Animal attack on humans

[Supercommunist]

Figured this is a topic worth dedicating to a thread to, due to the senstive nature of the topic probably should refrain embedding images.

Man in Mexico severely injured by a small crocodile:

Based on photographic evidence of the injuries to the victim’s head, the distance between the teeth marks corresponds with a specimen of probably less than 1.80 m TL, which indicates a sub-adult.

Graphic click at your own risk.

www.researchgate.net/publication/340417137_An_unusual_record_of_non-fatal_crocodile_attack_on_the_coast_of_Oaxaca_Mexico_CSG_Newsletter_39_1_11-12

Tiger with serious dental issues killed a man with claws:

www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Unique-fatality-due-to-claw-injuries-in-a-tiger-a-Pathak-Dixit/2af6aed6c748942f0be85cfaa81f5a721898dca3

Fresh water crocodile attack:
www.researchgate.net/publication/257938757_Australian_Freshwater_Crocodile_Crocodylus_johnstoni_attacks_on_humans

[Infinity Blade]

This is another report of a freshwater crocodile attack on a human, which I also posted in the freshwater crocodile profile; it was documented a year after the study posted in the OP was published.

The crocodile attack took place on 18 April 2009 off a rocky beach of Northern Lake Argyle, ~4 km south of the boat ramp (16°09 ́25 ́S, 128°44 ́16 ́E). It was a cloudy day with a mean maximum day temperature of 34°C. The victim was a 52 yr old male (173 cm, 85 kg). On the day of the incident he and a group of friends and family had anchored their boat and made a few dives and short swims in ~8 m deep water, 12-13 m from the shore. At 1600 hrs (about 2hrs prior to sunset under bright early afternoon light), after being in the water for approximately five minutes, the victim lay on his back on the water surface for 30 seconds, and had then gone into a backward somersault to commence swimming back to the boat. The attack took place halfway through the somersault.

Once attacked, the victim was disoriented and had difficulty maintaining buoyancy. He thought initially that the propeller of a passing boat had hit him and, although he had difficulty moving his left hand, he managed to swim to the boat anchored ashore. Within an hour of the attack, the victim was taken to the Lake Argyle Medical Muster station and subsequently to the general hospital in Kununurra. He had puncture marks to the left side of his chest, cuts (regarded as claw marks) in the right shoulder blade and three deep slashes to the left underarm (Figs 2A and 2B). He also had three cracked ribs from the force of the attack. The stitches were left for 2-3 weeks and the wounds were healed completely after approximately three months, with some lingering tenderness. Oral antibiotics were only given for the first 10 days.

publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.2011.049

One of the things that shocked me were the cuts to the right shoulder blade. These were regarded as claw marks. This is the only documented incident I am aware of where a crocodilian's claws actually caused bodily harm.

[Ceratodromeus]

I think its weird for them to assert that. We don't see these cuts in that article, but i'm kind of surprised they say it is "claw wounds" as opposed to say, abrasive substrate on the river bottom.

[Infinity Blade]

They also mention three slash marks to the underside of the left arm, which are figured. I can't tell if they meant that those are also "claw marks" or not. The shoulder blade lacerations are unviewable, so I guess any sort of judgement isn't possible.

I was thinking they could alternatively be tooth marks, but that depends on what exactly they look like, which we don't know. You're right that it is a weird hypothesis for the cause of those cuts.

[Ceratodromeus]

Aug 22, 2020 6:45:23 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

They also mention three slash marks to the underside of the left arm, which are figured. I can't tell if they meant that those are also "claw marks" or not. The shoulder blade lacerations are unviewable, so I guess any sort of judgement isn't possible.

I was thinking they could alternatively be tooth marks, but that depends on what exactly they look like, which we don't know. You're right that it is a weird hypothesis for the cause of those cuts.

I'm just skeptical because, well, this is what a freshwater crocodile foot looks like.


I've also never read about crocodiles attempting to use their feet in predatory attacks, so it's just....bizarre.  I'd go with tooth marks over much else.

[Infinity Blade]

Mhm. That makes sense. Ngl, I think was being too optimistic posting that. I thought maybe, just maybe this was a first (or at the very least, unintentional), but it's probably too otherwise unprecedented to be claw marks (let alone deliberate ones).

