Number 12 Tiger The tiger is among the largest felines to
have ever existed and the current king of big cats in terms of size.
Tigers are distinguishable via their stripped bodies, which are uniquely patterned for each
individual, as well as their muscular limbs and massive heads.
They’re solitary hunters that mainly go after deer and wild boar.
Because of their explosive strength and speed, these apex predators are capable of taking
down prey significantly larger than themselves.
The tiger will typically stalk its victim and then attack, swiftly closing the distance.
Horizontal leaps of up to 33 feet have been reported, meaning that it can cover about
half a bowling lane in a single bound.
The tiger’s preferred killing technique involves using its powerful forelimbs to hold
onto prey as it delivers a suffocating bite to the throat.
Even though it owns the longest canines of all felines, the tiger’s ferocious jaws
aren’t its only weapon.
A single swipe of the feline’s paw may be strong enough to smash the thick skull of
domestic cattle.
Number 11 Bengal vs Siberian Bengal and Siberian are the types of tiger
most commonly discussed.
The more significant differences between the two have to do with their radically different
environments.
Bengal tigers are native to the Indian subcontinent and have adapted to a climate that ranges
from temperate to tropical.
Siberian tigers live farther north, in Eastern Russia and Northeast China.
They’ve evolved to thrive in the cold.
As such, they’ve got thicker coats and lighter coloring to camouflage them against an often-snowy
background.
Additionally, fat stored along their sides and belly insulates them from sub-zero temperatures.
Siberian tigers are also typically larger, with males reaching 675 pounds, or about as
much as a utility ATV.
Number 10 Dave Styles In November of 2013, animal trainer Dave Styles
became the victim of a brutal tiger attack at Australia Zoo, in Queensland.
The zoo was owned by the family of late TV personality and wildlife expert Steve Irwin.
During a show that had dozens of spectators, the tiger dragged Styles into a pool and started
biting him on the neck and shoulders.
It’s believed that the feline, a Bengal named Charlie, got overexcited and confused
him with his favorite chew toy.
Others intervened and rescued the handler from what would’ve likely been a gruesome
death.
He was airlifted to a hospital where doctors managed to stabilize his condition.
After he recovered, Styles decided to return to work.
He didn’t hold a grudge against his attacker and said he didn’t want Charlie to be euthanized.
Number 9 Tiger Vs Lion There’s an age-old debate about which animal
would come out on top in a fight between a male lion and a male tiger, the most imposing
felines in the natural world.
The two reportedly faced off in the amphitheaters of ancient Rome and fights in captivity, during
modern times, have also been reported.
Tigers have been noted as the victors in most cases.
They’re larger and, judging by their humerus-radius ratio, their paw swipe is stronger.
One study has calculated that they bite nearly twice as hard as lions do.
Male lions have a defensive advantage in the form of their mane, which offers protection
to their neck, acting like a type of chainmail.
They play-fight from a young age and will cooperate to take down large animals once
they start hunting.
Tigers, on the other hand, typically hunt alone.
Craig Saffoe, a biologist and curator of big cats at the Smithsonian Zoo, gave the advantage
to the tiger.
While arguing that victory depends entirely on respective individuals and not the species
as a whole, Saffoe claimed that tigers tend to have superior killer instincts.
Because they don’t rely on cooperative hunting or defense, they’ll go straight for the
kill in a confrontation.
It’s that type of ruthlessness that gives them a competitive edge.
Number 8 Nadezhda Srivastava Zookeeper Nadezhda Srivastava was almost mauled
to death by a massive male Siberian tiger at a Russian zoo.
The woman had forgotten to lock the gate upon entering an area within the enclosure.
That’s how the tiger, named Typhoon, had managed to pounce on her before the eyes of
horrified visitors.
A picture of the mauling subsequently became viral.
The attack lasted about ten minutes, which Srivastava claimed felt like an eternity.
She put her hands and forearms in the tiger’s mouth to prevent him from going for the jugular.
At one point during her ordeal, the mother-of-three lost all hope and thought she was going to
die.
Her life was saved as visitors started hurling paving stones, chairs and other large objects
inside the enclosure.
This confused the attacking beast, prompting him to retreat.
Srivastava was rushed to hospital and, despite severe injuries, suffered no permanent nerve
damage.
Typhoon’s attack, however, had left her with broken ribs, shattered wrists, broken
fingers and extensive lacerations.
Number 7 Jaguar The jaguar may be the third-largest feline
in the world but this creature is a pound-per-pound force to be reckoned with.
Jaguars are found in the Americas and typically have tawny bodies covered in black rosettes,
which act as a form of natural camouflage.
They have compact, muscular bodies that are adapted for climbing, crawling and swimming.
They’re capable of stealthily stalking prey and swiftly pouncing on it from multiple angles,
including from tree branches.
When attacking large animals, jaguars are even known to grip the victim’s neck with
their paws, to then twist and dislocate it.
Jaguars have a robustly-built skull and prominent jaw muscles on each side of it, which deliver
an incredibly powerful bite.
When adjusted for size, they own the strongest bite of all the big cats.
It can pierce through the shells and the armored skin of reptiles.
