Tiger leaps, attacks mahout on an elephant

January 5, 2015 • 1:30 pm

I recently showed a tiger leaping high into the air to snag a hunk of meat, but I heard while here in India of a tiger jumping into the air and attacking a mahout on an elephant. This happened in 2004 and, I was told, there was a video on YouTube. I found it.

First, the short version: the cat just bursts out of the grass, roaring, exposing its fangs and claws, and making a mighty leap at the front guy on the elephant. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying:

The longer, explanatory version:

This shows that riding an elephant to view tigers, as tourists often do in India (but they rarely see the cats) is not a guarantee against an attack. These animals aren’t to be messed with; they’re vicious and massively strong. But I still want to hold a cub!

~

51 thoughts on “Tiger leaps, attacks mahout on an elephant”

  1. My bf got to play with a Bengal tiger cub when he was a child. The owner brought it to his house and everything. Lucky bugger. He says that he wishes Bengal tiger cubs would stay little forever!

  3. The only thing more terrifying would be a great white shark leaping out of the grass with its fangs ready to bite. Thankfully, this never happens. 🐅 I guess a more plausible attack would be a big salt water crock lunging at you. 🐊

    1. Or, even worse…a Jehovah’s Witless ringing your doorbell on a Saturday morning before you’ve finished cooking a late breakfast.

      Okay, maybe that’s not so terrifying…but it’s at least as annoying!

      b&

    3. An Australian zoo-keeper lost his thumb and part of his hand yesterday, when a salty tried to kill him. It dragged him into its pond and he would have drowned but the other keeper hit it with a stick until it let him go!

        1. A snake bit him earlier through a bag too! Reptiles really don’t like this man!

      2. Yeah, salties scare me. They are quiet, strong, agile, calculating and patient. The perfect killing machine.

          1. Yes, and I should’ve included, among my list of adjectives, ancient and intelligent. I both admire & fear them much like I do mathematics.

  5. I hope the elephant was okay. It looks as though the tiger scratches the elephant.

    1. The thick skin would protect it from a tiger’s attack. If the tiger had struck the elephant’s face, it would have caused some damage by clawing at the softer parts. But a scratch on the rump couldn’t penetrate the tough hide, and so wouldn’t cause much damage.

      How the elephant would feel about it, though, I couldn’t tell.

        1. It seemed to me that the only being that was “shouting” was the elephant! I’d have expected the human victim to be at least somewhat vocal.

          And I was impressed that the elephant, though quite stressed, was so well-behaved. Of course, I hate to think how the ellies are taught such manners.

          In fact, after the attack my attention was riveted to the pachyderm, not the humans. That’s one enormous, intelligent beast there.

          1. Yes, the elephants did trumpet. I hope they are treated well – it seemed like this was an organized group so perhaps they are nice to their elephants. If not, I imagine an elephant could be quite dangerous since the human is on it like that.

  6. The film talks about the encroachment of humans into the reserve. This is a problem, yes, and into the future I see the problem getting worse. The lack of habitat is putting pressure on tigers and other big cats throughout the world.
    Another big problem here is poaching. A friend of mine is and engineer who works for a non-profit which designs cameras for detecting poachers in the act. Cameras are located in the jungle where the endangered animals pass. The camera triggers based on motion and sends images via satellite to authorities. It has just recently begun seeing widespread use in India, Thailand, and other areas. So far they have achieved great success.

  10. “vicious,” really? a quick check shows the definition of vicious to be:

    “deliberately cruel or violent:
    synonyms: malicious · malevolent · malignant · malign · spiteful · hateful ·
    More
    immoral:
    “every soul on earth, virtuous or vicious, shall perish”

    how about protective, threatened (as in becoming extinct), threatened (as in afraid), goaded, challenged, SURVIVING???

    1. You left out other synonyms like ferocious or savage. Your choice of synonyms seem to suggest Jerry is imposing a moral judgment on the tiger. He isn’t.

      1. I was just about to say that the first five synonyms I found were; brutal, ferocious, savage, violent, dangerous.
        Those seem apt to me.

      2. Hard to see cats as not vicious if you’re prey.

        This has led me to think about how we define cruelty. Non-living objects cannot be cruel. But what about living things that are incapable of feeling empathy? How about psychopaths?

        1. How about machines/robots and AI?

          Open thread just went up. Maybe we should take it there? 🙂

        2. Yes, I think psychopaths can commit cruel acts and they do so because they lack sympathy while retaining theory of mind. So, they know it hurts you because they can put themselves in your shoes; they just don’t care. At the same time they have small amygdylas and other things going on that make them crave stimulation – this can result in them doing cruel things.

      1. That is why I was taken aback by the “vicious” reference. Predators generally do not kill unless necessary for survival (humans being the exception that proves the rule) and, thus, the tiger, although fierce, would not seem to me to be “vicious.”

  12. Darn, that video still makes me jump…

    I’d probably lean towards territorial defensiveness, but not with much confidence as an amateur.

    It looks like an attempt at either an opportunistic hit and run or an attempt to frighten them off. The loud roaring at the point of attack doesn’t fit if it were just a hunt, and the ambush technique is too inconspicuous if it was trying to defend its territory. If it was really determined to kill at least one of them, I don’t think it would have had much difficulty climbing up and finishing the job.

    1. the ambush technique is too inconspicuous if it was trying to defend its territory

      What I mean is that, in most territorial disputes, the aggressive animal is loud, open, and showy, as it’s a display of strength. This has more an air of mortally frightened desperation about it than usual, but the motives are probably the same.

  13. I’ve seen this before, can’t remember where, but the sheer power and rage of this animal, even seen only on video, really shook me.

    1. I had posted this video, with some additional information, in the comments under Jerry’s earlier post on the leaping tigers. Maybe that is where you saw it.

    1. They were intending to tranquilise it with a dart, but not sure if that ever happened.
      I know what he was thinking: “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself.

      1. I think the Tiger felt lucky. 🙂

        In the longer version, they say they didn’t find it. I think they fired shots in the air to scare the tiger? I could have misheard.

  15. my two cents:
    1¢ don’t forget the other reasons why wild animals might leave a protected area and attack domestic animals or humans: sickness and/or injury.
    2¢ “Primates and their misadventures” gave me a chuckle.

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