- Be extra nice around these animals, because they will remember if you don’t.
When scared or harmed, most animals will run away and move on with their lives. They have more important things to do than keep worrying about whatever spooked them.
Other animals, however, will remember you. And they will come back to take revenge, sometimes years later.
Some animals’ desire for vengeance — whether bloody or petty — can be terrifying. But it’s an incredible display of animal memory and intelligence.
Here are nine animals you certainly don’t want to cross, because they will have revenge.
1. Dog
Every dog owner knows that their four-legged best friend can be shockingly petty. Don’t give them a treat or scold them when they don’t feel they deserve it, and you might find your slippers mysteriously chewed through.
However, dogs are also capable of remembering those who really wronged them for years and years. Harm a pooch or its owners, and you can be sure it will never forget you.
Case in point, a French dog called Scooby-Doo testified in court by barking furiously at his owner’s murderer. You can read the rest of that story here.
2. Octopus
Octopuses are supremely intelligent, as far as invertebrates go. In addition to solving complex puzzles, they also use their wits to get back at those who have wronged them.
There are many stories from aquariums from around the world about octopuses who seem to beef with specific caretakers. They might squirt water jets repeatedly at the same person, or mess up their tank just because they know it’ll cause more work for the target of their hatred.
Sometimes, they don’t even have any conceivable reason to hate somebody. They might just not like your face.
3. Tiger
The thought of a vengeful tiger stalking you sounds like a nightmare. And it is, according to the people who have experienced it.
As an example, a Russian hunter shot and injured a Siberian tiger, but failed to kill it. He returned from his failed hunt to his cabin, determined to try again the next day.
Only, the tiger got him first. The injured tiger had tracked the hunter to his cabin and lay in wait all night to pounce and maul its enemy as soon as he stepped out.
4. Cape Buffalo
The cape buffalo is the largest subspecies of African buffalo, which is already bad news if it decides to attack you in vengeance. But the worst part is that it won’t return alone.
Cape buffaloes running from lions and poachers alike have been observed to stop and regroup once they decide they’re far enough away from the threat. They will then work each other into a rage and come rampaging back, sometimes hours or days later to take revenge.
After all, attack is the best defense, right? The nuisance can’t bother you again if it’s trampled under hundreds of hooves.
5. Honey Badger
You might think that a badger couldn’t really hurt you, no matter how much it hates your guts. But the honey badger is different.
This African badger is completely psychotic and ranks among the most aggressive and dangerous animals on the planet. It has been known to follow lions, buffalo, and people for hours on end in a berserker rage for the horrible crime of getting too near the badger.
In all fairness, it’s unknown whether a honey badger is capable of remembering its enemies over long periods of time. But that’s probably because anyone who angered a honey badger will never want to go near one ever again.
6. Orca
Orcas have very long memories — long enough that they have fashion trends that can come back in vogue years later. So, it’s no wonder that they’re also capable of bearing grudges for years on end.
Many orca pods are known to attack any fishing boats on sight because one happened to hurt a whale once. Much like the cape buffalo, they tend to take vengeance in groups.
That’s not because they find safety in numbers, though. They just want to make sure that they have enough bodies to surround the boat and keep it from escaping their wrath.
7. Chimpanzee
Chimpanzees are humanity’s closest living relatives. As such, it probably doesn’t surprise you that they take grudge-bearing and revenge just as seriously as humans.
Chimp troops are known to harbor years-long blood feuds over territory, food sources, or simply because one chimp slightly disrespected another one. If that’s not a human trait, we don’t know what is.
Chimpanzee grudges aren’t always between different troops, though. In fact, they can be even more cruel toward the members of their own group that didn’t act according to their status.
8. Crow
Crows are smart birds that have been shown to recognize individual human faces, allowing them to hate you specifically for a long time. What’s worse, their bird brains sometimes interpret things wrong and you might get on their bad side for no reason.
Take, for instance, Shiva Kewat from India, who once tried to help an injured crow chick. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do, and the baby bird died in his hands.
The baby’s flock, however, saw the events and assumed Kewat killed the chick. Fueled by a thirst for vengeance, they decided to show Kewat why a group of crows is called a murder.
It’s been years and Kewat hasn’t been able to leave his house without being attacked and injured by ferocious crows since then. Considering that crow parents teach their kids to hate their enemies as well, Kewat may never be free of the birds.
9. Elephant
As the famous saying goes, an elephant never forgets. As many a hapless poacher in Africa and India has found out, hurting an elephant is a quick way to put an end on your illicit hunting career, because it will always find you and attack you.
You don’t need to harm an elephant to get in its bad books. They are equally territorial and petty, and just being in the wrong place at a wrong time can lead to serious consequences.
As an example, Maya Murmu was a 70-year-old Indian grandma who, when fetching water, strayed too close to an elephant. It attacked and killed Murmu — but the elephant wasn’t satisfied with just that.
As Murmu’s family was preparing her funeral pyre, the same elephants charged out of the forest. It pulled Murmu’s corpse off the pyre and trampled it one more time before returning to the trees.
That sounds really bad, but elephants aren’t total monsters. If you’re a friend to them, they will remember that and come to your rescue.