Powerful neck muscles enable the jaguar to drag animals several hundred pounds heavier
than itself up a tree.
The feline is a well-rounded powerhouse that, if larger, would undoubtedly be the most menacing
big cat on Earth.
Number 6 Slaughter at New Orleans Zoo The 2018 slaughter at a New Orleans zoo serves
as a harrowing testament to the jaguar’s prowess.
In July of that year, a large male, named Valerio, escaped.
He did so by chewing through the interlocking steel cables that made up the roof of his
enclosure.
Valerio then went on a bloody rampage.
It’s unclear for how long he’d been free, but he ended up killing all 5 of the zoo’s
alpacas as well as 3 foxes and an emu.
The zoo was closed at the time, so there weren’t any attacks on humans.
A vet team eventually shot Valerio with tranquilizers and recaptured him.
The feline wasn’t put down in the killing spree’s aftermath since it was deemed that
he’d only been following his natural predatory instinct.
Number 5 Jaguar Attacks Caiman Wildlife photographer Kevin Dooley captured
a prime example of the jaguar’s outstanding hunting spirit while traveling by boat in
Brazil.
At one point during his trip, he noticed a jaguar perched on a tree branch and asked
the boat to stop so that he could observe it.
According to Dooley, the feline remained motionless for nearly an hour.
During this time, it never broke its gaze from a caiman swimming in the river, about
10 feet below the tree branch.
The jaguar then suddenly leapt from his ambush position and pounced on the caiman paws first.
Dooley was able to capture stunning images of the animal in midair.
The two beasts wrestled for several minutes before the caiman surrendered to its fate.
Afterwards, the jaguar dragged its fresh kill up a tree.
Number 4 Selfies Gone Wrong In recent years there have been several incidents
in which zoo visitors were attacked while attempting to take selfies with jaguars.
In March of 2019, a woman jumped over a barrier at a zoo in Phoenix, Arizona.
Her search for the perfect photo ended with her on the ground, crying and in pain.
As she approached the jaguar’s enclosure, the caged feline swiped her arm.
The woman was left with deep lacerations but eventually recovered and took responsibility
for the attack.
In January of 2020, Noemi Rosas Fragoza was involved in an attack similar to the one from
the Arizona zoo, albeit of greater consequence.
30-year-old Fragoza crossed a security line and approached the jaguar’s enclosure at
a zoo in Mexico.
She got close enough that the feline was able to scratch her face and sink its teeth into
her arm.
Even though the jaguar was still caged, it had managed to sever a tendon in the woman’s
arm with its bite.
Other visitors, who’d witnessed the attack, managed to drag her away from the enclosure.
Bloodied and in pain, Fragoza was rushed to the hospital where doctors told her that amputation
might be required.
Number 3 Mountain Lion Mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas,
are found in the Americas with a wide distribution ranging from the north of Canada’s Yukon
province to the southern Andes.
While not typically ranked among the big cats, because of its inability to roar, the mountain
lion is still a dangerous predator.
It’s fully capable of killing human beings, with children and the elderly being most vulnerable
to their attacks.
Mountain lions can sprint at up to 50 miles per hour, way beyond the speed limit for vehicles
in most US urban areas.
It’s worth mentioning that their paws and hind legs are proportionately the largest
in the feline family.
Their bodies are remarkably well adapted for grasping and holding their victims.
When targeting larger prey, such as deer, they’ll leap onto their backs and attempt
to deliver a suffocating bite to the neck.
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Number 2 Mountain Lion Attacks on Children In the past decades, there’ve been a number
of mountain lion attacks on children in North America.
In 1992, 7-year-old Jeremy Williams was attacked as he was playing in the schoolyard.
The brutal attack took place in a remote village on Vancouver Island and the female mountain
lion mauled the boy to death.
The animal was shot by a janitor as it stood over Williams’ lifeless body.
2 year later, another child was attacked as he was going to school in Gold River, British
Columbia.
He was of the same age as Williams and lost an eye in the mauling.
Another attack in the 1990s took place at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park.
10-year-old Mark Miedema was killed by a mountain lion while hiking, after he wandered ahead
of his family.
A more recent incident happened in September of 2014 and it involved a 6-year-old boy.
At the time, the child was hiking with his parents in California.
The mountain lion pounced and had started to drag him away before his father and a friend
scared it off.
The child survived the attack but sustained bites and scratches to his head and neck,
which required medical attention.
Number 1 Attack on County Deputy In March of 2020, cell phone footage of a
mountain lion attack started circulating on the Internet.
The attack involved a female sheriff’s deputy from Larimer County, Colorado.
Officers responded to a call that the feline had injured a civilian near the county’s
RV park.
They arrived at the scene and tried surrounding the large feline.
That’s when it pounced on the deputy and wrestled her to the ground by biting at her
head.
The woman reacted quickly by raising her forearm, which prevented the mountain lion from inflicting
further harm.
She’d effectively used the momentum of the mountain lion throwing her to the ground in
order to push the animal off her.
Other officers intervened and managed to chase away the feline.
Both the deputy and the civilian were rushed to a nearby hospital but neither had sustained
life-threatening injuries.
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