My friend thinks given a Bowie knife, and it not being a surprise attack, he could defeat a jaguar

[u/I-was-the-guy-1-time]

Average jaguar vs 160 male, goes to gym and strong endurance

[u/random1166]

he may not survive, but the jaguar isn't surviving getting stabbed either

[u/Vinegar1267 → u/random1166]

I think it’s a discussion of if he will get to fatally stab it, jaguars are stocky and in my limited experience with pigs and deer, animal hide and muscle is deceptively tough.

No clue on the comparative durability of a jaguar but I’ve definitely encountered cases of bears and boars’ fat and muscle cushioning knives.

Here there’s an interesting case detailed where in a prolonged conflict a provoked jaguar killed two hunting dogs then nearly killed the owner despite him hacking at it with a machete across the body.

It was only successfully thwarted by the arrival of another man’s dog, which it killed, then the man himself who finally scared it off. two https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1016/j.wem.2011.01.007

[u/pj1843 → u/Vinegar1267]

Jaguars are significantly less durable than bears and hogs. Those two animals have specifically thick hides and massive amounts of muscle and fat between that thick hide and important bits, along with super dense bones.

Jaguars primary "defensive" trait is it's skin is very loose allowing it to twist out of anything hoping to hold it, but that hide is quite thin and there isn't much between that hide and it's vitals.

Stabbing a jaguar to death wouldn't be all that difficult, the main issue is surviving the attempt because it's also quite a lethal animal.

[u/MrNature73 → u/pj1843]

Also when it comes to bears or hogs, a proper sharp, heavy knife will still completely fuck them up and go through the hide piss easy. It's thick, but boy howdy it turns out it's particularly difficult to evolve a solution for steel. Whoda thunkit.

What makes them so dangerous is the bones. Unless you land a blow on their heart and lungs, they're not going down immediately, and that's way harder to do with a knife than a gun. But even bullets can struggle with a hog skull.

But, more importantly, I think "they both die" is still correct with the vast majority of animals against a man with a Bowie knife. The dude dies immediately from getting mauled to death, but sadly for every other species on the planet, humans are the only ones who've developed antibiotics. The only animals I can think of with thick enough skin off the top of my head are elephants, hippos and extremely large game like buffalos and moose.

A deep knife wound is a death sentence in the wild. Even if it didn't hit anything vital, that thing is getting infected. If it hit anything gut related, that's sepsis. Even beyond that, blood loss is going to be a bitch and last time I checked jaguars both lack thumbs and haven't invented bandages yet so that's a pickle.

It's why animals generally try to avoid fights with anything they can't either fuck up immediately or overwhelm with numbers. Anything beyond a scratch is likely fatal. A deep knife wound? That shit is over, whether it's the same day from blood loss or a few weeks from an infection.

[u/pj1843 → u/MrNature73]

As someone who hunts hogs quite regularly, taking a knife to a hog fight isnt particularly wise. Doable but not wise. The issue isn't just penetrating the hide, but also penetrating the muscle and fat to get to the vital bits while the animal is trying to avoid that pain. Those fuckers are dense and due to the struggle your not going to have particularly much leverage.

[u/MrNature73 → u/pj1843]

Oh no 100%, it's definitely a big "no one lives" because a hog will 100% gut you. But I'd wager someone with a good kukri knife could hack enough of a hog to basically guarantee infection takes it later.

Definitely not sitting here recommending it though, lmao.

[u/Stonks_blow_hookers → u/MrNature73]

Hey I took your advice and got into a knife fight with a hog. We're both thoroughly fucked up

[u/MoeraBirds → u/pj1843]

Interesting comment, as the traditional New Zealand method of pig (hog) hunting is to get dogs to hold the pig then stick it with a long sharp knife.

I am not a hunter and would take a rifle if I had to hunt but that’s definitely the way old school pig-hunters do it here.

[u/pj1843 → u/MoeraBirds]

And that's the way many hunters state side do it to, I'm not a fan of that style of hunting because I like dogs to much to put them in that much danger.

The key difference here though is that when hunting with a pack of dogs, the dogs are going to exhaust the hog, and then pin it down somewhat so you can go cut its throat.

Also it's important to realize hog hunters who do this, bring a pack of dogs to the fight, not 2 like the guy who fought the jaguar.

[u/Icy-Tension-3925 → u/pj1843]

Also nowadays dogs use Kevlar vests with high collars to be able to tank a hit instead of dying

[u/pj1843 → u/Icy-Tension-3925]

. . . . . .that seems excessive, just shoot the fucking pig imo.