Just to make sure I also add something relevant to this thread, this is a case report of a human killed by a giant anteater.

www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(16)30156-9/pdf

[creature386]

Not an individual report, but I'm sure the story of the Champawat man-eater (who reportedly killed 436 people) belongs here:
ecs.com.np/features/tracking-man-eaters-the-jim-corbett-story

[Supercommunist]

5 kg dragon inflicts a suprisingly serious bite on a zookeeper:

A 38 year-old female zookeeper presented after being bitten by a 5 kilogram Komodo dragon while servicing its enclosure at the zoo. The Komodo dragon bit her on the right hand. According to the patient, the reptile clenched down firmly and was unable to be removed quickly. Upon EMS arrival, she was hypotensive with a systolic blood pressure of 83, but by arrival to the emergency department her blood pressure improved to 123/70 after receiving approximately half of a liter of intravenous normal saline. She had multiple small lacerations on her right hand as well as a large dorsal laceration (Figure 1). There was no active bleeding from her wounds, and she complained only of pain at the site of the bites. She had full active flexion and extension of her digits at both the PIP and DIP joints. She had normal sensation to light touch in her ulnar, radial, and median nerve distributions. Due to concern for a retained tooth, an X-ray was obtained, which showed a retained tooth in her fourth digit near the DIP (Figure 2).The wounds were extensively irrigated and the large dorsal laceration was loosely approximated. The wound overlying the retained tooth was a small puncture wound. This 3
was not probed or enlarged to try to remove the tooth, which was left in place. She was observed for two hours and remained asymptomatic. Her blood pressure remained normotensive. She was started on one week of amoxicillin/clavulonic acid and followed up with a hand surgeon. The tooth self-extruded after a few weeks. Her wound healed without any infectious complications. She does have some lingering paresthesias in the distal aspect of her fingers

www.researchgate.net/publication/301942260_Bitten_by_a_Dragon#read

1 kg dragon also dishes some pretty serious hurt from such a small lizard:

A 34-year-old, right-hand dominant female zookeeper was bitten by a juvenile Komodo dragon (weight 1 kg) during a routine training exercise when her finger was mistaken for a piece of food. The animal bit and clenched down for about 3 seconds, then was quickly disengaged with the assistance of a coworker. The patient’s medical history included only high cholesterol and polycystic ovarian syndrome. She received an oral dose of amoxicillin/clavulanate (875 mg) and was transported to the emergency room. Her physical examination was notable for several small lacerations to the distal left fifth digit, the largest being 3 cm overlying the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint on the dorsal surface (Figure 2, Figure 3). She was unable to fully extend at the DIP joint, but was neurovascularly intact. The plain X-ray film was unremarkable. The wound was irrigated and allowed to heal by secondary intention. She was discharged home on an 11-day course of oral amoxicillin/clavulanate (875 mg twice daily) and a finger splint with the DIP joint in extension.

Several wound checks and follow-up appointments with an orthopedic hand specialist revealed a well-healing wound without signs of infection. The splint was maintained for 5 weeks, after which the orthopedist advised that the patient remove the splint and begin physical therapy. Extensor lag was noted during her therapy sessions, and the orthopedist recommended an additional 4 weeks of splinting. After additional splinting and subsequent physical therapy, the patient did not regain full ability to extend the finger. She recovered with only limited morbidity to the affected hand. The patient’s mallet finger was most likely due to a traumatic tendon injury inflicted by the bite.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1080603214004335

[Infinity Blade]

Recently a young bald eagle attacked a woman. She wasn't severely injured.

www.fox21online.com/2020/08/13/bald-eagle-attacks-woman-along-north-shore-it-was-terrifying/

[Supercommunist]

Pretty impressive how strong this pony is, being able to trot with a man nearly twice as heavy on its back.

[Infinity Blade]

Death due to crushing by an elephant trunk.

sci-hub.do/10.1007/s12024-013-9415-9

[Infinity Blade]

"The Mir Shikars, traditional bird hunters of Bihar, India had a ritual practice that required a young man to capture a black-necked stork "Loha Sarang" alive before he could marry. A procession would locate a bird and the bridegroom-to-be would try to catch the bird with a limed stick. The cornered bird was a ferocious adversary. The ritual was stopped in the 1920s after a young man was killed in the process."

This quote above is from Wikipedia's black-necked stork page (link->).

Below is the original source.

"The bird gored his side fatally, and he died on the spot."

archive.org/stream/NLBW9#page/n2/mode/1up/search/gored

[Supercommunist]

Horse causes a rupture in a man's small bowel.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6827853/

[Infinity Blade]

Alligator snapping turtle bite amputates this teenage boy's index finger.

www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(16)00068-5/fulltext

Just to give you some perspective on the jaw strength of an alligator snapping turtle (Ernst & Lovich, 2009).




In the work presented here, 21 alligator snapping turtles bit with a force of anywhere from 120-354 Newtons.

researchsymposium.mssu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lexis-and-Penning-Poster.pdf

[Infinity Blade]

While minor compared to some of the other attacks here, this man got punched in the foot by a mantis shrimp.