The “Big 5” For Each Continent

BerdNerd

BerdNerd

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5+ year member
As you probably already know, the “Big 5” are five African animals (African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, African Lion, & Leopard) that big game hunters consider to be the hardest to hunt. But that’s only for Africa. What about for the other 6 continents? What do you guys think the Big 5 for the other 6 continents would be, and would you change Africa’s Big 5 in any way?
 
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I believe the Asian Big Five animals are the Asian elephant (more specifically the Indian elephant), the greater one-horned rhino, the gaur, the tiger (more specifically the Bengal tiger) and the bear (more preferably the Ussuri brown or polar bear).
 
Top 10 in North America would probably be
American Black bear
Cougar
Bald eagle
White tailed deer
Moose
 
CheeseChameleon2007 said:
Top 10 in North America would probably be
American Black bear
Cougar
Bald eagle
White tailed deer
Moose
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends where it is in North America though.

If it was in Mexico which is also part of the continent then you could also add Baird's tapir and jaguar too it (the jag could also be added in the American South-West).
 
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I have no idea what would constitute a "big five" or how it would be defined but for South America perhaps for large bodied mammals and birds it might be :

Jaguar
Spectacled bear
Lowland tapir
Giant anteater / giant otter / maned wolf
Andean condor / harpy eagle / hyacinth macaw / rhea

If we are going by the traditional definition of "Big five" as in the old hunting term / expression I know that big game hunters like Roosevelt during their trips to South America used to hunt jaguar, puma, tapir and peccary as targets / trophies and specimens.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I suppose it depends where it is in North America though.

If it was in Mexico which is also part of the continent then you could also add Baird's tapir and jaguar too it (could also be added in the American South-West).
Click to expand...
Thats exactly the problem though, "Big five" can be different for Each Country or something even smaller then that. So maybe a "Big five" for each country could be more realistic.
 
Here's my guesses for Oceania and Antarctica. For Antarctica, oceanic species will be included.

Oceania
Red Kangaroo
Saltwater Crocodile
Emu
Southern Cassowary/Freshwater Crocodile
Perentie/Common Wombat


Antarctica
Emperor Penguin
Leopard Seal
Wandering Albatross
Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Fur Seal/Crabeater Seal
 
dinosauria said:
Perentie
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Is it well known? I mean It took me a while to learn about this one, but then again a few years ago I had a big shift in my interests other than Mammals, spreading to inverts, birds, and fish.
I'm not from Australia so I'm not one to judge. :)
 
CheeseChameleon2007 said:
Is it well known? I mean It took me a while to learn about this one, but then again a few years ago I had a big shift in my interests other than Mammals, spreading to inverts, birds, and fish.
I'm not from Australia so I'm not one to judge. :)
Click to expand...

I'm not from Australia either but it is the largest goanna in the world and a very impressive lizard that I've seen quite a few times in books and articles about Australian fauna.
 
EternalPigeon said:
As you probably already know, the “Big 5” are five African animals (African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, African Lion, & Leopard) that big game hunters consider to be the hardest to hunt. But that’s only for Africa. What about for the other 6 continents? What do you guys think the Big 5 for the other 6 continents would be, and would you change Africa’s Big 5 in any way?
Click to expand...
One small correction, the Big Five were considered the most dangerous to hunt, not the most difficult.
 
If we are suggesting ‘valid’ Big 5’s as per the old definition, it would do well that a generally dangerous creature (like hippo or sperm whale) is not necessarily very dangerous to hunt, as many kind of just sit in one place.
dinosauria said:
Emperor Penguin
Leopard Seal
Wandering Albatross
Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Fur Seal/Crabeater Seal
Click to expand...
I’d imagine those would probably be pretty easy to hunt. They’re slow on land, can’t attack if you’re on a boat, and generally aren’t that afraid of humans.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I suppose it depends where it is in North America though.

If it was in Mexico which is also part of the continent then you could also add Baird's tapir and jaguar too it (the jag could also be added in the American South-West).
Click to expand...
The US has/had jaguars though, so it'd still be valid to add them if the list only included US animals.
 
Enzo said:
The US has/had jaguars though, so it'd still be valid to add them if the list only included US animals.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know and I agree that they should be included as US animals too , even though there will hardly be enough of them anymore.

I think there is actually only one of them left now ?
 
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