Since time out of mind, hunters in India would go after tigers while sitting on the back of a tame elephant. It was the safest place to be when chasing down a really pissed off cat.
My use of the word "safe" is relative. It was safer than being on the ground, but it still had a great deal of risk involved. Tigers aren't dopes, and they are apex predators. Fearless and convinced that they are the baddest cats in the jungle, they would occasionally decide to put the hurt on the guys sitting on the elephant.
British hunters took to the whole elephant sitting thing pretty quick, but one glance at the spears the natives used convinced them that there had to be a better way. They quickly cut down double barreled shotguns into crude pistols. For emergency use these "howdah pistols" (named after the little platform that was strapped on top of the elephant) were a pretty good idea, providing a massive amount of buckshot-driven pain when the tiger got close enough.
It seems that those British guys were on to something.
In 2004, park rangers in India were trying to dart a female tiger so she could be relocated. They got three elephants, minus the howdahs, and went on the hunt. But the tiger decided to turn the tables on those pesky two-legs, and even managed to get in a bite of her own.
Obviously, the mahout piloting the elephant didn't have a howdah pistol.
Most people just don't realize how dangerous hunting predators can be. They figure that you can see them coming from a long way off, never realizing that these guys make their living by sneaking up on stuff. Take a look at the short clip below and tell me if you can spot the tiger.
They might be orange, but they can be sneaky little devils.
(Hat tip to Flametoad.)
Comments (5)
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Posted by Mike | September 17, 2007 9:16 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 09:16
holy bleep, that cat just levitated up there. i would've guessed the height of the elephant would have provided some protection, but clearly that guess was wrong.
howdah pistol, hell, i'll want something fully auto in my hands if i'm to go do that nonsense.
Posted by Nomen Nescio | September 17, 2007 4:09 PM
Posted on September 17, 2007 16:09
Clear throwing a stick at a tiger is insufficient, who knew?
I think I trade in my pachyderm for a nice big APC.
Posted by Ride Fast | September 20, 2007 10:21 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 22:21
Did some reading over the years on the subject of big cats that develop bad table manners, and it's flat amazing the trouble they can cause. The 'official' highest-scoring tiger in the man-eater category took over 400; official highest leopard had more than 400 also, and Jim Corbett- the hunter who killed it- said he knew of many kills that didn't make it onto the record for some reason or other.
Lions in Africa, a few have gone on to incredible numbers also. LIke you say, these cats make a living not being seen until too late. If you have time, check out 'Maneaters' by Peter Capstick; lots of good info, and notes of other books.
Posted by Firehand | September 21, 2007 2:58 PM
Posted on September 21, 2007 14:58
Very interesting video!
Though, I'm pretty sure that noone in their right mind tries to use "buckshot-driven pain" on tigers. Howdah pistols were loaded with ball from what I know:
http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/antique_guns/purdey_howdah/howdah.html
I'm not really that interested or well-read on British/Colonial India era arms, but as I recall, the muzzleloading howdahs are 16-12 gauge and there's some breachloading ones that are based around .577 Snider cartidges.
Posted by Bob | September 26, 2007 1:43 AM
Posted on September 26, 2007 01:43