From: zeborah@gmail.com   
      
   Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)  wrote on   
   rasf.composition:   
      
   > Alma Hromic Deckert wrote:   
   >   
   > > in the Tsavo book the overseer boasted of having once "killed a lion   
   > > with his bare hands" - as a show of strength, proof of manhood,   
   > > whatever.   
   > >   
   > > Anyone who wishes to take a lion for a trophy should be made to do   
   > > THAT. And if they can't, shooting a lion with a machine gun just   
   > > because they want its skin is not going to make them a man. Just a   
   > > monster.   
      
   Shooting a lion with a machine gun just because they want its skin makes   
   them an idiot.  The bullet holes will ruin the skin.   
      
   >       Oh, twaddle. Any man who'd go up against ANY significant predator   
   > voluntarily with bare hands -- for trophy or anything out of "well, I   
   > had no CHOICE at the time" -- wouldn't be a man, he'd be an idiot, and   
   > if he SURVIVED it, a LUCKY idiot. I'm not even talking here about things   
   > like lions or tigers; panthers/pumas, even a bobcat or a lynx, a   
   > chimpanzee or baboon, these are all MORE than a match for an unarmed   
   > human being. They'll rip you to pieces. Lions or tigers? They'll play   
   > with you for a while because you're no more dangerous to them than a   
   > housecat -- a DECLAWED housecat -- is to you.   
      
   You haven't seen the way my cat bites.  OTOH opposable thumbs and   
   brains.  What's the circumference on a lion's neck?  If you could   
   magically get on the back of a lion you might be able to strangle it, at   
   least for a second before it claws you off again.  Hmm.  Or gouge out   
   its eyes perhaps, which (though I imagine it wouldn't stop it killing   
   you) is an experience it won't forget in a hurry.   
      
   The thing about hunting predators, as opposed to many other skills, is   
   that impressiveness is directly correlated to danger.  The more   
   impressive the feat you're attempting, the more likely you die rather   
   than succeed.  This kind of danger is not shared by impressive   
   novelists, violinists, swimmers, etc.   
      
   Zeborah   
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