Most agressive.

L

loftustheraven

Member
Is there a most aggressive animal species to be kept in captivity or most problematic to keep due to its aggression?

I was assuming it would be a large herbivore such as a elephant, African hippo or water buffalo but I would assume most of attacks/dangerous interactions would be down to stress with them due to the humans presence and interactions however these animals (mostly) seem docile/well target trained in captivity.

But is there any animals that are particularly dangerous to handle and keep even with modern zoo methods, animals that would not necessary be tamed with most standard handing methods?? Possibly a salt-water croc or big cat?
 
I'm not sure if elephants are known to be inherently aggressive outside of males in mhust, (and of course, elephants having bad encounters with humans) so I'm not really surprised that they can be handled well.

Because many zoos today practice protected contact with animals, I too am curious if there are any species deemed too aggressive for captivity. A keeper at the Houston Zoo was telling me about how adult chimps are VERY aggressive, yet they're still common in captivity.
 
I've worked with nearly all species of big cat, and was told that you should always change your daily mucking out/feeding routine with jaguars as they're suprisingly clever!

Outside of that, certain forms of venomous reptile, or any animal where it's difficult to read their temperament.
 
I have heard that black leopards often seem to be very aggressive and nasty towards keepers, no doubt there would be many exceptions. They don't seem to settle into a routine.
 
Panthera1981 said:
I've worked with nearly all species of big cat, and was told that you should always change your daily mucking out/feeding routine with jaguars as they're suprisingly clever!

Outside of that, certain forms of venomous reptile, or any animal where it's difficult to read their temperament.
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I've heard of people having to do this with leopards as they have been known to refuse to go back into their indoor section but never with jaguars so that's interesting!
 
TheMightyOrca said:
I'm not sure if elephants are known to be inherently aggressive outside of males in mhust, (and of course, elephants having bad encounters with humans) so I'm not really surprised that they can be handled well.

Because many zoos today practice protected contact with animals, I too am curious if there are any species deemed too aggressive for captivity. A keeper at the Houston Zoo was telling me about how adult chimps are VERY aggressive, yet they're still common in captivity.
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Primates are interesting as they use many learned behaviours and don't rely on shear instinct all the time, I've always wanted to know what makes chimps "snap" as they seem to be on a short fuse most of the time!
 
Water buffalo are docile for the most part - at least the domestic version. Calmer than most domestic cattle in my experience.

I imagine the most aggressive species are certain large herbivores - cape buffalo, black rhino, wildebeest perhaps, and the large carnivores - bears and big cats. But I don't know that there are any species not kept because thye are aggressive (in fact it may be the opposite - aggressive animals are more likely to be kept - Fierce Creatures).

I guess the most aggressive species that aren't kept would be the therapods (with an obvious exception), but I don't think their aggression is the primary reason they are currently absent from captivity. :D
 
loftustheraven said:
Primates are interesting as they use many learned behaviours and don't rely on shear instinct all the time, I've always wanted to know what makes chimps "snap" as they seem to be on a short fuse most of the time!
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Zookeeper said it's hormones. Once they hit about seven years, they get all hormonal and it makes them more prone to aggression. A lot of chimps kept in entertainment and as exotic pets get abandoned at this age because of it, apparently.
 
In his book On Aggression, Konrad Lorenz defined aggression as the fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against members of the same species. If you use this definition, only human beings can be aggressive to humans.

That doesn't stop other species from being dangerous and it doesn't stop us from saying that a particular animal attacked a person for no apparent reason: perhaps the animal might say that it defended itself against an unwarranted approach by a human, the reason being quite apparent to the animal if not to the human.

Even if you don't like this argument, the animals that are most likely to hurt you are not the big ones but the small ones: my nomination would be driver ants, particularly the soldiers.

Alan
 
Very, very interesting stuff! thank-you all for your information, and yeah cant forget our invert friends, but hands-down for aggression in my book as to be Scolopendra gigantea, or the Amazon giant centipede. I did a breeding project once with a pair, they produced eggs and the female held them for a while but lost interest (I think from a humidity drop) but talk about aggression, half they time I think they killed for the sake of killing.

Tough guys but a impressive piece of evolution and certainly demand respect when handling, snake-hook all the way.
 
Elephants are the most dangerous animals in the zoo-they killed even females and tame animals, more keepers as all other zoo animals together....even anteaters,sloths,muskox, ostriches, cassowaries,warthogs and rhions have kileld zookeepers...also bottelnosed dophins have attacked several times keepers around the world, and even tame Killerwhales(guess,where's the name come from !) killed three people in"Captivity"and hurt many,many more-so mabye it would be better, not to keep these animals to avoid any accidents, but otherwise, who want to see only sheep and goats in zoos-neverthleless,even male sheep and goats have hurt poeple...
 
I have heard from someone that most accidents happen with przewalski horse.... I don't know what his source is though.
 
Stallion zebras are said to be very difficult to handle. in fact most animals can prove dangerous if they so choose, including domestic cats and dogs.
 
Tasmanian devils have the name to be very agressive. The few specimens I've seen looked very bad tempered but I don't know if they are all the time this way and if it's true for all specimens of this species.
 
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