Places to Go, People to Eat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bengal

The Siberian tiger is Panthera tigris altaica, the Sumatran tiger is Panthera tigris sumatrae, and the Malayan tiger is Panthera tigris jacksoni.

Finally shot in 1907 by Edward James (Jim) Corbett, the Champawat Tiger began her spree in western Nepal, and was pushed into the Kumaon District of India in a concerted effort by the Nepalese Army to track her down.

Upon her death, the tigress was found to be injured, missing teeth on the right side of her jaws. It is believed that this made it difficult for her to hunt her natural prey, and she resorted to attacking easy-to-kill humans for her sustenance.

Answer: Having no manes

While the exact number workers killed remains unclear, what was clear at the time was that people were being killed by two maneless male lions. For a time, the lions moved on to harass different areas (reports of attacks said as much), but they returned and would kill a worker or two on a nightly basis. Nothing they did to deter the lions (bonfires / fences) kept them out.

The 'Tsavo Man-Eaters', also named 'The Ghost and the Darkness' were eventually killed after reinforcements were brought in to hunt or trap the killers. The first lion was shot on December 9th, and the second was killed three weeks later.

The construction of the bridge, which had been halted during the height of the attacks, continued in the aftermath and was eventually finished in February of 1899, a crucial link in the project to provide a rail link from Uganda to the Indian Ocean at Kilindini Harbour.

Answer: Wolf

Although descriptions varied, the Beast of Gévaudan most closely resembled a wolf or a large dog, although not quite. There were also reports that the animal was not alone, although again, reports on that varied.

The two professional wolf hunters killed a large wolf near the Abbaye des Chazes in September of 1765, sending the stuffed carcass to the king for proof, then stayed in the region to hunt its mate and two cubs, managing to kill the female and one of the cubs. But that did not end the attacks.

In 1767 a local farmer named Jean Chastel shot the beast in an organized hunt, killing it (according to the followup report) with a large-caliber bullet and buckshot combination, made with silver. Remains of the last victim were found in its stomach. After this beast was killed, there were no more recorded attacks.

Perhaps the Beast of Gévaudan was the origin behind stories of werewolves, especially given the manner of its death? In retrospect, historical study shows it as likely to have just been a wolf, some other large canid, and possibly even a lion escaped from a menagerie.

Answer: Ussuri brown bear

The Ussuri brown bear has the trinomial name Ursus arctos lasiotus and is also known as the Ezo brown bear and the black grizzly bear (not the same subspecies as the North American brown (grizzly) bear).

When Kesagake woke from hibernation to do some foraging, he encroached on a farmer's yard. After the bear returned two more times, the farmer shot the bear, but did not kill it. A hunting party was organized to track it down, but snow kept them from finding it. They hoped that the experience would cause the bear to fear humans, but instead, it returned to the village with a vengeance.

An expert bear hunter named Yamamoto Heikichi was brought in to help with the hunt after the first two attacks on December 9th and 10th, and he believed the bear to be known as Kesagake, and that it had previously mauled three women.

By December 13th, it took a concerted effort of all the village men, along with Yamamoto, to try to ward off the animal, who had now attacked at eight different homes. Evidence showed that it had been injured again by rifle fire, and Yamamoto tried to track it the next morning with just a team of two. They successfully found and killed it, and when measured, it was a whopping 340 kg (749 lbs) and 2.7 m (8.85 ft) tall.

Answer: Great white shark

There was a heat wave that summer, and the beaches were overflowing. The first major attack came on July 1st at Beach Haven on Long Beach Island, and the beaches stayed open. The second was on July 6th at Spring Lake, 45 miles (72 km) away. At this point the media got ahold of things and panic set in among the general populace. Two more victims were killed in Matawan Creek near Keyport on July 12th, with another attacked a half hour later who survived.

Witnesses of the first attack estimated that the shark was 9 feet (3 metres) long, and after the last attack, a Great white was captured by Michael Schleisser in Raritan Bay close by. It (the same shark as in the photo) was measured at 7.5 feet (2.3 metres) long and some ingested remains were found in the stomach, later confirmed as human.

Answer: Alligator mississippiensis

Stories of Two Toed Tom, known for the distinctive tracks left in his path, have been around since at least the 1920s, with documentation of sightings appearing in the 1930s. Reportedly a 14-foot (4.25 metre) monstrosity, it was known for repeated attacks on people and livestock. It survived many attempts to kill or capture it over the years, even including dynamite.

Despite the fact that the American alligator has a typical lifespan of 30-50 years, purported sightings of Two Toed Tom continued into the late 20th century. The legend persists, and some believe that Tom still lurks in the swamps of Northwest Florida and Southeast Alabama.

Answer: False

The five extant species within the genus Panthera are lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, and snow leopards.

The smallest of the 'big cats' are snow leopards (Panthera uncia), which for many years were actually thought to be within its own genus. They were included within the Panthera genus after phylogenetic studies revealed the relationships between them.

Leopard attacks on humans have been quite numerous on the Indian subcontinent. According to official British records available at the Digital South Asia Library (University of Chicago and the Center for Research Libraries), a whopping 11,909 deaths occurred just between the years 1875 and 1912.

The Leopard of Panar killed over 400 people before it was shot and killed by Jim Corbett in 1910, who had also managed to kill the Champawat tiger (from Q1) three years previously.

Answer: Termites & ants

Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) are native to the Indian subcontinent, and are considered an endangered species.

The Sloth Bear of Mysore (Northwest of Bangalore, India) became aggressive to the point of numerous attacks in 1957. Three of the victims were partially eaten, which was rare.

The father of one of the early victims contacted friend and hunter Kenneth Anderson, who came to the region thinking it would be a quick job to find and kill the bear. Unfortunately, it took three separate hunts to finally track down the bear and kill it, while attacks continued in the interim.

Answer: Goonch

The giant devil catfish, or goonch, has the binomial name of Bagarius yarrelli and is found in large rivers in South Asia.

After hearing of the attacks, British biologist Jeremy Wade investigated the incidents, including related incidents of animals being dragged under. Other predators were considered, but were eliminated for various reasons, leaving the giant devil catfish as the likely culprit.

Answer: Saltwater crocodiles

Saltwater crocodiles are among the largest of the crocodilians, growing up to 20 feet (six metres) in length. Their habitat includes estuaries and brackish wetlands.

The actual numbers are unclear, but reports suggest that roughly half of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers emerged from the mangrove swamps. The incident is in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the worst crocodile disaster in the world and the most number of fatalities in a crocodile attack.