Ethnographic weapons

[Gavin Nugent]

A more unusual style of weapon now encountered on the streets of Nigeria.

Ok, it's not a pet forum but they do have African staves in theirs hands, does that count???

Gav

[Andrew]

That is a frightening sight! Those are much bigger than I ever thought.

Makes the US thugs that like to walk around with Pit Bulls on heavy link chains look like tossers.

[kronckew]

no wonder my friend the son of the nephew of the late minister of finance wants to move all $200 million of his money out of nigeria via my bank account, leaving me a 10% processing fee of course.

apparently they can make fair pets, they are a social animal after all...


all i have is a pair of doggies that can run at 45mph....

show us your toofs, millie:

[katana]

Originally Posted by kronckew

no wonder my friend the son of the nephew of the late minister of finance wants to move all $200 million of his money out of nigeria via my bank account, leaving me a 10% processing fee of course.

[Mark]

They do make very impressive K9 units, don't they?

In Harar, Ethiopia, there was a famous guy they called the Hyena Man. He would sit out on the road at night and feed the wild hyenas that always come around to scavenge. He had quite an act, giving them bones and scraps by hand, sometimes holding them in his mouth, and even smacking away the sneaky ones that tried to dip into his bag of treats on the sly. It was a popular tourist attraction, and he made his modest living from tips. He was basically a homeless guy that earned the hyenas' trust - he said they were his only friends. He's long dead now, but I have heard that in more recent years someone else has taken up the act, how successfully I do not know. Its not the kind of profession where you can afford a job-related accident.

I had my own fun encounter with hyenas while living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Even in Addis, the hyenas would some into town to scavenge (not all the way downtown, but pretty far into the edges of town). You could always hear them barking at night. They were even known to take down unprotected donkeys. I and some friends went out horseback riding in the hills one day, and two of us got separated from the others and took the wrong valley down out of the hills. We ended up way east of where we should have been, and the sun set while we were still pretty far from town. As we walked our horses home across fields (which were criss-crossed by gullys cut during the rainy season, making riding out of the question in the dark), I noticed a line of hyenas trotting parallel to us in the gloom, about fifty yards off to the right, between us and the city. That made us a little, um, nervous.

They behaved themselves until we were almost home, then pounced! We were ripped to shreds. They didn't even find the bodies, though my glasses were discovered in a pile of hyena poop a few days later.

Actually, they followed us all the way into town, for over an hour, until we reached the gate of a missionary compound, which we decided to cut through (the gate-keeper was very understanding).

[Tim Simmons]

I look a real mean roughty toughty down town with my terror weapon dog Rose on a chain.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
My guardians are Otto the Bold, 10 inches of unruly watchdog and hole digger to the gentry. Next is my 45mph Hell Hound, Sally, seen in the last picture apprehending a vicious burglar and all round bad guy, actually my son who must have had a trace of ice cream or somesuch on his chin.
Regards, Norman.

[Newsteel]

I can't help but keep looking at the size of the chain used.
That size can tug a boat!!! Andrew is right, that is bigger than I thought.

[A. G. Maisey]

I'll stick with me goldfish.

[Bill M]

Me pets hold me weapons.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=tsavo

Argh!

[Yannis]

Wow Bill, that was scary!

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Yannis

Wow Bill, that was scary!

The Tsavo (means "slaughter") lions of Kenya are some of the worst maneaters.

Two lions like this killed and ate about 140 railroad workers trying to build a bridge through Kenya in the late 1800's. The story tells how they came at night and dragged workers sleeping by campfires out into the darkness.

It is very unusual for males to hunt, especially together. Usually it is the lionesses that hunt in prides.

The two almost maneless lions assumed mythical proportions, terrorizing workers and nearly stopped the building of the railroad bridge. They eluded traps and hunters, crept through man-made thorn barriers and seemed invincible.

Finally in 1898 Col Patterson shot one and then, three weeks later, the other one. He had rugs made of their skins. Finally these were donated to the Field Museum.

http://ezinearticles.com/?African-Li...savo&id=467243

My lion measures over nine feet from tip of nose to tip of tail. He was the last legally taken Tsavo lion (mid 1980's) in Africa before they became a protected species.

[spiral]

Heres the 2 that terrorised the railroad.


linky.



Spiral

[Bill M]

Tracy can terrorize MY railroad!

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Newsteel

I can't help but keep looking at the size of the chain used.
That size can tug a boat!!! Andrew is right, that is bigger than I thought.

And the jaws ? isn't it true that their jaws are the most powerfull around ?

