From huge animals found in captivity to bloodthirsty wild predators, here are 8 real giants of
the animal kingdom: Number 8 Gargantua
Gargantua was a massive lowland gorilla, exhibited by the Ringling Brothers Circus.
Its inclusion in the shows that the circus put on was credited with saving it from bankruptcy.
He was brought from the Congo aboard a cargo ship and became popular with the captain and
most of the crew.
Before his circus life began, the gorilla was known as Buddy.
One night, a drunk and disgruntled sailor wanted to take revenge on the captain’s
strictness so he threw nitric acid on Buddy’s face.
The attack almost blinded him, scarred his face and led to him becoming much more aggressive.
Buddy was eventually sold to John Ringling’s circus, rebranded as Gargantua and marketed
as ‘The Largest Gorilla Ever Exhibited’ and ‘The World’s Most Terrifying Creature’.
Even though these claims were widely regarded as sensationalistic, Gargantua was much larger
than the typical lowland gorilla.
His scarred face gave him a menacing look which, coupled with his aggressive behavior,
increased his ferocious reputation and purported hatred of humans.
During his time with the circus in the late 1930s and 1940s, Gargantua attracted millions
and single-handedly saved the circus.
Number 7 Zulu Zulu was an exceptionally tall giraffe bull
that lived at Folly Farm Zoo, in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Zulu was roughly four feet taller than the average giraffe and his horns almost grazed
the roof of the 20-foot enclosure where he was kept.
He would reportedly eat about 50 pounds of alfalfa hay per day.
One of his handlers stated, at one point that ‘In the wild, Zulu would be competing with
other males for attention from the females and, because of his size, would be very impressive.’
Because of his enormous frame and weight of over 1.3 tons, it was difficult for his handlers
to get accurate measurements.
It’s why they had to estimate his height which was estimated to have been around 19
feet.
Zulu was described as a gentle giant and was renowned for his friendliness.
There were times when he’d allow visiting children to stroke his head or his nose.
He passed away in 2017.
Even though he was a giant, Zulu was never recorded as the tallest giraffe in the world.
That honor belongs to a Masai bull named George, who stood 19.3 feet tall and was housed at
the London Zoo, between 1959 to 1969.
Number 6 Satao Satao was one of Kenya’s most iconic elephants.
He was a tusker, meaning that his tusks, which measured over 6.5 feet, were so long that
they touched the ground when he walked.
Each of them weighed well-over 100 pounds.
An imposing animal, Satao became emblematic of Kenya’s wildlife, and was considered
the largest of its remaining tuskers.
Because of the growing threat of ivory poaching, Satao was under constant surveillance by the
Kenya Wildlife Service and Tsavo Trust.
Unfortunately, Satao eventually roamed into an area where these services could no longer
protect him from rebel militias and organized crime.
He was last seen alive on May 19, 2014.
In June, the carcass of a giant elephant was discovered in a swamp at Tsavo East National
Park.
It had been killed by a poison arrow shot deep into his left flank.
Its tusks had been removed and its face had been badly butchered so the authorities would
be unable to recognize it.
In mid-June, 2014, the Tsavo Trust released the following statement ‘It is with enormous
regret that we confirm there is no doubt that Satao is dead, killed by an ivory poacher’s
poisoned arrow to feed the seemingly insatiable demand for ivory in far off countries.’
On June 20, service rangers arrested three suspects believed to have been involved in
the killing of Satao.
Number 5 Medusa Although it won’t turn you to stone like
the legendary gorgon, this creature is guaranteed to make you stop and stare.
Medusa is the longest snake to have ever been kept in captivity.
A female reticulated python, it measures a staggering 25.2 feet.
To take her record-breaking measurement, Medusa reportedly had to be held by 15 men.
She weighs about 350 pounds and her diet consists of rabbits, deer and hogs.
According to her handlers, Medusa’s can devour a 40-pound deer in one sitting.
Her home is ‘The Edge of Hell Haunted House’, in Kansas City, and she’s frequently visited
by tourists eager to find out if the legends surrounding her size are true.
Her handlers claim that Medusa knows when it’s time to put on a show for the visitors
and that she’ll go into, what they call, ‘performance mode’.