[u/Icy-Tension-3925 → u/pj1843]

It's horrible, a fucking blood bath and dogs die all the fucking time

[u/Icy-Tension-3925 → u/pj1843]

My uncle hunted boars (the big ones) with dogo argentinos & knife up to the late 80s when my aunt told him to either use a firearm or she woulndt be there when he came back.

Yes its dangerous but plenty ppl do it

[u/pj1843 → u/Icy-Tension-3925]

I'm aware, but the key thing here isn't the knife, it's the pack of dogs your uncle and people who hunt like this bring with them.

The dogs find, flush out, and then exhaust the animal before the person ever goes in to finish the hog off with the knife. At which point it is common for the dogs to already have the animal pinned down with the animals hind legs functionally unusable. And even so many people get very badly injured in this type of hunting because they attempt to go for the kill too quickly before the hog is sufficiently injured and exhausted.

This type of hunting is less knife vs hog and more pack of dogs vs hog.

[u/Notonfoodstamps → u/MrNature73]

For mammals absolutely.

Crocodilians, are quite literally built different

[u/-jp- → u/Notonfoodstamps]

Never get in a fight with anything that can survive the Chicxulub impact.

[u/Beautiful-Swimmer339 → u/MrNature73]

Ironically though, I think one of the main animals that would be able to deal with a Bowie knife human would be a large crocodilian.

They have insane protection from almost anything and even when they sustain wounds that would kill most animals outright are able to hold off infections and survive even torn of limbs and open wounds into their skulls.

[u/Robotjp12 → u/MrNature73]

Yup. Its why prey animals are more deadly in some ways then predators. A predator won't attack if theres a chance of getting hurt. Its just not worth the risk. Thats what making yourself bigger and loud noises work. A prey animal that feels threatened? They're attacking. Because to them if they don't attack it means death.

[u/MrNature73 → u/[deleted]]

Appreciate it my man.

[u/FunGuy8618 → u/pj1843]

You're in the woods most likely, you turn the knife into a spear or make several spears in no time. Then it's not so bad, cuz it's not a sneak attack, a Jaguar's primary attack method.

[u/mmmfritz → u/pj1843]

Your comment which fundamentally contradicts the one before it has twice as many upvotes and infinitely less sources. Unless you count your imagination.

[u/pj1843 → u/mmmfritz]

Couple things to note from the above comment. A machete isn't a stabbing weapon, and an Indian machete likely isn't all that sharp as its job is to clear brush. Even so the above story does have the Indian cutting the jaguar up a decent bit, and those cuts will likely have the jaguar dead in a few days/weeks to infection. But yes trying to slash through a jaguar is going to be very difficult due to their skeletal structure as bones tend to surround most the important bits of most animals.

[u/SixScoop → u/Vinegar1267]

I would shit on the knife first

[u/Nelvalhil → u/SixScoop]

Y shit ON the knife when u can just take ur poopknife

[u/Lone_Capsula → u/Nelvalhil]

Every family has one at home

[u/LostRonin → u/Vinegar1267]

Second story includes a Panther that swim out to boat to try to kill 2 people on board. The guy that was attacked had missing cranial bone, and brain tissue. 

[u/CurtainKisses360 → u/Vinegar1267]

Also if it's charge at you how likely are you to land a well placed stab in a decent area with enough force to cause damage. Low imo. Cats have insane reactions speed too and there's a good chance they'd dodge your stab all together.

[u/Awesomedude5687 → u/CurtainKisses360]

“Enough force” with a Bowie knife that isn’t much.

Also do you think cats have ultra instinct? Cats will 100% not be able to dodge if they’re attacking at the same time, they aren’t martial artists.

[u/notgodpo → u/CurtainKisses360]

Do you think the cat is gonna strafe and hit them with a flank or something?

[u/unmelted_ice → u/notgodpo]

Imagine you’re squaring up with the jaguar and that fucker strafe jumps at you

[u/notgodpo → u/unmelted_ice]

I'd let myself die if I got finessed on by a jaguar

[u/Quiet-Joke6518 → u/random1166]

Fuck a stab. A Bowie is a damn good chopping weapon. With a good edge on it, he fucks up whatever he swings at.

[u/TheShadowKick → u/Quiet-Joke6518]

Stabbing is much more deadly. Slashes don't go as deep and are less likely to hit something vital.

[u/Volsnug → u/Quiet-Joke6518]

Eh.. big cats have loose skin so cutting isn’t as effective

I’m also not confident the guy would have a chance to get a good swing in before his neck gets snapped via very strong jaws

[u/CactusWrenAZ → u/Volsnug]

People here seem to think these things happen in slow motion.

[u/SphericalCrawfish → u/random1166]

More likely he screams like a little girl and can't do anything while the Jaguar rips him open. The opposite of the Alpha Male "See Red" he thinks will happen.

