Talk:Man-eater

This entire article reads like it was written by lawyers defending maneating animals in court.

Jarwulf (talk) 07:32, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

It surprises me that bears are neglected. All bears except the panda have the means with which to kill people, and they are unfussy eaters.

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Basic Question

I can't figure out if man-eater is supposed to refer to a species or an individual. I have a feeling the article is also confused about this.--24.85.68.231 (talk) 04:52, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

The article's wording seems to claim that it is ``species`` that eat humans, rather than individual animals. Jim Corbett would say otherwise - at least in the case of jungle cats, man-eaters only become such when they've no other option. Bondjimbond (talk) 13:58, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

African Army Ant?

Wasn't that just in the movies? And what about "species of bony fish"? 80.123.210.172 (talk) 18:20, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Document the predatory attack if you wish inclusion, as I did with the Ayers Rock dingo. What you see in movies is hardly proof of reality.

I could suggest dogs because they (1) can kill people and have done so, and (2) as unfussy eaters, dogs would surely eat human flesh in an extreme case. Thus if a dog's owner died of natural causes and the corpse of the deceased owner were not removed and neither were the dog, one can imagine the once-loyal pet devouring the corpse once the dog could no longer expect to be fed, then such would hardly qualify as man-eating. A domestic cat, an animal that could not kill a person through a predatory attack, would do much the same. Such is scavenging and not predation.

But one would need to prove that the dog killed a person as prey and ate that person's flesh in whole or part. Such are the elements of man-eating.

I can think of animals that have the capacity to kill and eat people yet apparently don't:

Giant Pacific octopus

Giant otter

Orca

many true whales

Elephant seal

Giant bass

Snow leopard

some sea turtles

Show that these hunt and kill humans for food and you get to add them to the list of man-eaters. That also applies to dogs.

Make no mistake: the domestic dog is one of the most powerful predators, and it had better be a friend, or at least indifferent. As an enemy or enemies a large dog or dogs in a pack can be as dangerous as a big cat -- witness Diane Whipple, killed by Presa canario/mastiff mixed-breed dogs. Paul from Michigan (talk) 04:19, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Man Himself

There are many well documented cases of individuals (Geoffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, etc.) who have killed and eaten other humans. Not to mention places in New Guinea and elsewhere where cannibalism was practiced into the 19th century and possibly into the 20th century. --Weetoddid (talk) 07:03, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Wolves do eat people

Sources;

Child-lifting wolves in Hazaribagh India

Historical data on the presence of the wolf and cases of maneating in central Padania

The Danger of Wolves to Humans

Hunter hunted, Gray wolf p.69