[Rod Charters]

Here a few photo's from Harar, Ethiopia of the Hyena man feeding his "pet" hyena's from the mouth and me with my daughter on my shoulders feeding one of the Hyena's. I was nervous but my daughter only interested in posing for the camera.

Best Regards

Rod

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Bill Marsh

Me pets hold me weapons.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=tsavo

Argh!

Hi Bill,

The basket of my little doggie is near my collection. Till now, nobody was able to touch one without permission. :-)
When the day comes that will happen, I will consider to take also a hyena or even a lion like you have.

Kind regards,
Maurice

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Maurice

Hi Bill,

The basket of my little doggie is near my collection. Till now, nobody was able to touch one without permission. :-)
When the day comes that will happen, I will consider to take also a hyena or even a lion like you have.

Kind regards,
Maurice

Maurice,

I'd rather face a stuffed lion than Denzel!

[Lew]

Now this is really scarey


Lew

[Gavin Nugent]

The scourge of the neighbourhood, funny, only the gas man has ever ventured into the yard unaided. The white boy stands about 5'10 now and loves the mail man ;-)

Gav

[fernando]

Wait till i grow up ... says Adriano

[Lee]

...loves the mail man

When I was in my early teens we had a dog who the vet said was part collie, part German shepherd and part coyote. I had a newspaper delivery route and it appeared to have been the highlight of the dog's day to accompany me. It was like being a bomber with a fighter escort. Any dog that decided to go for me found itself held to the ground, neck in jaw, until sufficiently humiliated.

While I was at school, my mother noticed the dog would dissappear for a few hours each day and became concerned. Paying attention, she noticed the dog 'picking up' the mailman on his route. The next day she kept the dog inside and waited to apologize to the postman for the inconvenience. "Please let the dog out, when he is along no other dog dares to come close. I just wish he would stick around for the whole route..."

[Mark]

Cool! When were you in Harar? I lived in Ethiopia in the early '80s, and it was closed to foreigners at the time. The Harar hyenas look smaller than the Nigerian ones. They must be a different sub-species.

Originally Posted by Rod Charters

Here a few photo's from Harar, Ethiopia of the Hyena man feeding his "pet" hyena's from the mouth and me with my daughter on my shoulders feeding one of the Hyena's. I was nervous but my daughter only interested in posing for the camera.

Best Regards

Rod

[Gavin Nugent]

I have been reading further about the Hyena men of Africa and recently found this link...

The link below makes for some very interesting reading.

http://www.michaelstevenson.com/cont...ria_index2.htm

Gav

[Atlantia]

Wow, I'm kinda suprised by this. Those are big Hyenas!

The one in the top pic is huge! I once saw a docu about the 'red' ones and the females have a hell of a time with the babies! The mother Hyena gave birth to the first one and by the time she'd cleaned it off, the second one was on the way and the first one was attacking it as it came out!! Not too bad obviously at that stage, but they are born with their eyes open and an almost insatiable appetite for confrontation. The poor mother when all the pups were a little older she was constantly breaking them up and stopping them fighting.
I'm really suprised that out of their natural environment they are reasonably placid. These are a real apex predator, the same documentary had them trailing prides of Lions and waiting until they'd killed something big, then chasing them off and taking it.
Very impressive creature, big, powerful, fast, and one of the most powerful bites of any animal.

Very interesting thread.
Great pictures! I'm not sure about them becoming the next thug 'must have pet', but at least they aren't being hunted to extinction.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by fernando

Wait till i grow up ... says Adriano

LOL, sweet little cat! Looks a little startled by the camera?

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Lee

When I was in my early teens we had a dog who the vet said was part collie, part German shepherd and part coyote. I had a newspaper delivery route and it appeared to have been the highlight of the dog's day to accompany me. It was like being a bomber with a fighter escort. Any dog that decided to go for me found itself held to the ground, neck in jaw, until sufficiently humiliated.

While I was at school, my mother noticed the dog would dissappear for a few hours each day and became concerned. Paying attention, she noticed the dog 'picking up' the mailman on his route. The next day she kept the dog inside and waited to apologize to the postman for the inconvenience. "Please let the dog out, when he is along no other dog dares to come close. I just wish he would stick around for the whole route..."

Thats a great story Lee!

When I was a kid I always wanted a pet Coyote (from watching the roadrunner cartoons). Noticed some 'stunt' ones at the beginning of the Eddy Murphy film 'Norbet' recently and wondered if anyone keeps them as pets?

[Atlantia]

Hell, anyone notice the bloke with the Baboon?