Are Tigers Man Killers?

With rare exceptions, tigers avoid man. Tigers have a respect and fear for man which is difficult to explain. Even if harassed by curious humans or sportsmen a tiger will not normally react until its patience is well-nigh exhausted. Normally a man can walk in a tiger's habitat without fear or hindrance.
Some tigers, of course, do become man-killers. But there is evidence that humans themselves are largely to blame when a tiger goes on a human rampage. A taxidermist who examined the skulls of some fifty man-killers discovered that forty of them had bullet wounds. Also, depletion of the tiger's normal prey through man's hunting or other activities may cause the animal to prey on man and his domestic animals. However, tiger that starts preying on humans may pose a very serious threat. One animal is known to have killed 127 people; another infamous tiger brought down 436 persons.