[u/Swagamaticus]

Maybe, I seem to remember reading a story about a guy that got attacked by a lion in South Africa that he managed to kill with a hunting knife. Lions are bigger than jaguars but a jaguar might actually have a bigger bit force for whatever that's worth.

If this were like in the Colliseum or something I'd still probably put my money on the cat though.

[u/ikonoqlast → u/Swagamaticus]

Ah lions v Christians with daggers in the colosseum...

Total myth

Romans didn't give the Christians daggers, the lions might have gotten hurt...

[u/Wheredamukrat → u/ikonoqlast]

Lions cost way too much for them to get hurt!

[u/LeLefraud → u/Swagamaticus]

Lion is much more powerful, much easier to defeat a jaguar (that you see coming)

Im not signing up for either tho

[u/Thelastdays233 → u/Swagamaticus]

Jaguars don’t have a bigger bite force overall. Just bigger proportion for there size

[u/OtisDriftwood1978]

Does everyone have a friend that thinks they can defeat dangerous wildlife?

[u/I-was-the-guy-1-time → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

Yes, it’s how the male mind works

[u/wrechch → u/I-was-the-guy-1-time]

With a weapon he would very likely kill it. But I highly doubt he survives as well. Weapons and long pointy sticks allowed for us to become basically an extinction level event. Without tools, yeah we aren't shit. But us without tools is kinda like saying a lot of animals without their teeth/claws/horns.

[u/saltydoesreddit → u/I-was-the-guy-1-time]

Man, I feel like I'd be lucky if I took out a Squirrel.

[u/Sloth_grl → u/saltydoesreddit]

Me too!

[u/emergency-snaccs → u/Sloth_grl]

SlothGrl, do you think you could take a sloth 1 on 1? no morals, no weapons, bloodlusted

[u/Sloth_grl → u/emergency-snaccs]

I am not sure. First of all, we are both slow and lazy so it might not be too interesting but those claws look deadly

[u/V4rial → u/Sloth_grl]

The veteran powerscalers would have to weigh in, but I think you’ve got it Sloth_grl

[u/PM_NUDES_4_DEGRADING → u/I-was-the-guy-1-time]

I’m impressed. How do you manage to have room for both that and the Roman Empire?

[u/HeavenlyOuroboros → u/PM_NUDES_4_DEGRADING]

Lots of overlap. Just look at the Marcomanni.

[u/phoenixmusicman → u/I-was-the-guy-1-time]

I'm a male and don't regularly wonder if I can kill wildlife.

[u/Agamemnon323 → u/phoenixmusicman]

But you wondered about it today.

[u/BettyWhiteGoodman → u/phoenixmusicman]

So when are you transitioning if I might ask?

[u/HeavenlyOuroboros → u/phoenixmusicman]

Sure not sitting next to you on a plane or boat.

[u/TehnotronikT-2000 → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

I dont.

I am the guy that thinks he can take dangerous wildlife in a fight.

[u/ikonoqlast → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

Humans are THE apex predator for a reason...

[u/Vinegar1267 → u/ikonoqlast]

Cooperation, coordination and a trend towards developing weaponry that increased the minimum distance we had to close with death beasts like pantherines in order to kill them

[u/TheShadowKick → u/Vinegar1267]

And the confidence to try.

[u/unicornattacks → u/ikonoqlast]

And that reason isn't usually fighting.

[u/Educational-Bit-2503 → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

We live our cushy little lives now, but for most of history (even before advanced weapons) humans were dangerous wildlife as well. He has a chance.

[u/Ockwords → u/Educational-Bit-2503]

Humans yes, a single human? No.

[u/Irish618 → u/Ockwords]

A single human armed with a sharp stick is one of the deadliest animals to have ever lived, at least in the last few millenia.

Tool usage, height and reach make humans incredibly deadly, as long as they were raised and grew up using them.

[u/throw69420awy → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

Name any animal and I’ll tell you how I’d kill it.

[u/Victernus → u/throw69420awy]

Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae.

[u/throw69420awy → u/Victernus]

I’d go for the eyes. Next animal.

[u/LegalWaterDrinker → u/throw69420awy]

Bison Bison Bison

[u/Casanova_Kid → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

It's an old post, but probably still pretty accurate; and this is being barehanded: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/z86jyx/old_survey_of_americans_thinking_they_can/

[u/JayPet94 → u/Casanova_Kid]

The only thing I learned from that is humans criminally underestimate themselves. 20% of people think they would lose to a RAT? Or a house cat?? 50% of people think they would lose to a goose?? You could start the fight asleep vs a goose and still come out of it with only bruises and maybe small cuts

A goose has never killed a human being in the history of the Earth, that's a 100% win rate for us. Rats have only done so through disease. Even our odds against large dogs and chimpanzee are criminal under-rated. Assuming a large dog is like, 60-100 lbs many humans could take that on, although they'd take grievous wounds.

