Animals that kill for fun are mostly categorized as surplus killing animals. This term refers to the animals that kill more than they can eat.
Black bears, lions, and wolves are among the animals that love to kill for fun and who often kill more animals than they can eat. Here are the animals that are the most ferocious killers.
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9. Lions
Lions are considered kings of the jungle. They run and chase some of the fastest animals on Earth, which isn’t an easy task. But lions are true prey animals. For example, they rarely have fun chasing wounded animals. Lions like the chase and the process of chasing other animals.
We’ve also seen cases where lions chase after birds while feasting on prey. This gets to show just how much they enjoy the hunt and how lions are the true kings when it comes to running after it and not only sitting back on a large feast.
8. Chimpanzees
You might think chimps are cute animals that sit in zoos and eat bananas. But these animals can get very aggressive. Over the past few years, studies on wild chimps have shown they like to eat and torture other chimps.
We’ve seen chimps going into territorial wars with other chimps. This is often the scenario where they start to slowly beat and even eat other chimps as part of their territorial claims. They will stop at nothing. Even baby chimps caught in the crossfire are killed. Fueled by feelings of revenge, chimps will rarely stop until they kill all other chimps in an open dispute.
7. Elephants
Elephants can seem scary due to their size. But for some types of animals, they are truly scary and dangerous. Life out in the wild is complicated for elephants. In their teen years, they tend to play a lot since they get easily bored. But elephants are also known to be problematic when it comes to killing for fun.
A few cases shocked researchers which involved baby elephants. It turns out that apart from killing snakes for fun, elephants can also kill rhinos for fun. It was a few years ago when daily discoveries of dead rhinos lead to an investigation.
After setting up a camp to watch elephants and their behavior, researchers found out teen elephants used to kill rhinos in droves. Did they do it for fun knowing what they were doing? We don’t have an answer to this question but such things happen out in the wild.
6. Caracal
The caracal is a fast predator. It blends in with the environment easily and it is even seen waiting for its prey on trees for days. But since it has speed and agility, killing slower animals is not complicated for the caracal. It can take some time to understand why it kills for fun as it even leaves its dead prey behind at times.
There are reported cases of caracals killing chickens around the world. In several cases, they have even killed tens of sheep during the night which shows they aren’t afraid to tackle larger animals.
5. Wolves
Wolves used to be seen in high numbers across the world. They are increasingly rare to see today. However, wolves can still hunt for fun either alone or in packs. They have been reported to kill multiple animals just for fun. As caracals, wolves aren’t afraid to jump on large animals such as deer.
They can kill them in their tens or hundreds and just leave them there. But some preliminary research suggests wolves might be seeing their dead prey as food to return to another day so what seems to be animals killing for fun can be very different in reality.
4. Gorillas
If chimps are known for feelings of revenge, it’s jealousy that drives gorillas to kill. All seems fine whenever a male finds a female partner. But when there’s a baby gorilla in the picture, the dynamics of the relationship change.
A few cases of male gorillas killing their babies due to the unconditional attention from female gorillas have been reported across the world. It all seemed like a remote incident when it was first reported by the media. But such cases now happen regularly. Gorillas have also killed people and even kids.
Some gorillas have been known to torture kids by dragging them around and smashing their bodies on the ground both in captivity and in the wild.
3. Hyenas
Hyenas are rarely good hunters on their own. But when hunting in packs, they will rarely stop when they have the upper hand. A rare case of hyenas killing more than 100 gazelles was reported in Africa just a few years ago. It turns out most of these gazelles weren’t eaten by the hyenas.
Attacked at night, most gazelles died in the fight. This incident proved hyenas don’t necessarily kill to eat, they kill because they have the upper hand and the element of surprise when attacking at night.
2. Stoats
Stoats are a worldwide problem for people growing chicken. If you don’t ensure your chicken house is closed during the night, the little stoats can kill everything on sight by dawn. It turns out they don’t eat most chicken.
They simply prefer to kill as an instinct. Scientists believe this can be fueled by territorial claims, but we don’t know for sure why stoats kill for fun.
1. Foxes
You wouldn’t believe cute foxes are capable of fun killing. But they have even been reported to attack small babies in our homes. Foxes are incredible at waiting for the perfect time to strike.
Hen houses are particularly vulnerable to fox attacks. You also want to ensure there’s not even a tiny hole for a fox to make its way into a hen house as your livestock can be dead by morning. Foxes are seen everywhere around the world and even in large cities.
Fun killing by foxes has been reported even in cities such as London as they come to kill at night when they escape from the parks they live in.
