Deadly Animals: Savage Encounters Between Man and Beast

This book was first published in 2010, has 351 pages, 22 chapters, 80 B/W photos but no maps. The book is dedicated to author's family. GORDON GRICE was 6 years old when a cougar treed infront of their farmhouse. He started collecting specimens and wrote notebooks full of his observations and drawings of wildlife. He could sense that he was being watched by a predator or he was in some danger.In USA, there are 4.7 million dog bites a year, out of which 800,000 seek medical help and about 12 die. In UK, 5 thousand post persons are attacked in 1 year, by the dogs. Most serious attacks involve little children and older people. Bending over, is a sign of weakness or submission, to an animal. The eyes and direct gaze, provoke an attack. Unsteady walk in the elderly and quavering voice, draw a challenge. The worse disease the dog/wolf family can pass to man is - RABIES.The black bear may peel its victim like a banana, including humans. On land, a brown bear makes a formidable predator. Polar bear can weigh upto 1 ton and stand 12ft tall. The cats predatory behaviour is consistent across their sizes. Lions lie in ambush in low bushes. Grazing elephants cleared these bushes. Killing the elephants, lead to lion attacks. Captive lions are just as dangerous as tigers. Leopard is known to strike humans in the dark and take sleeping people from their homes. The cougar also takes humans in the Americas. Captive or pet cats can also attack humans. Hyenas attack humans when they are asleep. The Maasai are quite aware of this persistent hyena, who likes to break through the Boma.Sharks, stingrays and jelly fish kill people. An under-reported 40,000 people die of snake bites annually worldwide. The cobra kills 20,000 people in India every year. The King Cobra can reach 20ft in length and it only eats other snakes. All 4 kinds of Mamba snakes are aggressive and dangerous. The most potent venom is discovered in a 'Inland Taipan' (fierce snake) in Australia. Out of 122 kinds of viper snakes, the Russell's viper is the most frequent human killer. In Africa, the Puff Adder viper kills more frequently. In North America, the western diamond back rattle snake kills more humans. The constrictor pythons kill people usually in the western homes.The crocodile injures its victims by biting, shaking, rolling and crushing. Despite warnings, people still enter rivers and lakes in the wilds, where they depend on water for food, drink and livelihood. The Komodo dragon, many spiders and scorpions, can kill humans in the wilds.Deer can cause injuries and death with their antlers. Car collision with deer causes many deaths on USA roads. Most dangerous of all buffaloes, is the cape or water buffalo of Africa. Horned animals like the Sable, black and white rhino, can give severe injuries and kill humans. More people die of hippo charges than any other animal in Africa. Elephants have killed humans by tusking, trampling, kicking, crushing and tossing. Monkeys with sharp teeth can inflict serious injuries. Baboons are known to kill children.This book contains many short stories about animal attacks on humans. It shows that, no matter how much we may love wild animals, they are not our friends.Some other books of interest are:-(1) Man-eater of Kumaon, Jim Corbett, 1944(2) Dangerous to Man, Caras, 1964(3) Man is Prey, Clarke, 1969(4) Maneaters, Capstick, 1981(5) Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls, Leslie, 1987(6) Spell of the Tiger, Montgomery, 1995(7) Spineless Wonders, Conniff, 1996(8) Hunter and Hunted, Kruuk, 2002(9) Mammoth Book of Maneaters, MacCormick, 2003(10)Killer Animals, Ricciuti, 2003(11)Man the Hunted, Sussman, 2005Having born in Kenya, I enjoyed reading this book.

OK

I read this book as soon as it arrived, which was quick. It is a little graphic, he talks about how bears will spread their feces over the crushed skull of their latest kill which is gross and how ostriches won't hesitate to kick and stomp a person to death. He makes his point though: all animals should be respected and he gives many interesting examples throughout the book when we, as humans make the mistake of treating wild animals as one of our own and not as they are, which is wild.

Towards the beginning of his book, Mr. Grice has a great line, "To consider animal behavior without history is to misunderstand it." The author then goes about describing how humans misread many potentially dangerous animals by anthropomorphizing their actions. He correctly argues that much of this is rooted in an arrogant religious mindset that human beings are at the top of the scale of value, so that any information that moves us lower must be explained as abnormal. This silly attitude isn't science but simply wishful thinking on the part of people. As he says, "In the real world, the significance of things is situational, not determined by some preordained ranking." Human actions, such as encroachment into other animals' habitats, factor largely in the hunting habits and conflicts which arise between us and other animals. This book explains what happens when we cross paths with creatures who are very capable of doing us harm or serving us up as the main meal on that day's culinary delights.Many of Mr. Grice's stories of deadly animals getting the better of people sure tested my faith in the intelligence of mankind. There's no way around it, some of the victims were laughably stupid. The author has a wonderful, playful ability to explain dangerous wildlife in layman's terms. He covers all the bases. Land, air, water, you name it, there's something out there to do you in. Mr. Grice explains the habits of canines, cats, bears, hyenas (darned right scary fellahs), sharks, fish, whales, numerous other denizens of the deep, snakes, crocodiles, lizards, birds, monkeys, apes, chimps, bats, rodents, elephants, farm animals, and the one section that had me squirming through the entire seventy pages pertained to spiders, boatloads of different insects and worms. It's obvious the guy loves observing animals and knows his stuff. "The Book of Deadly Animals" is a highly informative, entertaining and amusing read. The only problem I have with the thing is that after reading the book I may never leave my house again. I want my mommy.

I read an excerpt on Gizmodo the other day and was instantly enthralled with the subject. Who isn't at least somewhat interested in reading about deadly animals? Without previewing any more, I took a chance and ordered the paperback on a whim. The book arrived fast (gotta love amazon prime), and I've already read the first two chapters: Dogs and Bears. They're both well written, informative, and offer a thoughtful perspective on the animal groups themselves, as well as our perceived and actual interactions with them. I know this book will be a quick read as I already find it difficult to put down.To sum it all up: well written, well researched, and very entertaining. Thank you.