And chimpanzees are pound for pound much stronger than us, but they are also many pounds lighter than us, giving the overall edge in strength to the average man. Scientists estimate they're about 30% stronger pound for pound, but average like 120 lbs. Putting them strength-wise on par with a 150lb man. According to the CDC the average American man weighs 200lbs

[u/Casanova_Kid → u/JayPet94]

Completely agree, and I also think the list quite odd. A bald eagle, for example, is a max of 15lbs. It's not really much of a threat realistically.

I'm willing to give people a pass on chimps, though. They might be able to win, but I don't think the odds are very good. - completely agree with your point, but also the average person is overweight, out of shape, has never been in a fight, potentially female, etc.

[u/jeffweet → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

In other words does everyone have a delusional friend?

[u/JigglesTheBiggles → u/jeffweet]

I don't but I'm pretty sure I can at least take out a cheetah

[u/Quiet-Joke6518 → u/OtisDriftwood1978]

If he's going at it face to face, no surprise attack, he's got a pretty good chance. He's gonna take some damage on the first exchange, but I bet kitty fucks off and runs away after the first connection with the bowie.

[u/Hollowed_Hunter234 → u/Quiet-Joke6518]

Yeah, but does he make a decent connection with the bowie before the kitty tears his throat out? Jaguars crush turtle shells and croc skulls with their bites, I don’t like the chances of my throat there

[u/titopuentexd]

Any person with any semblence of a weapon outside our natural ones can pretty easily kill a lot of these wild predators. The problem always will be about if you survive or not, and in most caaes you dont or youre badly fucked up. We have hospitals and wild animals... are fucked. Even if the wounds are NOT fatal, the blood loss or infections surely will be

[u/WolferineYT → u/titopuentexd]

This. Knives are great at killing things, not so great at keeping things away from you. That's why we put a knife on a stick to create history's greatest weapon

[u/stuka86 → u/WolferineYT]

I dunno, throwing a rock at 3000 feet per second seems to be a little better than a sharp stick

[u/LeLefraud → u/stuka86]

Yea the guns peak is higher but you just cant match the spears longevity and all time records

Imo LeSpear is the goat

[u/Kyro_Official_ → u/LeLefraud]

How does the fall of constantipole affect Lespears legacy?

[u/The-Real-Legend-72 → u/Kyro_Official_]

He lost to the istanbulls i know my goat

[u/TheAtomicClock → u/LeLefraud]

Spear played in a Mickey Mouse era with like 8 other weapons people used.

[u/Volsnug → u/TheAtomicClock]

Did you just call hundreds of thousands of years of human history an “era”

Not to mention the gross oversimplification of weapons.. people have found creative ways to kill eachother for a very long time

[u/Throbbie-Williams → u/Volsnug]

Did you just call hundreds of thousands of years of human history an “era”

Well... eras are often like 100 million years

[u/TheAtomicClock → u/Volsnug]

Both my comment and the comment I replied to are basketball jokes.

[u/Marvelouspig → u/TheAtomicClock]

Oh, the era of pitchforks and scythes l, not even pro weapons!

[u/Just__A__Commenter → u/LeLefraud]

I don’t know. I think guns might actually take the all time kills record from spears. We’ve killed a LOT of people since the 1200s using guns.

[u/Ok_Contract8630 → u/Just__A__Commenter]

Not necessarily, there's been 110 Billion ish humans ever to live. There's maybe 80-100 million total casualties to guns. It's plausible over 0.1% of all humans died to pokes, considering it's the meta weapon for 99.99% of human existence.

NOT TO MENTION, other hominids also used spears.

[u/Just__A__Commenter → u/Ok_Contract8630]

I’m not saying it’s a fact, just that I think it might be closer than you would assume given the length of time the spear was top dog

[u/Ok_Contract8630 → u/Just__A__Commenter]

it's a tough call man, spears predate humans by around 200,000 years. It's older than us two fold

[u/Drummer_Kev → u/Ok_Contract8630]

What species was making spears before humans?

[u/Just__A__Commenter → u/Drummer_Kev]

The common ancestor of us and Neanderthals, Homo heidelbergensis, had spears some 400,000 years ago.

[u/RyanLikesyoface → u/Drummer_Kev]

Homo Erectus.

I believe even Chimpanzees have been observed using spears.

[u/LeLefraud → u/Just__A__Commenter]

Bombs have gotta be close at this point

[u/Just__A__Commenter → u/LeLefraud]

Artillery/Bombs is for sure in contention.

[u/Open_Translator7319 → u/stuka86]

Who throws rocks at Mach 3?

