• Question: Do you believe humans are more lethal than a Tiger?

    Asked by samuel1299 to Kate, Mark U, Tess, Yue on 1 May 2012.
    • Photo: Tess Newman

      Tess Newman answered on 1 May 2012:

      Yes… as otherwise they would be keeping us in zoos! If you imagine a tiger fighting a naked, unarmed human, it is hard to see how humans would ever win. But our most lethal weapon is our brain, and this is what made our ancestors survive when they were living in close contact with tiger-like animals. No only do we have the ability to create weapons and amour, we we can work together with other humans and create strategies to follow – like, ‘I’ll distract it by running around screaming while you run behind and bash it on the head with a big rock’
      Humans also gained a big advantage when they learnt how to cook food, as it gives us much more energy than raw food. This meant that we had much more ‘leisure time’, rather than spending all our time hunting for food, and may also be the cause of our huge brains.

    • Photo: Kate Davies

      Kate Davies answered on 2 May 2012:

      Hi samuel1299, this is a good question but i think it completely depends upon the situation. Today I would say in everyday life we can be more lethal than tigers, unfortunately we are able to think, plan and attack with lethal force, it is sad but if you look at the worldwide situation, firstly tigers are bordering on extinction due to humans and secondly tigers haven’t attempted to control the world through violence!!!!
      As a group humans have evolved to be more strategic than other mammals hence why became the hunter rather than the hunted. However if you put us alone, unarmed in tiger territory, if the tiger was hungry or we annoyed / disturbed it, the likelihood of them attacking us would be higher; if it was content (happy and fed) and we didn’t annoy it we may be ok!!! I wouldn’t like to test it myself though!!! Tigers act on instinct as we would to protect its own and eat, survival of the fittest comes to mind! Tigers can run unto 35 miles per hour for short bursts and will use body weight to disorientate or knock over its prey, and we can act in very similar ways maybe not as fast!!.
      So as I said i think it depends completely upon the situation but I would say independently unarmed we are equally matched in our own habitats, one on one, armed humans have the advantage, unarmed I would say tigers have the advantage. Hope this helps.

Comments