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From: jackson@ttidca.TTI.COM (Dick Jackson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Why do Lions Leave us Alone?
Message-ID: <1055@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: Wed, 5-Aug-87 15:31:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidca.1055
Posted: Wed Aug  5 15:31:51 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Aug-87 15:14:20 EDT
Reply-To: jackson@ttidcc.UUCP (Dick Jackson)
Distribution: na
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 40

I present the following items to support the contention that most big
predators do not include humans on their hunting list:

      - Big cat predators (lions, tigers, leopards, etc) do not stalk and
        eat humans. (The "man-eating-tiger seems an isolated, rare,
        perhaps "learned" behavior).

      - Sharks do not feed on human swimmers (when they do attack
	people it seems to be by accident, i.e. mistaking us for seals)

Now, to a lion, we humans would be much easier to catch and eat than
gazelles, etc. Why do they avoid us?

        - Have they evolved to treat us as dangerous because we are smart
	  and carry spears?  (Is a million odd years long enough for
	  lions to have developed this trait, even if it makes sense --
	  surely it would be more realistic for lions to adopt the
	  behavior of only attacking humans when they did not have spears!)

	- Why don't sharks just cruise over to Malibu and nibble on
	  the surfers? (Surfers don't carry spears).

	- Have we as a species been around for too short a time to get
	  programmed into predators prey lists? (But leopards prey on
	  monkeys).

	- Do we taste bad? (Just a joke).

	- Divine intervention? (Another joke).

Exeptions that spring to mind  are polar bears and crocodiles.  I would
guess that polar bears eat humans because energy is scarce where they
live, and that crocs do so because they are dumb, and eat anything living.
Is it true that alligators will not attack humans (in general)?

My knowledge of animal behavior is superficial so please don't beat me up
too badly, but I do think the points made above raise interesting
questions. Is there an obvious answer?

Dick Jackson