The Sloth Bear of Mysore: A Really Rogue Bear, a Typical Sloth Bear, or Several Different Bears?

摘要

Sixty years ago, Kenneth Anderson (1957) published the story "Alam Bux and the Big Black Bear" in his book Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers. The bear at the story's center has become infamous as the Sloth Bear of Mysore, and appears on Internet top 10 lists of the "greatest animal serial killers." This bear supposedly killed at least 12 people and mauled more than 24 others near Mysore in the state of Karnataka, southern India. Rereading the story more than a half century later, what can we now ascertain? What insights does the story offer about sloth bear (Me/ursus ursinus) attacks? And do the last 60 years of sloth bear research shed any more light on these events?