A Book Review (About Animal Attacks)

I'm a bit banged up at the moment, and as I recover, someone was kind enough to give me a great new book. The Book of Deadly Animals by Gordon Grice, it's a book on how animals predate on humans, and notes a lot of animal attacks throughout history. It's written in a really amusing and often sarcastic way, and yet has a respect for animals which is good to see. Its environmental message is not overplayed either, which means that even idiot climate change deniers can in theory enjoy it. I recommend it to anyone,

For me though, the best attacks aren't all of those which were most deadly. For example, I already knew about the shark attacks on the survivors of the USS Indianapolis CA-35, or that tiger which killed hundreds of people in India in the 1930s. Instead I enjoyed things that I had never heard of or even though of before. For example, at page 116 we learn that only one person has ever been injured by a giant squid, which batted him with a tentacle when it was slapped deliberately by an oar. Also, I didn't know (but always really hoped) that if you anger an octopus in the water, it can follow you out of the water, crawling along the sand to catch you. Also, I had no idea that sloth bears are the most violent and aggressive of all the bears, despite looking like some shaggy Muppet deity: 

Looks like it's wearing a mask, but can still tear your face off [source]

The following are my five 'favourite' stories from the book, by that I mean things which I've talked to other people about

1. Komodo Dragon (pp. 164 -8)
I've already admitted my fondness for the Komodo Dragon, and I remember this in the news when it happened. In 2009, a park ranger on the island of Rinca was doing paperwork in a hut when he was attacked by a Komodo Dragon.The hut was accessible only by a ladder, which the dragon climbed before lunging at the man in his desk. It doesn't say, but I imagined it was from behind, so he'd be working one minute, then terrified the next- although hearing something coming up the ladder and expecting a human but being met with a Komodo would also be a good story. They fought for a little while before the man jumped from the window to safety.


2. Rhinocerous (p. 160)
This is a pretty gruesome story, but I suppose rhinos owe us some pain after we chop their horns off for no reason whatsoever.the story isn't verified, but is certainly possible: a group of slaves were being marched along a path, each shackled around the neck, and tied to the man before and after him. A rhino charged a man in the middle, reducing him to pulp, but the force of the attack broke necks of the other twenty men. It's an awesome display of power, and  it's from a really grim time in our history (unless you are from those parts of the world where slavery still goes on).

3. Buzzard (p. 174)
Less horrible, a buzzard is a large predatory bird, which I have seen terrorising the enormous seagulls in Scotland (seriously, they're so big). Anyway, in 2004 a buzzard attacked 22 people on a bicycle race in Devon, England, damaging the helmet or person in all cases. A bonus for you relating to birds: a Redtail Kite that nested near a golf course in Illinois attacked at least 60 golfers over four years. Awesome for so many reasons.

4. Centipedes (pp215-7)
Grice admits that as far as he knows, no centipedes have ever killed a man (although I remember distinctly being told by an 'animal safety' guy at school that one killed a girl in Perth (Australia) so we had to be careful around them.) Grice also gives the great description that they are like "a worm on many stilts."  However, what really caught my eye was that there are around 60 species with 'REPUGNATORIAL GLANDS' capable of causing harm to humans. The most insane one, desmoxytes purposea exudes a venom which contains cyanide. In case you're worried about a silent attack, it looks like this: 

It looks like some weird sex toy for an act I can't even imagine. [source]

5. Gorilla (p. 343)
Another one which was interesting and sad. In Dallas, Texas in 2004 gorilla was pelted with ice and rocks by two teenage boys. The gorilla was in a 12 foot moat ringed with a 14 foot wall, which was covered in electric wire. The gorilla cleared the moat with a single bound and raised hell, attacking people until he was shot by the police. The two teenage boys are probably still alive. That's pretty grim news, so to cheer you up:

In conclusion: Great reading, he's a great story teller (he relates a lot of it to his own adventures in the wild) and also is a great place to have lots of animal stories together. If that doesn't interest you, I'll leave you with this: Giant Panda v drunk Chinese guy, if you want to find the result, read the book.