THE TERRIBLE MAN-EATER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2643, 28 August 1906, Page 2

THE TERRIBLE MAN-EATER.

The "man-cater" is the jungle night-mare of India, and numerous are the theories to account for its abnormal appetite. Commonly, it is said to be an old tiger which has found game too difficult to bring down, or a sickly tiger which has resorted to man-killing in its weakness as the easier method. The consensus of opinion, among experienced hunters and observers is, however, that a man-eater is an ex-cattle killer which in conflict with herders, who are often b»*avc in defence of their cattle, has discovered how much less work it is to kill men than catt!<•, for the cattle killer is usually fat and lazy. Xothing has been found as far as we know, to suggest appetite for human flesh as the impelling motive, or that man.eaters reject all flesh not human, or that the cubs of a maneating tigress inherit the man-killing propensity. Hather is it a ras" of contempt for man bred of familiarity and more often the lust lays hold of tigress, very likely because in foraging for her cubs (as she does until they begin to hunt for themselve at seven months) and in their defence, she has come more frequently in contact with man ; or it may lx« because the female is more numerous than the male, or because she is by nature the slyer and more vicious.

Certainly she is a fiend incarnate when every second year she gives birth to cubs, usually two, which do not move about with her until until six weeks old ; and no doubt her disposition is not improved by the necessity of concealing the youngsters from the tiger, who else would devour them. Tt is a curious and unexpected development that the cattle killer, turned man-eater, ceases to be indifferent to man's presence and becomes cowardly. Yet on occasions it is bold beyond all record of other animals. Other popular misconceptions give the tiger extraordinary leaping ability. It does not. as habitually painted, leap upon the back of its victim to crunch the vertebrae of the neck. Tt may do so occasionally on small game. Panthers have been seen springing on a little barking deer, but the usual tiger method is a stealthy stalk followed by a swift rush and seizure of the victim's throat. Tt does not leap from twen-ty-five to one hundred feet, as wc frequently read. Twelve feet is nearer the average of its jump when chasing game, and there is no record of its jumping streams of over sixteen feet in width. It is a bold swimmer and a frequent wader.