***Worlds Hardest Creature IX: Group E***

[Stumpy Tim]

How is the Hippo - winning this? I've heard one fart, but thats about it. Surely the Grison should be wiping the floor with this namby pamby lot

It's like Messi being named player of the year

Big name - tick
Annual contender - tick
Earnt it this year - who cares

 

[5ways]

would like to see the Greater Grison go up against Gordon Greer.

 

[JCL - the new kid in town]

How is the Hippo - winning this? I've heard one fart, but thats about it. Surely the Grison should be wiping the floor with this namby pamby lot

its people voting without actually thinking and reading about which is the best. Size isn't everything but people just don't understand....

 

[Bold Seagull]

its people voting without actually thinking and reading about which is the best. Size isn't everything but people just don't understand....

Hippo is hard and aggressive, just because it's big doesn't make it any more or any less hard. The hippo likes fighting, it doesn't need to, but it will take on almost anything, grumpy nut jobs.

The real question is how the Japanese Hornet gets such a following? It doesn't attack anything bigger than it, it's hard because it has venom, and only takes on much smaller bees. They're like flying SS nazi's. Not hard, just genocidal.

 

[OzMike]

This is the final group. Top three g through. Best fourth placed finisher sneaks through as well.

We're looking for pound for pound hardness-aggression, strength, hardiness. We're after the full package.

The combatants:

Hippo

View attachment 71434

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus

We kick group E off with one of the literal and figurative heavyweights of the tournament-former champion Hippo. The hippo is the third largest land mammal on Earth although they are semi aquatic spending most of their days in the water. For the most part they are herbivores but have been known to eat carrion and aren't territorial apart from claiming a short stretch of water when in the river. Despite this they are extremely aggressive and will fight anything, for little or no reason. For this reason some of the fiercest and most dangerous animals in the world who live in the same environment give them a wide berth- we're talking Lions, crocs, spotted hyenas etc. They know not to mess with the hippo because of its unpredictable, grumpy, aggressive personality mixed with its awesome power and strength. For fun the hippo enjoys charging and attacking any passing boat that attracts its fancy.

Japanese Giant Hornet

View attachment 71435

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_hornet

The JGH is a regular in the WHC but is yet to really leave a lasting impression. It's a shame as it's a pretty impressive insect. Large (4.5cm long) and aggressive the JGH can terrorise and destroy its victims in a frighteningly quick time. A single JGH can kill forty European honey bees in one minute. 30 JGH's can destroy an entire hive of 30,000 EHB's in 3 hours. That is slaughter on an unprecedented animal kingdom scale. It's venom can cause anaphylactic shock in humans.

Sloth Bear

View attachment 71436

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_bear

Slothy is making his debut in WHC. I don't know a whole lot about him and wiki isn't giving me much to work with so whoever nominated/seconded him will need to get on this thread early and campaign hard for him. The best I've got is he is strong with long, sharp claws, it can climb trees and most importantly when under attack it doesn't run away but rather stands its ground and goes toe to toe.

Greater Grison

View attachment 71437

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_grison

Another debutante. The G.G has been described as the south american honey badger. Apparently it has no known predators. Fiercely territorial it will fight any G.G that so much as steps foot in its territory.

Bobbit Worm

View attachment 71438

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_aphroditois

Yet another debutante. Lives on the ocean floor. Buries itself apart from its antenna which wait to get activated by any passing prey. As soon as the antenna are activated the bobbit worm errupts from its hiding place to attack . It attacks with such speed that it has been known to slice its prey clean in half.

African Crowned Eagle

View attachment 71439

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowned_eagle

Guess what? Yep, its a fourth debutante in a row. It hunts mammals, has powerful legs with large sharp talons. It kills by crushing its victims skull and is a particularly ferocious bird.

Preying Mantis

View attachment 71440

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis

Hurrah! A beast that has WHC experience. Not great experience, it's only occasionally made the tournament and never progressed past the group stage but its experience none the less. They are ambush predators who have been known to practice cannibalism. The females are said to cannibalise their male partner after sex.

Grey Wolf

View attachment 71441

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf

An apex predator! Aggressive! Highly territorial any wolf that enters enemy territory will be attacked and killed. Have been known to attack and kill humans. Some are rabid. Fast, powerful and deadly. Surely in with a great shout at making the knock out stages.

Tasmanian Devil

View attachment 71442

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_devil

A WHC regular. Always puts up a decent showing but has yet to really capture the voting publics imagination. That's tough on the little fella because he's got a lot to like. Physically impressive he's small but very muscular, has great agility and speed, can climb and swim and will eat anything up to small kangaroos. It has been known to dig up the carcass of dead horses and will devour every part of a small mammal.

The Sloth Bear of Mysore
Sloth bear (Ursus ursinus)

Sloth bear (Ursus ursinus)

As far as bears go the sloth bear definitely doesn’t look the scariest. In fact it looks slightly comical with its crazy hair and funny walk. But don’t be deceived, the sloth bear is one of the most feared animals in Asia. It is said that tigers will go out of their way to avoid them and rhinos have a pathological dislike of them. This is all for a good reason – sloth bears can be very nasty.

With poor eyesight and not being able to run or climb their way out of danger the sloth bear will react to threats aggressively. They are much smaller than brown bears, weighing in the region of 300lbs (140kg) and feed almost exclusively on insects – termites in particular. To dig out termites sloth bears have developed enormous, sickle shaped claws and it is these which it uses to devastating effect when attacking.

Whilst there are numerous reports of sloth bear attacks, often resulting in horrific injury or death, the case of the Sloth Bear of Mysore was particularly disturbing for two reasons. Firstly the fact the bear attacked and killed so many people. During 1957, in the southern Indian state of Mysore, this one bear was alleged to have killed 12 people and seriously injured dozens more. In addition some of the victims were said to have been part-eaten. This suggests a bear that was going out of its way to prey on humans.

If you’re going to be attacked by any animal the sloth bear is probably the last you’d want it to be. They can be pretty vicious and make a real mess with those scythe like claws and teeth. But the worst thing is they go for the face. It is no exaggeration to say sloth bears rip their victims faces off with eyes, lips and noses often lost in attacks. And that is your regular sloth bear; in the case of the Mysore sloth bear we are talking about a bear with a vendetta.