[u/AncientUrsus → u/Open_Translator7319]

Samuel Colt

[u/Open_Translator7319 → u/AncientUrsus]

Hell of an arm on that guy. We need to get him into baseball.

[u/Withered_Sprout → u/Open_Translator7319]

Or just get him to kill that damn Jaguar already! He's being too much of a dick! We can't keep letting him get away with it.

[u/probable-degenerate → u/Open_Translator7319]

I feel like he would just get banned on the first throw after he folds the catcher in half like a piece of paper

[u/hatabou_is_a_jojo → u/WolferineYT]

Isn’t history’s greatest weapon a nuke

[u/WolferineYT → u/hatabou_is_a_jojo]

My buffalo burger just doesn't taste the same after it's been nuked.

[u/FornaxTheConqueror → u/hatabou_is_a_jojo]

You can argue it's use case is too limited and expensive to be the greatest. It's probably the most destructive.

[u/hatabou_is_a_jojo → u/FornaxTheConqueror]

I mean, if an alien challenges humanity with their “greatest weapon” 1v1 I think most people will vote for the nuke.

[u/pianoceo → u/WolferineYT]

Spears were so much more OP than people gave them credit for. 

[u/Peace_Hopeful → u/WolferineYT]

The katana? (had to say it)

[u/Phaeron]

He could for sure kill it, fairly easily, with a Bowie knife.

Problem is, no matter how he goes at it, it will never be an instant kill and he would most likely be injured or killed by the death throes.

Guy takes it and walks away unscathed 1:100 times.

[u/TanStewyBeinTanStewy → u/Phaeron]

Problem is, no matter how he goes at it

If he can get it in the heart that's a nearly instant kill. Maybe a few seconds before the cat goes limp, brain dead not long after.

Really unlikely, though.

[u/FriezaDeezNuts]

He dies, cat bleeds out. Or vice versa, noone wins IF he gets a stab in

[u/furion456]

Its entirely possible, probable even.

What is not probable, is your friend surviving the victory.

[u/eternalwood → u/furion456]

Hell you might even just die trapped under it if it dies on top of you and you're too injured to move it.

[u/JMHSrowing → u/furion456]

Yeah, the jaguar isn’t going to do well against being stabbed with a big knife potentially a few times but one good clawing from the giant razors on one paw and you’re pretty screwed, or like it biting your neck as is their MO.

There’s a reason why spears are what humans have always used: Keep the claws and teeth out of the range of our soft, squishy flesh

[u/Ockwords → u/JMHSrowing]

or like it biting your neck as is their MO.

Jaguars don't bite necks. They actually go for the head to crush the skull and pierce into the brain because their bite force is so strong.

Their prey often don't have big soft necks to attack which is why they're the only big cat that hunts this way.

[u/PrideOfMacragge → u/Ockwords]

Adding to that, they can bite through caiman brain cases in a struggle, a comparatively flimsy human skull stands no chance, even fully front on, its crushing your frontal lobe through your forehead and eyes.

[u/JigglesTheBiggles → u/PrideOfMacragge]

Aren't caimans pretty small

[u/Winterimmersion → u/JigglesTheBiggles]

It depends on whether they are talking about black caimans or not. Those are actually really huge. It's like 1000 pounds huge.

Some quick research shows that jaguars do occasionally kill those.

[u/makesterriblejokes → u/furion456]

Yeah, probably kills it, and then bleeds out.

[u/Hello_people_please → u/furion456]

Honestly, depending on what surprise attack means, I think survival is likely. An 8 inch blade hitting anywhere is ALOT of damage. Anything less then a free stab though and both probably die.

[u/NSAwatchlistbait]

People beat medium wildcats barehanded, same with wolves. With a knife he probably wins, but not without getting scratched badly or maybe bit.

[u/Smber2c → u/NSAwatchlistbait]

Came across a story of a trail jogger getting ambushed by a moutain lion. He apparently tumbled down a hill side wrestling it, got his hands on its neck and managed to choke a mounitain loin to death bare handed and walked away mostly intact.

Surely an exceptional case...but so bad ass.
We had discussed it while hiking with a group of buddies in the rockies and everyone kept saying he better have been allowed to make a cape or hat from the beast so he could wear it around and tell his story to anyone who asked about his odd attire.

[u/makesterriblejokes → u/Smber2c]

I believe it was a juvenile mountain lion as well.

So it wasn't that big. An adult mountain lion is fucking scary.

[u/PrideOfMacragge → u/makesterriblejokes]

Worth noting as well pantera cats are MUCH stronger than comparable felis cats. A jaguar and cougar that look “the same size” will probably have a 30-50kg weight difference and the jaguar will be twice as strong if not more.

