Beast
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The practice of organized hunting waned after the Middle Ages, especially during periods of war. And once again, forests, mountain ranges, valleys, and other habitats in France began to harbor wolf populations. Still, according to wolf expert Jean-Marc Landry, about twelve thousand wolves were killed in France between 1797 and 1798. Sixty-five percent of these animals were wolf cubs: Younger animals confined to burrows were easier to destroy and hunting them did not require scarce and costly firearms. However, after the French Revolution, the wolf population increased significantly compared with the previous two decades. The government was not always able to pay the rewards offered, and hunts were disorganized. At the end of the nineteenth century, researcher Françoise de Beaufort estimates that France harbored some three thousand to seven thousand specimens. By about 1923, the population had dwindled to only one percent of original numbers.
Today, after wolves began returning to France via the Italian Alps in the 1990s, it is believed that there are a few hundred wild specimens. Based on the historical data, then, we could assert that during the eighteenth century—when the Gévaudan attacks occurred—wolves numbered in the thousands.
What other factors, besides human pressure, influence wolf populations? Ecologically speaking, population size can be linked directly with the density of prey available. If there is more prey, or if the available prey is easier to catch, populations will be larger. The same circumstances regulate the survival of wolf cubs and adults. In autumn and winter, the biomass of available prey within a territory is crucial. The higher this biomass, the more cubs we find (although approximately half of cubs die before reaching one year of age). In parts of North America and Canada, the survival rate for both adults and puppies is 61 to 82 percent. Winter temperatures and conditions are the litmus test the species must overcome to survive.
But how much food is needed on a daily basis? This is a critical consideration when investigating the Beast of the Gévaudan. The numbers of killings perpetuated by the animal were significantly higher in winter. Was this increase pure coincidence? To put it another way, is it possible a large carnivorous predator could survive harsh winters in south-central France on the flesh of the human children it killed?
The amount of food a wolf should eat each day depends upon its weight. Heavier variants, such as those from Canada and Russia, must eat about 3.5 to 4.5 kilograms, or 7.7 to 10 pounds of meat per day. Lighter, gracile breeds from countries with more benign climates, such as India, where adult wolves weigh from 18 to 22 kilograms, or 39 to 48 pounds, need less to sustain them: 1 to 1.5 kilograms, or 2.2 to 3.3 pounds per day. What weight might we estimate for La Bête? As we know, winters in the Gévaudan were severe, lasting six to nine months, and only a little less cold than in parts of Canada or Russia. Male wolves in Europe weigh about 36 kilograms, or 79 pounds, and females approximately 28 kilograms, or 62 pounds However, according to Beaufort, the record weight for a very large male is 82 kilograms, or over 180 pounds; for a huge female, 48 kilograms, or 106 pounds. And there is an exceptional yet verified 1942 record from the Carpathian Mountains of a massive wolf weighing 96 kilograms, or over 211 pounds, and measuring 213 centimeters, nearly eighty-four inches long—seven feet!—from its snout to the tip of its tail.
We know the Beast of the Gévaudan was very large. Contemporary estimates give us the following figures: The wolf killed by François Antoine near Les Chazes woods on September 20, 1765, weighed 56 kilograms, or about 123 pounds. According to François Antoine, it measured 185 centimeters, about six feet, from snout to tail tip and weighed 63.6 kilograms, or about 140 pounds; according to its autopsy, it measured 190 centimeters (body plus tail), 6.23 feet, and weighed 73.4 kilograms, nearly 162 pounds.
A wolf (Canis lupus) skull, showing its thick jaws and very strong teeth. G. Sánchez Romero.
A female victim lies on frozen ground: The deadly Beast has struck again. The Fantastic Museum of the Beast of the Gévaudan. Photo G. Sánchez Romero.
Veteran hunter Jean Chastel killed the second Beast on June 19, 1767, a canid with 42 teeth measuring 151.54 centimeters (body 97.44 plus tail 54.1), 4.97 feet, weighing 53.4 kilograms, over 117 pounds. (Other sources provide a weight of 47.4 kilograms, or 104.5 pounds.)
So these were rather stout wolves within the known range for French populations, although slightly skewed toward the upper end of the scale.
If we speculate a bit, giving the Beast a record weight close to the 211 pounds of the great Carpathian wolf, we would then know it would need to eat approximately eleven to eighteen pounds of meat per day. Knowing that a ten- to twelve-year-old boy may weigh on average fifty-five to sixty-six pounds, is it feasible La Bête was able to obtain from its young victims the amount of sustenance required to survive? From our sources, we estimate that removed muscle/tissue mass—a limb carried away, or a generous portion of flesh, or internal organs—from the bodies, not entirely eaten, was equivalent to several pounds. Further, the Beast aimed its attention at protein-rich organs, such as livers, hearts, or brains. Such nutrients could sustain an animal like the Beast until the arrival of spring.
Why Did La Bête Attack So Viciously?
