LETHAL WEAPON ASIA Bengal tiger Most lists of the world’s deadliest animals have the Bengal tiger close to the top These big cats are thought to have killed more than 370,000 people in Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries Bengals are the second largest big cats living today and one of the five surviving tiger sub species Males can grow to almost 10 feet 3 m long and weigh 660 pounds 300 kg They’re big and powerful and also very territorial They tend to live and hunt in areas where humans like to set up villages near grasslands at the edge of forests This means tigers are more likely to come into contact with people than most other big cats Tigers usually prefer prey such as buffalo wild boar and deer but there are reports of rogue tigers BITE FACT BOX LETHAL WEAPON CLAWS BITE OF STEEL Tigers don’t usually kill by ripping their prey apart Instead they lock their powerful jaws around their prey’s neck and suffocate it to death 4
that have become man-eaters Among the most famous was the so-called Tigress of Champawat She lived in Nepal during the 19th and early 20th centuries and became injured and unable to hunt her usual prey after being shot by a hunter She turned to human prey and is said to have killed more than 400 people before eventually being killed herself 5
ASIA TIGER SHARK More than 450 species of shark have been identified but only six have been known to attack humans Of these tiger sharks are one of the biggest repeat offenders As of 2020 at least 34 people had been killed by tiger sharks worldwide in the past few hundred years Another 97 people have survived attacks Tiger sharks are found in tropical coastal waters throughout Asia Tiger shark jaws are so powerful and their serrated teeth so sharp that they can crack through the hard shells of marine turtles FACT BOX LINING UP When tiger sharks are young they have vertical stripes on their body which is where their common name comes from These stripes mostly disappear as they mature LETHAL WEAPON BITE SLOTH BEARS Sloth bears might be mainly insect eaters but they react to predators with extreme aggression They will attack anyone in their territory particularly if they think their cubs are threatened Sloth bears have long claws to help them break into termite mounds They use these when they attack humans typically striking at the face and head Sloth bears live mostly alone in the forests of India Sri Lanka Bangladesh and Bhutan FACT BOX SWEET SNACKS In addition to insects sloth bears eat fruits and flowers and occasionally break into beehives for the honey LETHAL WEAPON 6 CLAWS LETHAL WEAPON VENOM FAT-TAILED SCORPIONS The venom of fat tailed scorpions is lethal These creatures are only about 4 inches 10 cm long but the venom in their tail is such a powerful nerve poison it can kill a person in less than an hour Each year a few people are killed by fat-tailed scorpions usually when they meet them in their natural habitat the hot dry regions of India northern Africa and the Middle East KEEP SAFE An antivenom is available If you’re ever stung quickly get to a hospital for a life-saving shot of medicine
King cobra A bite from this slithering reptile can bring down an elephant or kill a person within 30 minutes Luckily king cobras are as scared of people as we are of them and would prefer to use scare tactics before taking a bite When threatened they’ll rise up to the height of an adult person with about a third of their body off the ground Then they’ll flatten and flare out the skin around their head like a hood hiss loudly and lunge forward as if they are going to strike The king cobra’s venom isn’t quite as toxic as that of other deadly snakes but it makes up for that by producing huge quantities of it It’s a mixture of deadly chemicals but the main one is a powerful nerve poison called haditoxin Victims experience excruciating pain then become sleepy dizzy and paralyzed The effects can be reversed with antivenom often the same type developed to treat the bites of Australian tiger snakes King cobras are found mostly in the forests of India China Malaysia Indonesia and the Philippines LETHAL WEAPON VENOM FACT BOX KING SIZED The king cobra is the world’s longest venomous snake It can grow to a length of 18 feet 5.5 m 7
