Are there any large animals that will eat humans as a source of food, not just because they are frightened or confused?
Question #52489. Asked by Buck540.
Halcyon91
Answer has 1 vote
Halcyon91 21 year member
34 replies
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Snakes, like the Anaconda because they're not scared of anything (I think) they're just hungry. Sharks sometimes think humans are seals.
Nov 17 2004, 3:08 PM
Legolaschic
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Legolaschic 21 year member
43 replies
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If hungry, an animal will eat humans just as they will eat other animals, they see no difference, after all without a gun in their hands humans are almost completely defenseless against predators such as wild cats, sharks, wolves, etc... Think about it, we don’t even have horns, or claws...
Nov 17 2004, 4:36 PM
picqero
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picqero 21 year member
237 replies
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Alligators and crocodiles. Also polar bears have little or fear of humans and will atttack if hungry, though they can be frightened off by flares, gunfire, etc.
Nov 17 2004, 4:47 PM
Winged_Wolf
Answer has 2 votes
Winged_Wolf
Answer has 2 votes.
Many species of animals will, such as big cats (Lions, tigers, leopards, cougars), polar bears and some other bears, crocodiles, reticulated pythons, hyenas, even wolves (In Eurasia and India.)
Predation on humans for food is rare, but is more common in some species than others. No species hunt humans preferentially, but there are quite a few who will turn to humans as prey when other food is scarce. They need not necessarily be starving or injured. Crocodiles will eat any animal they can catch, and thus top this list. Virtually any large crocodile would eat a human if given opportunity. Polar bears come in second. These bears definitely consider humans to be food, and will kill and eat them if they have not had experiences that lead them to fear humans.
Big cat predation on humans seems to be cultural--it will occur in certain regions as mothers teach their cubs that humans are valid prey, while in others it does not occur at all. This holds true for other predatory attacks on humans by species such as hyenas and wolves.
The safest assumption to make is that any large predator could view a human as prey, in the right circumstances.