This question has puzzled researchers, historians, and naturalists since the time of the Beast. What could lead this creature to kill so many people in such dreadful ways? To answer this question, we must try to establish parallels between the Gévaudan and similar cases, better known and studied, such as the man-eating lions of Tsavo, Kenya, or the Indian tigers and leopards that hunted men.
The infamous African lions terrorized workers in the late 1800s during the construction of a railroad that apparently crossed their territory. This fact, coupled with a severe drought and resulting dramatic shortage of natural prey, prompted two large, old—an important fact—males to kill humans. The advanced age of the specimens is crucial; we now know their teeth were very imperfect and incomplete, unfit to eat tough meat and crush large bones. Therefore, after developing a taste for human flesh, and learning that some individuals are easily overcome and weak, the lions became hardened murderers, daring even to enter tents at night in search of prey.
The second case—that of the man-eating cats of Asia—is similar: Here, big cats (tigers and leopards) learned to stalk and hunt people, and quickly “got hooked” on human flesh, which they began to seek at alarming rates from village to village. Research has also now shown why Asian big cats turn into man-eaters. The reasons may be multiple:
• A taste for human flesh. During famines, epidemics, and war, unburied corpses were available. After these events, the animals would continue killing people to maintain their new diet.
• Aged animals are not always capable of running down normal prey, such as antelopes or wild pigs. Loss of teeth is another factor.
A second beast is shot by Jean Chastel, a somehow anomalous canid having both dog and wolf characteristics. The Fantastic Museum of the Beast of the Gévaudan. Photo G. Sánchez Romero.
• Animals become injured; for example, there is a well-known case involving a severely injured tiger with broken porcupine quills embedded in its paws and snout.
• Individuals are wounded and handicapped by human gunfire. These animals become highly dangerous, often specializing in hunting people after being shot and left in the wild, with for example, a broken paw or limb. Such creatures also become so wary of human activity interrupting their meals, they flee immediately at the slightest disturbance, never eating enough; hence, killing much more than needed.
• Learned behavior. Cubs learn from their mothers to prey on humans in areas where man’s presence is abundant.
• Lack of prey. Forest habitats depleted of natural prey may force weaker individuals, with territories sometimes located at the periphery of natural reserves (and in contact to human settlements) to kill livestock and then farmers, herdsmen, and those gathering food in the forest.
• Mistaken identity. People outside who are physically keeping a low profile (resting), or who are be
nding over as they work in a field or garden, may confuse the predatory animal. After a human stands in an upright position, tigers seem to lose the interest in this target.
Such man-eaters may also, in the minds of their human prey, become supernatural beings, were-tigers and were-leopards, creatures of legend. Why? A man-eating predator, through a combination of luck and increasing natural wariness, manages to evade attempts to kill it, continuing to prey on people for months or even years on end with what seems like extraordinary cunning. Asian man-eaters, too, will travel long distances, up to twenty miles between kills, while patrolling extensive territories. To local villagers, such behavior (the man-eater’s ability to stay one step ahead of its pursuers) is clear evidence of supernatural intelligence.
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The Gévaudan case fits with almost all the patterns described above. A large and powerful veteran predator, likely a wolf, likely advanced in years, develops a taste for human flesh, perhaps enhanced by having consumed remains from cemeteries, battlefields, or communal graves of epidemic victims. It then learns to subdue living individuals, mostly children, the weakest and easiest prey to take. (It should be noted, too, that wolves possess extreme jaw and neck strength; they can easily subdue and transport prey two or three times their own body weight.) From its kill, the Beast discerns edible material offering maximum nutrition—nourishment vital to its survival in its severe environment.
The Beast’s vast territory provides abundant “two-legged food,” and the predator makes it the basis of its diet. All it must do is spy on the movements of the bipedal creatures it craves and wait for the right time. All of its other instincts remain the same: Be wary of lures. Never lose track of hunters and their dogs. Discern poison hidden in traps. Dodge bullets: Like a dog that recognizes our movements if we scare him with a stick or throw a stone, the Beast knows when man lifts his “fire stick,” it must duck and run to avoid the deadly “fire.”
A large wolf in threatening display at the National Museum of Natural History, Paris. Photo G. Sánchez Romero.
Because of its years of experience, the Beast is a cunning creature indeed. It exploits a vast territory, which it knows by heart. It is extremely mobile, capable of covering long distances (more than twenty kilometers, more than twelve miles per day). It traverses dense forests and steep, rugged terrain to avoid human contact. Hence, La Bête is especially difficult to track, even by large groups of experienced hunters assisted by dogs.
Rabies?
Could the Beast have been a rabid wolf or wolves? Rabies, also known as hydrophobia, is a deadly virus that invades the nervous system and slowly makes its way to the brain. Here it takes over, initiating the frenzied outbursts for which the disease is best known. The affected creature, near death, can no longer control itself; it is simply a convulsed agent of its infector, biting whatever it can reach to pass the lethal pathogen along. C. H. D. Clarke states that there were many rabid canids in France at the time of the Beast and feels that locals, because of the consequential nature of the disease (it “kills nearly one hundred percent of its hosts in most species, including humans”) would have been conditioned to recognize such an animal.
