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    No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History
    No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History
    No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History
    Audiobook8 hours

    No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History

    Written by Dane Huckelbridge

    Narrated by Corey Snow

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A gripping, multifaceted true account of the deadliest animal of all time and the hunter on its trail, equally comparable to Jaws as to Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard.

    ""RIVETING."" —Scientific American • ""THRILLING."" —Wall Street Journal • ""GRIPPING."" —Nature 

    Nepal, c. 1900: The single deadliest animal in recorded history began stalking humans, moving like a phantom through the lush foothills of the Himalayas.

    As the death toll reached an astonishing 436 lives, a young local hunter was dispatched to stop the now-legendary man-eater before it struck again.

    One part pulse-pounding thriller, one part soulful natural history of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger, acclaimed writer Dane Huckelbridge’s No Beast So Fierce is the gripping, true account of the Champawat Tiger, which terrified northern India and Nepal from 1900 to 1907, and Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter who pursued it. Huckelbridge’s masterful telling also reveals that the tiger, Corbett, and the forces that brought them together are far more complex and fascinating than a simple man-versus-beast tale.

    At the turn of the twentieth century as British rule of India tightened and bounties were placed on tiger’s heads, a tigress was shot in the mouth by a poacher. Injured but alive, it turned from its usual hunting habits to easier prey—humans. For the next seven years, this man-made killer terrified locals, growing bolder with every kill. Colonial authorities, desperate for help, finally called upon Jim Corbett, a then-unknown railroad employee of humble origins who had grown up hunting game through the hills of Kumaon.

    Like a detective on the trail of a serial killer, Corbett tracked the tiger’s movements in the dense, hilly woodlands—meanwhile the animal shadowed Corbett in return. Then, after a heartbreaking new kill of a young woman whom he was unable to protect, Corbett followed the gruesome blood trail deep into the forest where hunter and tiger would meet at last.

    Drawing upon on-the-ground research in the Indian Himalayan region where he retraced Corbett’s footsteps, Huckelbridge brings to life one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century. And yet Huckelbridge brings a deeper, more complex story into focus, placing the episode into its full context for the first time: that of colonialism’s disturbing impact on the ancient balance between man and tiger; and that of Corbett’s own evolution from a celebrated hunter to a  principled conservationist who in time would earn fame for his devotion to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat. Today the Corbett Tiger Reserve preserves 1,200 km of wilderness; within its borders is Jim Corbett National Park, India’s oldest and most prestigious national park and a vital haven for the very animals Corbett once hunted.

    An unforgettable tale, magnificently told, No Beast So Fierce is an epic of beauty, terror, survival, and redemption for the ages.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 5, 2019
    ISBN9780062898418
    No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History
    Author

    Dane Huckelbridge

    Dane Huckelbridge has written for the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, The New Republic, and New Delta Review. He is the author of Bourbon: A History of the American Spirit; The United States of Beer: The True Tale of How Beer Conquered America, From B.C. to Budweiser and Beyond; and a novel, Castle of Water, which has been optioned for film. A graduate of Princeton University, he lives in Paris.

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    Reviews for No Beast So Fierce

    4/5

    75 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Beautiful narrative and well read.
      Tigers have always fascinated me, but to realize how their natural instincts attributed to all those deaths, is scary.
    • 5/5
      This one fullfilled exactly what I expected and wanted from everything I could find in researching the book. What I hoped for and got was some sense of adventure, a little bit of learning about at least one or two of the native peoples of India and their history, and some basic understanding of British rule in India during the 19th and 20th centuries.

      What I didn’t expect and enjoyed thoroughly as well, is an understanding of the impact of empire and technology on tigers and their habitat and success or lack of that in the modern day.

      Some readers may find this one a bit to “geeked out“ but for me it was fascinating. There was also no shortage of suspense and adventure in following the life of the tiger and in the end the death which was Uplifting for the simple farming communities in the region.

