| Welcome to Carnivora. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Most Aggressive Feline Species | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 12 2012, 10:20 AM (17,863 Views) | |
| DinosaurMichael | Jan 12 2012, 10:20 AM Post #1 |
|
Apex Predator
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Aggression amongst feline species. "Q: On Cat Aggression Are all wild cats aggressive? A: It depends on what you mean by aggression. Wild cats attack in order to obtain food, and also as a pre-emptive measure to drive away or destroy a threat. They don't attack just for the sake of it. Some individuals among the big cats may begin to see people as potential food and become man-eaters, particularly if the cat is incapacitated by injury or age. Most attacks on people take place when a cat is taken by surprise, feels threatened and even cornered. A female may attack to defend her cubs. Many times such an "attack" is just a scare tactic, and the cat swerves away without making physical contact. Even when there is physical contact in such cases, the victim is seldom eaten and may survive injuries. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: I've heard that the tiger leads the big cats in number of attacks on people. Is this true? If so, is it because the tiger is the most aggressive of the big cats or is it just because it resides in India, where the population is so dense? A: Tigers, lions and leopards are the only cats that can become a serious danger to humans, although in recent years cougars have killed or seriously injured people in the United States. The jaguar could be dangerous, but there are few records of attacks. I don't think there is any difference in the big cats' nature. Tigers certainly have a bad reputation, mainly because of reports from India, where British officials have publicized them as man-eaters, telling gory stories of hunting them down. Nowadays there is a highly active news media, which reports any attacks. In fact, it is only in the Sundarbans mangrove forests of India and Bangladesh that tiger attacks are fairly common; the reason for the aggressiveness has not been established. Leopards often live very close to people in the Indian subcontinent and attacks on people, particularly children, are not uncommon. Certainly the dense population in the subcontinent is a factor. Lions attack people in Africa, but there is little publicity because the media is not as developed as in India. As I said in answer to another question, "aggression" is usually a pre-emptive attack by a big cat that feels threatened by the surprise close approach of a human." http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/wildkingdom/greatcats/expert/expert_3.html Whilst considering attacks on humans, which cat species do you think displays the most aggression in is natural environment, against its own kind & its competitors? Started by Dasyurus |
![]() |
|
| populator135 | Jan 13 2012, 03:30 AM Post #2 |
|
Heterotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Either the Leopard or the Lion. |
![]() |
|
| Megafelis Fatalis | Jan 13 2012, 03:36 AM Post #3 |
|
Carnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Tiger? |
![]() |
|
| Arctodus Simus | Feb 28 2012, 03:52 AM Post #4 |
|
Autotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Probably the Lion since it's the most social cat and it has its group to protect. |
![]() |
|
| Sicilianu | Feb 28 2012, 04:11 AM Post #5 |
![]()
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I have had the fortune of meeting representatives of most of those species. I also know many anecdotal opinions from zoo keepers as well. I would say the Black footed cat is perhaps the most aggressive. Scottish Wild cat is also known for its aggression. Regarding caracals, I have heard of some you could go in with and some you certainly should not go in with. The large big cats are not particularly aggressive, IMO, although, my zoo keeper friends found Sumatran tigers and Asiatic lions to be very aggressive, more so than the rest of their species. My friends taught a jaguar male to roll over rather easily. I also worked with an Amur leopardess that was probably the most dangerous animal at the zoo; however, he might was quite placid, even though he has a record for killing females (the theory is that this female in particular was too aggressive for him to conquer). In my experience, aggression in felids is inversely related to the duration or generations of human exposure or time spent in captivity. Edited by Sicilianu, Feb 28 2012, 04:12 AM.
|
![]() |
|
| ImperialDino | Feb 28 2012, 05:22 AM Post #6 |
|
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Scottish Wildcats! their just small!!
|
![]() |
|
| Scar | Feb 28 2012, 12:09 PM Post #7 |
![]()
Autotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Who the heck voted for the cheetah and jaguar? The tiger, lion and leopard are the most prolific man eaters among the feline family, with more recorded human deaths from any of the three then the rest of the feline family combined. Of the three, the tiger has killed the most people, or at least that's what I've read. |
![]() |
|
| boldchamp | Feb 28 2012, 12:16 PM Post #8 |
|
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Here is my take on the matter. What correctly defines a more aggressive animal;
Personally, i think the lion is the more aggressive feline. Here are some sources on the subject, comparing, of course, lions and tigers;
Edited by boldchamp, Feb 28 2012, 12:18 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Elosha11 | Feb 28 2012, 02:04 PM Post #9 |
|
Herbivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
The topic needs to be further defined. Some posters seems to believe "aggressive" refers to how readily a cat will attack humans; others indicate the term means how readily the feline will engage in intra-specific and inter-specific combat. I'm going to to view the topic as referring to the latter and say the lion is generally the most aggressive cat in combat. |
![]() |
|
| Nocturnal | Feb 29 2012, 01:48 AM Post #10 |
|
Autotrophic Organism
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
have to go with the lion as the most aggressive feline, like apparently most users do. |
![]() |
|
| boldchamp | Feb 29 2012, 01:54 AM Post #11 |
|
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Attacking people really goes under the term of defensive-aggression, which any land carnivore will show on occasion. |
![]() |
|
| Sicilianu | Feb 29 2012, 01:58 AM Post #12 |
![]()
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I assumed this was in relation to people; being self-centered creatures, I thought the topic revolved on feline aggression and man. OP needs to decide what he means by aggression. |
![]() |
|
| ImperialDino | Feb 29 2012, 02:38 AM Post #13 |
|
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I agree, for example Leopards will attack animals they know they can easily overpower (jackal, serval), where as cougars will attack animals they cannot beat (mulitple wolves, bear), but people will say that the Leopard is more aggressive. |
![]() |
|
| Cat | Mar 2 2012, 02:29 AM Post #14 |
|
Omnivore
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
You hit the nail on the head. There are many different ways to define aggression. And sometimes animal behavior seem apparently contradictory. For instance, it's very rare that wild jaguars attack humans, even if they are generally more powerful then leopards and cougars. Yet, they are perhaps the only felids that cannot be tamed, turning aggressive towards humans in adulthood even when raised in captivity as cubs. Lions - at least males - are probably the most aggressive in intra-specific relations, considering their social structure and way of life. But does that mean that they are the most aggressive in inter-specific situations as well? |
![]() |
|
| FireCrown | Nov 3 2012, 10:32 AM Post #15 |
|
Felines,Ursids,and Canid
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Leopard they will come like right at you if disturbed |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Zoological Debate & Discussion · Next Topic » |





![]](http://b2.ifrm.com/28122/87/0/p701956/pipright.png)





















9:47 AM Jul 11