I know that unarmed people have occasionally killed mountain lions and leopards.
Is it possible for a human to kill a lion or tiger, or are these cats just too big and powerful?
I have no link, but I recall a story of a man in Africa who had a lioness hop in through his window and attempt to eat him in his bed. The lioness was an old loner (which is why she was willing to go for manflesh) who had bad, dull teeth. She messed him up pretty good but he did end up fighting her off. Or maybe he gutted her with a bedside knife, I can’t remember now. At any rate, but for the knife it sounds like he might have been able to drive her off from the attack.
But a lion/tiger in their prime? I think only Chuck Norris could pull it off, but even then only if he was prepared.
Cite? I’m not sure how one would even go about killing a large cat barehanded. Aside from a very lucky shot to the throat there just isn’t much that is vulnerable. You’re not going to break its neck or do enough damage by kicking to the ribs or belly to deter it. Big cats (Panthera and Puma) tend to attack from above and behind after stalking the prey (that is, when not stealing from a pack of jackals or wolves–so much for the noble predator), so as a target you’re not even going to have much of a chance to respond, but should you get face-on with an attacking cat the best approach is probably to stick fingers in the eyes or ears. Unprovoked attacks on humans are rare and usually the result of an ill or injured cat desperate for food and unable to predate effectively.
I might give an experienced man with a large knife even odds against the cat if he’s not attacked from behind, although the resulting wounds are likely to be mutually mortal. A prepared man with a long pike or poleaxe would have good odds I think, though it seems likely that the cat will retreat for easier game.
Stranger
Careful invoking Chuck Norris here.
He might go on a tiger-killing spree and materialize next to each and every tiger, round-house kicking the entire species into extinction, like he did with the dinosaurs.
Can I get a cite for this? I have a hard time believing that an unarmed human could do anything but die against a 100lb cat that isn’t already in bad shape.
Another Straight Dope perennial, who would win in a fair fight to the death, X or Y?
The trouble is that in nature, fights are almost never fair, and usually only to the death for one of the parties to the fight.
Lions have no interest in fair fights. They like to attack from behind, surprise their target, and have it dead before it knows what hit it. And that’s how the vast majority of big cat attacks against humans happen. If the person knows where the cat is, and the cat knows the person knows, the vast majority of big cats will back off. Predators aren’t interested in fair fights, they want to put food in their stomachs and avoid being injured. And prey species aren’t interested in fair fights, they want to avoid being killed.
A lion will avoid attacking if the lion suspects it might be injured, even if the prey is certain to be killed. If the lion attacks, but can’t disable its prey quickly, it is very likely to abandon the attack if it can.
I am sorry, I do not have a specific cite other than my perhaps-faulty memory. I remember reading somewhere about a fellow who jammed his hand down a cougar’s throat, killing it – I imagine that his hand/arm was pretty much devastated from the experience.
I need to go back through some books to find out about the guy who prevailed over a leopard.
You are likely correct about both cats being “already in bad shape.” Otherwise, the humans would wind up as dinner!
I can see how it’d be possible if, for instance, the kitty was attacking someone else and you managed to get on it and choke it to death. I don’t know how able big cats are to get something off their back, maybe their rear claws could tear you up, but a 200 pound dude with with a stranglehold on a 150 pound puma… maybe. But a 500 pound lion? I’m not sure I could get my arm around his neck.
I base this partially on conjecture and partially on holding off a big dog one time. So pure conjecture, really.
Enormous lion terrifies photographer with loud roar — then smiles at him | Fox News – But it’s a Bob Cat…
Obama Signs VA Health Care Overhaul – NBC 7 San Diego – Hmm, I think the guy was delusional.
http://cbs11tv.com/watercooler/local_story_171223457.html – Tiger attack.
“Somehow I threw the tiger off me and my friend beat him with a weed eater."
AHA! So he wasn’t unarmed. Always, and I mean always, bring a weed eater when in tiger country.
Just don’t bring a weed eater to a lawnmower fight.
Not sure how much faith I would place in that particular claim, but the problem is that any account we get is going to be anecdotal.
A more reliable account is that of Carl Akeley, who killed a leopard that attacked him. In that case he managed to straddle the animal and choke it to death. He was in pretty bad shape afterwards though.
In both these cases, and in all the others I have heard of where a person killed a big cat, the animals were already sick or injured and, as you can see from the photo, Akeley’s beast was on the small size.
Against a lion or tiger you’d have no chance. You’re simply outclassed. The cats are heavier, faster, stronger and much better armed. Even severely weakened by inury any cat that is still capable of attacking a human will kill you long beore you can kill it. At best you might hope to drive it off before it killed you but you woudl never kill it.
Well cat’s arent really any more invulnerabe than humans. They still have all the same basic weak spots such as the eyes, spinal column or the abdomen and you can still break legs, choke them and so forth and you can still presumably knock one out with a solid blow.
The problem is how the hell you manage to even land a blow on a cat, much less grab it. They’re amazingly fast and flexible animals with impresive strength for their size and they have a choice of five weapons, any of which will likely disbale you if it connects.
Heck, Tarzan used to kill lions with his bare hands all the time. 'Course, he was the one attacking from behind. And he was one tough dude, too.
Ah, he had a knife. That’s cheating.
Plus, he had that whole, y’know, fictional thing going for him. 
I asked that question once, but it seems to have fallen off the Board. (I really wish they’d archive old threads. Anyway…) The answer is that the front of your head is the thickest, densest mass of bone in your entire body. If you kill someone with a punch to the nose, it won’t be because you shoved their nose into their brain but because their brain sloshed around too hard inside the skull.
His modern day mountain man counterpart may live, though: check out this guy I saw on one of the martial arts message boards:
Hunter Kills Grizzly With Knife :eek: That’s some knife.
It requires registration now, but I read it before, and the gist of the story is “guy kills grizzly bear with knife.” If this weren’t reported in a major paper, I’d call absolute bullshit. Hell, I’m still having troubling swallowing it.
You saying Tarzan could take Chuck Norris? :dubious:
If lions and tigers are built similar to humans in regards to getting blood to the brain, I can imagine a well-muscled 200-lb martial artist taking out a lion or tiger smaller than him with some sort of blood choke. Funnily enough, Brazillian Jiu-jitsu practioners call the Rear Naked Choke, “Mata leao,” or, “Lion killer,” though I’m sure that’s just for effect.
Same story, no registration:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/08/21/bear-attack.html