eaten bodies they found. Perhaps the story will never be conclusively proven true or false, but for now it stands in the record books.

Answer: It is a complete fabrication, with not even a grain of truth.

This is one of those email hoaxes that does not even have the decency to carry a small grain of truth. For starters, crocodilians do not swallow large prey whole, they tear it up. There would have been a lot of noise and gore for his golf partners to witness. More importantly, crocodilians do not hunt on land -- everyone who has ever been killed by an alligator or crocodile was either in the water or in very close proximity to the water. The golf partners who "witnessed" this non-event have never been named.

American alligators are relatively docile. They certainly do eat people once in a while, but it is quite rare. On average there are five or fewer attacks per year, and less than one attack per year is fatal. There was one extraordinary year when three people were killed by American alligators, but there have also been many, many years when the death toll was zero.

Answer: India and Bangladesh

The Sundurbans is a huge mangrove swamp on the edge of the Bay of Bengal. It is a protected wildlife reserve and a UNESCO world heritage site. Both India and Bangladesh have made strong efforts to preserve this last great refuge of the majestic Bengal tiger, although with human populations continuing to increase and encroach on the area, it becomes steadily more difficult.

Estimates of how many people are eaten by tigers in the Sundurbans vary widely. I've seen estimates as low as 20 per year and as high as 300 per year. The 300 estimate comes from a rather sensationalist book about the Bengal that is probably suspect, although it has been widely cited around the Internet. The figures on the most scholarly sites I could find are around 35 - 50 per year.

Answer: wearing a mask on the back of their heads to avoid attacks from behind

Feeding cattle to the tigers? In INDIA? Building expensive high security fences, through miles of mangrove swamp? A dog may be man's best friend, but to a tiger even the largest dog is just a nice light snack.

The trick with the backwards mask actually works, to some degree. A tiger prefers to attack from behind. By wearing a mask on the back of their heads the people were able to confuse the tiger about where their behind was, and many attacks were foiled. There is evidence that the more experienced tigers have figured it out, however.

Answer: Malayan tiger

The Malay tiger is implicated about 25 deaths a year, mainly because its last remaining habitat is being invaded for oil exploration.

The Siberian tiger is one of the largest, but interestingly enough has never been implicated in any fatal attacks on humans. The Bali tiger and Sumatran tiger have had some man-eating individuals in the distant past, but none in recent times. The Bali tiger is now extinct and the Sumatran tiger is critically endangered.

Answer: a dismal failure

Pythons (and all their constrictor relatives) do occasionally attack humans, but never successfully. Snakes can't chew, so they either have to swallow food whole or spit it out. A snake can unhinge its jaw and stretch its mouth an astonishing distance to take in prey larger than itself, but there are limits. In a number of instances a python has killed a person and managed to get an arm or a leg down its throat, but just couldn't stretch its jaws wide enough to get around the shoulders or pelvis. All that trouble to get a meal, and no satisfaction! In any case, these attacks are exceedingly rare.

Incidentally, there are a number of photographs making the rounds on the Internet that purport to show a human being exhumed from a python's stomach. All of them are frauds, either staged or doctored.

Answer: Komodo dragon

The tortoise is a strict vegetarian. The killer whale and wolverine have both been accused of eating people, but no documented cases exist, and it's quite likely a myth. An adult Komodo dragon is a real danger, although given the fact that they are an endangered species living on remote Indonesian islands, your chances of being attacked by one are rather low.

In general, I hope this quiz has entertained and informed you, and not contributed to any fears you might have. Percentage-wise, your chances of being eaten by an animal are pretty slim, on par with the proverbial chance of being struck by lightning. The most dangerous and ornery monster on the planet is good old Homo sapiens, and you are about 1,000 times more likely to be murdered by a member of your own species than by any member of another species.