      In the audio version The narration starts out a bit over enthusiastic for me but don’t worry it’s settles down after a while to a nice rhythm.
    • 1/5
      Interesting story but read garbage audio book and bad writing
    • 5/5
      So interesting and it’s amazing I didn’t know about this particular animal. They have to make a movie about this. Puts all other man eating animals to shame.
    • 4/5
      Part social history, part natural history, part conservation treatise, part detective story, No Beast So Fierce is a comprehensive description of the reign of terror one tigress had over sections of Nepal and India at the turn of the twentieth century. I had come across mentions of the Champawat Tiger several times in my reading, and since my reading was in fiction, I wasn't aware that this tigress was real. When I stumbled across Huckelbridge's book, I knew I had to read it, especially since tigers are one of my two favorite big cats.One of the most important things Huckelbridge did for me in his book was to give me a much greater respect for tigers. I knew they were marvelous creatures but didn't really understand just how wonderful they are. A tiger is "nature's nearest equivalent to a short-range missile," and to put what the Champawat Tiger did into perspective, she "very nearly consumed the entire NBA."Hearing this, many people would want nothing more than to kill the tigress and put an end to the whole thing. Done and dusted. No more thought required. The second important thing Huckelbridge does in No Beast So Fierce is to prove that the Champawat Tiger was an entirely man-made disaster. Through many thoughtless government decisions, the tigress's killing field was created, and for anyone interested in the natural world, it is fascinating to read how this was done.The third important thing that Huckelbridge did was to bring Jim Corbett to my attention. The final scenes where he and the Champawat Tiger meet are extremely tense and almost gave me the impression that I'd fallen into a thriller, and although his success meant that Corbett became the Go-To man for tracking and killing man-eaters, fate had much more in store for him. Corbett wasn't just a killer. In fact, he became one of the stalwarts of the conservation effort to save the Royal Bengal tiger.If you love wildlife and want to immerse yourself in an engrossing piece of history, I suggest reading No Beast So Fierce. It's an eye-opener and proves once again that if some species of wildlife becomes a "problem" we humans need to look to ourselves to see what we did to create it.
    • 4/5
      What a tigress. An incredible story well told. The book would have been even better if the author wasn't so fixated on explaining the inexact nature of the victim head count back at the turn of the century. We get it--it was hundreds of people, but some deaths may have remained un/undercounted or a few may have been victims of another tiger wrongly attributed to the Champawat. I hope this interesting book inspires more people to help save this magnificent apex predator from extinction--our world would be a much poorer place without the Bengal in it.
    • 3/5
      One tiger, 436 kills at the turn of the 20th century. The premise had me hooked, but the author got caught up in all of his research and the incredible real events get lost in an onslaught of historical detail about colonialism. There are some thrilling passages and it was all interesting, but a book with this subject matter shouldn’t be as boring as it often was.
    • 5/5
      Amazing. Learned so much about Nepal, colonial history, tigers, natives, royal hunts. Message is about eroding habitats and the pressure that puts on critical balance of nature. Old story, contemporary and historical lesson. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting story of a man eating tiger. One small complaint would be that the author guesses a little too much about what Jim Corbett must be thinking. Also, while the description of the political situation in Nelpal and Indian is interesting, the author tells us too often that the man eaters are created by the British Colonial policies. The first time he tell us, it is fascinating, the 4th, I did want to say I got it the first few times! Overall though, an engrossing story about tigers, India, and Jim Corbett, a tiger conservationist who originally became known as a hunter of man eaters.
    • 4/5
      I only know a slight bit of information about the Champawat Tiger. Therefore, I found this book to be very interesting to learn about animals from other countries. To be honest, when I think of "deadly" animals; the Champawat Tiger is not one that makes the top ten list. However, after reading this book it is right up in the top animals of the world. This is no joke as the Champawat Tiger held four hundred and thirty six kills before Jim Corbett killed him. Although, reading this book, I can imagine in those moments when Jim killed the Champawat Tiger that it was with some remorse and respect for the beast. Mr. Huckelbridge writes as a good storyteller. He provided plenty of details without allowing the book to be bogged down with details. Also, it felt as if I was transported back in time and stepped into Jim's shoes as he hunted the Champawat Tiger. Anyone who likes to read nonfiction books, should pick up a copy of this book.
    • 4/5
      The true story of a Bengal tiger that killed over 400 people in Nepal and India a little over 100 years ago. I had no idea of how efficient a killing machine tigers are and how many people they have killed over the years. One instant you are standing at the edge of the woods and the next the tiger is already sprinting away with another victim in its mouth. Chilling. All set within the backdrop of the Indian subcontinent and the changes over the years leading to more human deaths. Nonfiction fans will eat this one up. Sorry for the bad pun...