# Man vs. animal: what are some fair fights?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 6, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012 "2016-12-06T13:11:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012/41 "2016-12-08T00:22:13Z")

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> [@River\_Hippie](#):
>
> No personal experience but I’ve read that hyenas are much more bad-ass than most people (that don’t live around them) realize. Camels (the animals, not the cigarettes) can make short work of a person too.

Hyenas hunt wildebeests and go toe to toe with lions… they might lose most of the time, but they win sometimes. No way does a human match up.

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012/42 "2016-12-08T00:23:20Z")

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I think I thought of one, at similar weights, that a human might be able to kill – a large land tortoise. Especially the kind with long necks that can’t fully retract their heads.

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012/43 "2016-12-08T02:02:26Z")

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I saw a Sage Grouse take on a buddy of mine. The hen got in a hell of a first strike, but then it didn’t work out so well for her.

Got punted like a football.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-animal-what-are-some-fair-fights/774012/44 "2016-12-08T04:35:57Z")

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BTW, when I said “fair fight” I didn’t mean that the fight had to be fair, was just asking what man vs. animal matchups are fairly even, or at least close enough that a human’s skill unarmed can get them out of trouble. I don’t just mean martial arts obviously, but things like being skilled at handling an animal. An alligator is a very dangerous animal but are very limited in the ways they can attack so those trained in handling them tend to do quite well. Seeing Steve Irwin just jump in the water and start grappling with huge crocodiles was pretty awesome. He shoulda stuck to that. I’ve also read about a guy who studied leopards fight one off by feeding his own arm to it and then pummeling it with the other one until it decided that maybe it had better things to do.

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