[u/ADDeviant-again]

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

It's been done.

[u/JigglesTheBiggles → u/ADDeviant-again]

Having 300 Jaguar kills with a spear is fucking crazy. Why did he hate them so much

[u/ADDeviant-again → u/JigglesTheBiggles]

He worked for cattlemen, mostly.

[u/jjames3213]

It's vaguely possible, though it probably depends on the word "Defeat". He may be able to "kill" a jaguar (which is typically in the 220-230 lb range) via blood loss, but he's probably not surviving the encounter.

The jaguar is larger, stronger, faster, and a knife is not a good weapon to fight a jaguar with. It's also an ambush predator though, so it's possible to kill one in a head-on combat.

[u/Illustrious-Yam-8722]

I think your friend is underestimating how quick a jaguar is, how sharp it's claws & teeth are, and how much he'd panic if one came running at him.

[u/HowDoMermaidsFuck]

Knife? No. Spear? More than likely. Spear is OP. Spear is basically knife on long stick.

[u/Informal_Plastic369]

Didn’t an Indian dude kill one with his bare hands recently?

[u/ninjamuffin]

Does he realize the jaguar has 10 of those built into its hands

[u/Piss_Fring]

Humans are more capable than we mislead ourselves to believe due to our modern soft ass lifestyles. Yes, depending on his current physical condition and aggression he could, it’s all down to the individual. Killer instinct has been trained out of a lot of people, and it’s an important thing to have in a situation like this. Combat athletes typically have all of the qualifying characteristics; I recall a story about two college wrestlers killing a bear that tried to eat them. EDIT misremembered, apparently they just fended it off. Still tho. EDIT EDIT mistook this for a different type of hypothetical based on the title, will read main text next time.

[u/Ziazan]

Defeat a jaguar as in kill a jaguar and survive, or, defeat a jaguar as in kill a jaguar and die with it, or what? Surely not kill a jaguar and remain unharmed in the exchange.

[u/ACWhi]

He probably can. The Jaguar will likely run as soon as it gets cut once. Predators rarely stay and fight to the death like it’s the Thunderdome.

[u/FullMetalGecko]

Late President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hike with his dog when they were ambushed by a mountain Lion in which Theodore killed the mountain Lion with a knife

[u/OarsandRowlocks]

An Indian guy killed a leopard with his bare hands, but jaguars are bigger.

[u/Beautiful_Garage7797]

I’d say its evenly matched. It’ll be a mutual kill basically every time.

[u/lumpy-dragonfly36]

He could defeat a Jaguar. The word could means it could happen. It doesn’t imply a likelihood. The likelihood is that his ass would end up dead before he could even grab the Bowie, but I suppose there’s a 1/1000 chance he could defeat it.

[u/Leighgion]

If he gets a solid hit in with the knife, the jaguar probably isn’t surviving. However, the odds of him not getting mauled before or even after he could do that are very low.

[u/Worth_Appearance3216]

He has no clue how vicious and powerful wild predators are, and the Jag has a really bad rep. It's one of those predators that's not afraid of humans. Also, when it comes to Jags, the attack is almost always a surprise. They are absolutely silent. Try posting this on a Brazil forum, or some other South American country that has jungle, and they will tell you, you do not mess with a Jaguar.

[u/saviorself19]

Your friend dies 95/100 times. Conservatively.

Only people who have never done violence misunderstand their abilities to that degree. Your friend will be a deer in headlights after hearing the jaguars yowl and he will be incapacitated seconds later.

The jaguar is faster, stronger, more dexterous, has more offensive options, is a fucking jaguar, won’t panic, won’t freeze from a fear response, and is low to the ground making efficient striking awkward, has better range, and won’t be disarmed in the first few seconds of the engagement like your friend will.

I gave your friend 5/100 to account for luck and fluke. On sheer ability and a successfully employed game plan he maybe gets 1.

[u/corneliusvanhouten]

A runner in California killed a mountain lion with his bare hands. It was a juvenile, but I think with opposable thumbs and a big knife, a normal sized man could kill an adult jaguar before it killed him. Unless the cat got him by the neck first. In that case, the human is toast.

[u/Rasenshurikenz]

Honestly? Unless fear gets the better of him, yeah he’s probably got that. He’s not gonna see the next sunrise though

[u/DarthSanity]

Sure - I’d chase down the first animal I could find, kill it, then throw it to the jaguar. Keep feeding the jaguar so that it never gets hungry enough to attack you. I won’t ever attack you just for grins - only for food.

[u/Confident-Vanilla-28]

He’d be laying there dying right next to the jaguar

[u/thatguytt]

I feel like in a life or death situation most guys would try real hard but 90% of them die in this situation.

