# The MostDangerous Game: Which animals can be trained to to hunt and kill humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391 "2018-08-10T15:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/21 "2018-08-11T00:15:06Z")
I would say that to train an animal to kill humans on command means training them not to kill humans on command also. Otherwise we have any number of animals capable of killing humans and not knowing if they do so on command or for some other reason. But that only assumes the animal kills a person with their direct physical abilities. You could take any trainable animal, let’s say a rat, and teach it to push a button that electrocutes a person, or fire a weapon, or use some other mechanism to kill a person. That may not seem to fit the object of this thread, but you might be able to teach some animal to aim a shotgun in a person’s general direction and fire the gun through a mechanism, and reward them for doing it enough times that they do it willfully to obtain the reward. It is effectively the same as having them directly attack a human on command. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/22 "2018-08-11T00:39:18Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > That they are super-smart and trainable is a bonus. They have been known to eat their trainers. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/23 "2018-08-11T01:42:49Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > If a swarm of killer whales started dive bombing me from the sky with mouths agape, I’d call it a day and commit hari-kari. > [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > _Please_ do not give Hollywood any ideas… [You mean like this?](https://youtu.be/voLy3ukXYXc?t=33) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/24 "2018-08-11T01:55:46Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [You mean like this?](https://youtu.be/voLy3ukXYXc?t=33) :dubious: That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/25 "2018-08-11T02:02:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They have been known to eat their trainers. :dubious: Which is why I’ll let my ex train them. I’ll just be the “sic 'em” guy. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/26 "2018-08-11T02:17:32Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Which is why I’ll let my ex train them. I’ll just be the “sic 'em” guy. Have her call my Ex #2, and tell her how cool it is. She is into dogs and horses, she will fall for it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/27 "2018-08-11T11:19:08Z")
Tigers do hunt and kill humans. They are normally kept in check by killing the ones that learn to hunt and kill humans, but it’s a hazard for people who live around tigers. And I saw a biographical article about a VC (or Cambodian?) draftee. He said something like “you know the bamboo traps American soldiers stepped on in the jungle? The ones called tiger traps? They’re called tiger traps because we used to put the out around our bivvy to /trap tigers/. Two of my friends were taken by tigers” (Salt-water croc’s don’t hunt, and can’t be trained to hunt. But they do eat humans. You could put them in your moat). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/28 "2018-08-11T14:58:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > In WWII at least, dogs made excellent guards, and were not trained to attack. Ancient Greeks and Romans used dogs in combat. Sometimes the dogs were outfitted with spiked collars or armor. Spanish conquistadors also occasionally used dogs in combat in the New World. Large dogs were also used back in the days of knights and horses. The dogs were trained to attack the horses, not so much to kill them, but just to get them to rear up and unseat the knight to get him down on the ground where he could be killed much more easily. There was actually a program to train attack dogs in WWII. The idea was to train them to attack Japanese soldiers, and the dogs were planned to be used in the invasion of Japan. They had very few Japanese prisoners of war, and even with Japanese-American soldiers volunteering, they still did not have enough Japanese people to properly train the dogs to recognize the enemy. The Greeks and Romans spent generations training and breeding attack dogs, and the result was some pretty ferocious beasts. The WWII attack dogs ended up not being so ferocious, and were too afraid of modern combat (gunfire and artillery shells). The project was abandoned when it became clear that it was not going to be anywhere near as effective as planned. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/29 "2018-08-12T02:01:35Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > I’m already writing the screenplay. I just released the film, SLOWPOKE. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/30 "2018-08-12T02:02:56Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Rhinos would make a formidable war animal, but they were never used in battles in the past since they basically can’t be trained. That said, there are some ancient wood carvings that depict rhinos in battle or in armor. So put this one on the list as a maybe, with more research needed. Can you add any cite for this? Not doubting you but would like to know more. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/31 "2018-08-12T21:14:57Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > Can you add any cite for this? Not doubting you but would like to know more. Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut from the 1500s shows a rhino in armor, which is clearly armor (and not just thick skin) since the plates have rivets. It’s not clear if Dürer was basing the woodcut on an actual rhino used in battle or if it was just an inaccurate depiction based on second-hand information and sketches. Wikipedia has this to say about it: > [@](#): > > It is possible that a suit of armour was forged for the rhinoceros’s fight against the elephant in Portugal, and that these features depicted by Dürer are parts of the armour.[30] Alternatively, Dürer’s “armour” may represent the heavy folds of thick skin of an Indian rhinoceros, or, as with the other inaccuracies, may simply be misunderstandings or creative additions by Dürer. While poking around on the net for some good cites for others that I have seen, it turns out that a lot of the woodcuts and wood carvings in the 1500s and 1600s are based on Dürer’s woodcut. So those all come back to one (inaccurate) source. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/32 "2018-08-12T21:54:37Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut from the 1500s shows a rhino in armor, which is clearly armor (and not just thick skin) since the plates have rivets. It’s not clear if Dürer was basing the woodcut on an actual rhino used in battle or if it was just an inaccurate depiction based on second-hand information and sketches … If its the [example](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-rhinoceros/KgFlk_gZAkOMcQ?hl=en)held in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, then I don’t see rivets. I see Durer changing his patterning to represent complex gnarly skin texture around the edges, but thats all. Durer spent a lot of time drawing soldiers, weaponry, and general rooting and tooting. He knew how to draw a piece of metal with a rivetted edge or something constructed. His rhino was not that. As you say, his image was widely copied, and some of these definitey misinterpreted or wanted to depict something with actual armour and drew accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/33 "2018-08-12T23:51:51Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > … > > Durer spent a lot of time [in] general rooting and tooting… QFT Not quite sure what it means, but it sounds more correct than a ton of other crap you read in monographs. ---
**Author:** ![ohiomstr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/82dd89/32.png) [@ohiomstr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ohiomstr2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/34 "2018-08-24T12:12:32Z")
The Soviet Union trained dogs to carry antitank mines in WW2. The idea was for the animal to run under the tank and then go boom. > **[Anti-tank dog](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog)** > > Anti-tank dogs (Russian: собаки-истребители танков sobaki-istrebiteli tankov or противотанковые собаки protivotankovye sobaki; German: Panzerabwehrhunde or Hundeminen, "dog-mines") were dogs taught to carry explosives to tanks, armored vehicles and other military targets. They were intensively trained by the Soviet and Russian military forces between 1930 and 1946, and used from 1941 to 1943, against German tanks in World War II. Initially dogs were trained to leave a timer-detonated bomb and r... Unfortunately, the pooches had trouble telling a swastika from a Red Star, as well as demonstrating a natural aversion to diving under a giant, clanking, booming machine, so the program was abandoned However, since the U.S. has most of the tanks, this might work for the rebels in the next civil war. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/35 "2018-08-24T13:28:25Z")
> [@ohiomstr2](#): > > The Soviet Union trained dogs to carry antitank mines in WW2. The idea was for the animal to run under the tank and then go boom. > > [Anti-tank dog - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog) > > Unfortunately, the pooches had trouble telling a swastika from a Red Star, as well as demonstrating a natural aversion to diving under a giant, clanking, booming machine, so the program was abandoned > > However, since the U.S. has most of the tanks, this might work for the rebels in the next civil war. G-dless commies! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391/36 "2018-08-26T03:36:02Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > I had though about dolphins and killer whales… we keep them in aquariums and train them to do amusing tricks without killing us (usually). Probably not feasible but couldn’t you train a pod of Orcas to cruise along swimming beaches and mow down the swimmers… or send them into enemy harbors to take out their military divers protecting their own boats from underwater threats? Where do you think your tax dollars go? > **[United States Navy Marine Mammal Program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Marine_Mammal_Program)** > > The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) is a program administered by the U.S. Navy which studies the military use of marine mammals - principally bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions - and trains animals to perform tasks such as ship and harbor protection, mine detection and clearance, and equipment recovery. The program is based in San Diego, California, where animals are housed and trained on an ongoing basis. NMMP animal teams have been deployed for use in combat zones, such as duri... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mostdangerous-game-which-animals-can-be-trained-to-to-hunt-and-kill-humans/819391.md?page=1)