They’ve become accustomed to Medusa’s behavior and know how to manage her so that
they don’t fall victim to her bone-crushing strength.
Number 4 Kesagake Kesakage was a giant brown bear responsible
for the worst bear attack in the history of Japan.
It took place in 1915, in the village of Sankebetsu, Hokkaido.
In December, the gigantic male bear awoke from hibernation and killed seven villagers.
After the attacks were discovered, a team of 60 armed men was assembled to track and
kill him.
Expert bear hunter Yamamoto Heikichi was convinced that it was Kesagake, a brown bear which,
in the past, had been blamed for the mauling and deaths of three women.
Yamamoto was familiar with it’s behavior.
On December 14, he tracked it down and found it resting near a Japanese oak.
He got closer and fatally shot Kesagake, first in the head and then in the heart.
The bear was subsequently measured at 750 pounds, standing almost 9ft tall.
Okawa Haruyoshi, the son of Sankebetsu’s mayor, was seven years old at the time of
the attack.
He swore an oath to kill 10 bears for every victim of the attack and would become a prolific
bear hunter, killing over a hundred bears by the time he was 62.
After he retired, Okawa built a shrine where people could pray for the dead villagers from
Sankebetsu.
Number 3 Hercules With a weight of over 900 pounds, a length
of 11 feet and a height of 6 feet, while standing on all fours, Hercules the liger is the largest
living cat on Earth.
This was confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records three times over.
He’s about the size of the now extinct saber-toothed tiger.
Hercules is a liger, which is a hybrid animal born out of two different big cat species.
His father was an African lion and his mother a tigress.
While most ligers tend to be obese, Hercules is very strong and athletic, capable of running
50 miles per hour and leaping close to 40 feet in length.
Born and raised in captivity, he currently lives at the Myrtle Beach wildlife preserve
in South Carolina, where tourists can visit him.
Number 2 Champawat Tigress While Hercules is described as friendly and
playful, this massive feline was a living nightmare for the people of Nepal and Kumaon
area of India.
During the course of several years, between the end of the 19th century and beginning
of the 20th century, the Champawat Tigress became one of the most prolific man-eaters
in history.
Killing an estimated 436 people.
In Nepal it got so bad that the army was called in.
They weren’t successful in killing the tigress but managed to push her across the border,
into India’s Kumaon region, where her reign of terror continued.
She hunted during the day and people were so afraid that they refused to leave their
huts and go to work.
In 1907, the tigress was tracked down and fatally shot by British hunter, Jim Corbett.
He’d tracked her down by following the trail of blood from her latest victim, a 16-year-old
girl.
He discovered that two of the Champawat tigress’ teeth had been broken, probably as the result
of an old gunshot wound.
The theory is that this prevented her from hunting its regular prey and subsequently
she developed a taste for the softer human flesh.
Number 1 Gustave In Burundi, Gustave has gained almost mythological
status for wreaking havoc on the local human population.
It’s rumored that this large male Nile crocodile has killed as many as 300 people on the shores
of Lake Tanganyika and the banks of the Ruzizi River.
Tales of the horrors Gustave has inflicted on humans have even reached Hollywood and
served as an inspiration for the 2007 film ‘Primeval’.
Some estimates put the giant crocodile at 25 feet and a weight in excess of 2,000 pounds.
It’s believed that he’s about 64 years old and most likely still growing.
There’s a picture of him taken by a National Geographic photographer, which shows his impressive
size.
Because of his massive proportions, Gustave was forced to hunt larger prey, such as hippopotamus,
wildebeest and even humans.
According to the locals, he’d sometimes hunt humans, savage their bodies and leave
their corpses uneaten.
All attempts to capture the giant beast have failed, thus adding to his legend with stories
that he’s some sort of demon.
Gustave’s battle-worn body features three bullet scars and a deep wound on the shoulder
blade.
He was last spotted in 2015, when a local saw him dragging an adult buffalo on the riverbank.
Gustave’s size, strength and ferociousness have made him the dread of the Burundi locals,
who fear that he lurks in the waters and might strike at any time.
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