[u/SparxPrime]

It's certainly possible. But dude is getting FUCKED UP in the process and may even die himself

[u/WunjoMathan]

Any large cat is not going to be a fight any human can survive. They are too well adapted to killing large prey. Sure, you may be able to stab it and get it to bleed out, but cats are going to grab you, bite you, and shred your guts open with their hind legs.

[u/coreyais]

Ngl with that knife he probably could kill one, not sure if he’d survive the encounter tho.

[u/Mephistozygote]

Jaguars are dangerous no way about it, that said they generally hunt by ambushing prey and breaking their necks with their powerful bight, in a head on fight if he’s got both grit and luck your friend has a chance, though he’s not leaving the fight unscathed even if things go his way.

[u/DarkMarine1688]

Jaguars hunt crocodiles and will literally drag them out of the rivers, and crocs are tough, a jaguar as soon as it gets its jaws on you, you are dead, there claws much like that of tigers will shred you too so really my money is on the jaguar. Now your friend my injury it but a Bowie knife isn't going to he the best thing for fighting it and he would emd up stabbing wildly in panic and probably not penetrating as much as he would need too.

[u/ProbablythelastMimsy]

People have killed brown bears with a pocket knife

[u/Fofolito]

Sure, maybe.

The thing about a knife fight though is no one gets out of it alive of one without getting cut themselves. That jaguar isn't going to let him off the hook easy.

[u/IndianaJonesDoombot]

Cheetah maybe, jaguar prob not

[u/Superb_Bench9902]

Your friend may kill the Jaguar but he's dying too. Give your friend a spear and I'd put my money on your friend

[u/SocietyOk593]

When people say the Jaguar is faster and stronger, they don't mean it's like a slight mismatch that tips the fight in its favour, they mean that it will make the man seem like he's walking in mud and has some sort of degenerative muscle wasting. Jaguars can pick up things larger than a human with their jaws and physically jump up into trees with them. They have paws full of knives, teeth that can bite directly through skulls, and can leap across the entire room in one hop. Defeat!? With an object that requires you to be basically touching them? Big cats are absolutely terrifying, the only thing the person has going for them is that big cats will often try to minimise danger to themselves and use surprise, so they might be able to cause it to have second thoughts about the fight. But I give a 160lb human essentially no chance of surviving, although they might wound the jaguar badly

[u/TheGreekScorpion]

Does he know Jaguars are big?

Like, twice his weight big and probably three times as fast.

He should make sure it's a blunt knife.

I'd say maybe 5% of the time (if that) he might get lucky though.

[u/Just-Performance-666]

It all depends on if the jaguar manages to rip your throat out before you puncture its vitals. But either way, you're going to get clawed pretty badly.

[u/letaluss]

For context, 160 lbs is on the shallow end of adult jaguars. So your friend is probably going to have a weight disadvantage.

The Bororo are famous for having hunted Jaguars. But they came equipped with 7' spears, and hunted in groups, not alone with an 18" Bowie knife. And a Fun fact about Jaguars: They have the most powerful bite relative to body mass of any big cat, and is strong enough to crush a human skull.

My vision of this fight:

The Jaguar leaps forward onto your friend. He will try to stick the Bowie knife in the Jaguar's neck, but probably ends up hitting its side. This doesn't stop the 160+ lbs jaguar flying in the air at him.

Both combatants get knocked down. But because the Jaguar is a quadruped and a cat, it recovers far faster than your friend and is able to get its jaws around his neck. Crunch, the Jaguar walks away with a flesh wound.

Your friend might get a lucky strike in the neck, but let me put it this way. His chance of getting a lucky hit, is about equal to my chance of getting a lucky hit.

[u/ridan42]

This is kinda like a knife fight between humans: loser dies then and there, winner dies in hospital.

[u/_S1syphus]

He could, the same way I could stop a runaway car. It's physically possible and certain skilled people might have a better shot at it than others but it's not the kind of thing most people could do reliably

[u/Falsus]

In theory yes it would be possible.

Most likely scenario is that both dies.

[u/NotADeadTurtle]

Loser dies on the spot, winner dies in the ambulance ride

[u/SL1Fun]

$5 on the Jaguar. 

[u/Altruistic-Let-8672]

It’s possible, but not likely. Jaguars are too quick, too flexible, have too many deadly weapons that they are experts at using.

[u/Exact_Ad5094]

I just watched a bunch of videos of Jaguars killing crocodiles and Anacondas. I’d give the edge to the animal that kills to survive.

[u/Bodmin_Beast]

Could? Sure, it's possible. A knife could very well kill a jaguar.

Would? Pretty unlikely considering the cat is larger, stronger, faster, tougher, more comfortable/used to violence, more skilled at killing other large animals with it's strength and weaponry, has more weapons etc. Only edge he really has is problem solving ability and endurance (and that's a maybe for fighting endurance considering these cats will drag caiman's comparable in size to themselves out of the water and out wrestle them. Big cats might not be able to run longer than us, but very few people are properly conditioned to fight for an extended period of time.) Especially not if to defeat the jaguar, you have to survive longer than it. Maybe you get a good stab in, but that cat is crushing your skull before it bleeds out.

[u/individualcoffeecake]

Everyone’s a gangster until a jaguar’s teeth sink into their neck.

[u/Wanttobefreewc]

Bro gonna die. So will the jaguar, maybe, but bro gonna bleed to death.

[u/Gunner4201]

Not a zero chance of surviving, but not a good one

[u/TekelWhitestone]

Firstly, being jacked doesn't mean shit in a knife fight. Secondly, he's not going to be alive long enough for his endurance to matter.

[u/VladWukong]

He can kill it with a Bowie 100%. He will probably die too though

[u/TheUwUCosmic]

Does a sneak attack mean its a guaranteed free stab or? Cuz i could definitely see a world where someone could get a solid stab to the head/throat of these things and then sprint away before the jaguar knows its dead. But if not that, then im gunna say he dies pretty quickly. He might get a solid stab or 2 in but a knife doesnt have much range to it so the knives on the jaguars paws probably will do much more to him.

[u/the-charliecp]

Aren’t jaguars the ones that can bite through a human skull, they also hunt like that instead of going for the neck? Or is that a different one?

[u/rodimus147]

Its conceivable. But I guarantee even if he emerges victorious hes gonna be fucked up badly.

[u/Croceyes2]

No. One swipe or bite and he is a convulsing mess on the floor

[u/Sandman4999]

They're both probably gonna end up killing each other.

[u/bakerfaceman]

Jaguars eat turtles. They would bite through your throat in a few seconds. You might get it though.

[u/DevilPixelation]

He could probably kill the cat, sure, but he’s probably gonna bleed out afterwards

[u/return_the_urn]

Is he naked?

[u/Tricky-Dealer2450]

I give this a Win Bowie knife is a no joke knife

[u/-BakiHanma]

I mean… he’s not walking away but the jaguar is going to die later that day from blood loss.

[u/Xbsnguy]

It’s really clear in this thread who has experience around wild animals and who doesn’t. lol

[u/Melioidozer]

It’ll depend on your definition of victory. He could definitely kill it, no question. It’s likely he would be pretty badly damaged or worse in the process though. At the very least he’s getting scratched up, and we’re not talking about a house cat here. Jaguars are also pretty aggressive compared to other big cats, and it’s likely that unlike other species that would be likely to retreat when stabbed a jaguar is much more likely to fight it out which also reduces his likelihood of survival.

[u/tobiov]

If not bloodlusted, I think there is a pretty good chance an average dude attacked by a jaguar would panic/lose control from the pain and be killed.

The fight is probably going to play out as the jaguar pouncing on the human. The combination of the impact of the tackle, the pain and surprise and fear of the bite/claws going to work mean there is a pretty good chance the human drops the knife or gets a few ineffective slashes off etc.

Also a knife isn't super effective weapon against a fast predator of roughly equal size to a human.

I would say Jaguar 4/10, human 2/10, everyone dies 4/10.

[u/ExpressCeiling98332]

160 male

At that age, I highly doubt it...

[u/Boulange1234]

They go straight for the jugular and attack with four paws and bite at once. He has less than three seconds to make it stop moving. Not wound it. Kill it dead. Three, two, dead.

[u/0ctaviou5]

I believe your friend. I also reckon I could kill a jaguar with a Bowie knife and survive (I do concede that I would probably be maimed severely though)

[u/Scally_whag]

My money is on the jaguar but it’s possible they both die. Your friend outright winning is very unlikely, but not entirely impossible. I’d say less than 1%

It not being a surprise attack is very unlikely a jaguar

[u/PinkLionGaming]

160 armed men beat any big cat honestly /j

[u/Captain_Jarmi]

Your friend is on the smaller side, but with the knife it might work out ok.

[u/anime_lean]

maybe david bowie could do it, he did save the alamo

[u/sloppymcgee]

What about giving him a spear against a grizzly bear

[u/Angel_OfSolitude]

He could reasonably kill it. Whether or not he survives the attempt is going to be very up in the air. However, at the very least, he's almost certainly taking some nasty gashes.

[u/VoiceEquivalent7239]

I think if your friend is big (220lb+ about the same weight as a male jag) and is fit, trained to use the knife and is very strong he’ll have a good chance

If your friend is a pencil necked noodle armed soylord he gets turned into dinner