The attack pattern shown by a wolf or a dog infected with rabies is very different from the Gévaudan-reported attacks of genuine predatory episodes where an animal hunts a human victim, an individual specialization. During rabies rage episodes, which may last one or two days, rabid animals bite anyone or anything crossing their paths. Further, rabies attacks are uncontrolled; the affected animal lunges wildly and bites its victims anywhere on their bodies. And it does not devour them, although rabies-infected creatures are capable of killing their victims. Finally, a fact that is vital when considering the attacks of the Beast—rabies paralyzes the muscles of the throat and the affected animal has trouble swallowing (causing it to produce “foam at the mouth”) and is thus unable to consume its victims. In addition, after about a three-week incubation period, the individual usually dies at about the fourth week.
The Beasts of the Gévaudan: Experienced and Dangerous Carnivores
After analyzing the data presented, as regards the Beast’s behavior, attack mode, and morphological characteristics, and after reviewing the literature published on the subject, we venture to make the following assumptions about the possible identity of the ferocious animal of the Gévaudan: First, the attacks were carried out by a small pack or clan of large and bloodthirsty wolves, perhaps a pair, at most a trio. Hence the mobility of the group and the disparity in their morphological features as reported. Some of the observed behaviors, such as the indiscriminate slaughter of lambs while consuming only a few and a total aversion to watchdogs, tell us much about the animals’ nature. If we consider that, in a large percentage of cases, witnesses stated they spotted a large, strange wolf, the puzzle is more easily solved. We must also remember that at the time of the killings, the region harbored numerous wolves that were considered a genuine threat to farmers and their livestock. The members of this small but seasoned clan of predators could recognize poisons, traps, and firearms. They had the skills and instincts necessary to hunt humans, especially children and babies as well as women. They developed a taste for human flesh (it is said to be addictive) and determined which individuals were most vulnerable to their attacks and most vital to their nourishment; hence, their predatory efficiency.
It is also possible that members of this clan suffered from mange and its resulting skin lesions and loss of hair; therefore, they craved protein-rich organs, such as livers and hearts, to counteract the constant loss of body heat during the long winters (more human deaths were recorded this time of year than any other) and unseasonable weather during the other seasons. The animals’ hairless backs and sides would reveal the contours of their spines and ribs, providing grist for the eyewitness descriptions of the Beast’s odd appearance and color.
The backbone of the wolf has robust vertebrae crowned with bony protuberances, known as apophyses, where the wolves’ powerful dorsal and neck muscles are attached; these muscles are used for taking down and subduing heavy prey. These bony projections could lend the Beast a distorted silhouette, as if it were embellished with dorsal ridges.
It is probable that as a result of advanced adulthood, these creatures had incomplete sets of teeth and related oral infections, resulting in inflammation and swelling of the nose and mouth. This is another reason the animals targeted young and tender human prey: Soft flesh and fragile bones were easier to chew and digest. Witnesses also noted pungent odors about the Beast, a characteristic associated with oral infections and abscesses.
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At this point readers may ask: What happened to these animals? Why were they never found? There are several possible explanations. The most likely is that these wily individuals finally succumbed to old age, starvation, or disease, and, feeling the inexorable call of death, sought refuge in caves or isolated underground caches to die. After their demise, scavengers such as foxes, crows, and rats, along with carrion eaters and creatures such as worms and beetles, along with climate—humidity, heat, snow, and ice—would reduce the carcasses to bones. Over time, of course, these are transformed into invisible organic matter, perpetuating the mystery of the identity and whereabouts of the extraordinary Beasts of the Gévaudan.
For wolf biologist Jean-Marc Landry, author of several books and studies on the great predators, the idea of an experienced pair or trio of wolves suffering from skin lesions and tooth loss fits well with the possible identity of the Beast of the Gévaudan. Landry states that people in Switzerland, where he has been working, are often surprised when they spot a wolf with a thin rather than a thick coat. It’s an image they are unfamiliar with and the odd-looking animal is immediately perceived as an “unknown” creature. Moreover, Landry believes the apophyses of a large and scabby animal could definitely give it a grotesque profile or silhouette, topped as if “crowned by thorny projections.” As stated earlier, this feature was noted in several ey
ewitness descriptions of La Bête.
Landry also tells us about current fears among French shepherds about the reappearance of wolves on their land. The animals are migrating from neighboring Italy via the Alps. Landry, who, among other activities, heads a European project to mitigate wolf attacks on sheep and goats through the use of protective collars, states that shepherds are concerned about the presence of wolves, especially at night and in conditions of low visibility, such as snow, rain, and fog. As such, more shepherds are carrying rifles. Landry tells us wolves may be kept at bay with the odd shot, but could the episodes from the time of the Beast be repeated? Today’s shepherds will open fire on them, depending on circumstances and as a last resort. A major part of the solution to this problem lies in the wolves’ finding adequate food in the wild. Perhaps we humans can assist in this regard by providing food, whether manufactured or surplus, in specific places. Another measure discussed by Landry is the zoning of areas where wolf and livestock populations overlap in order to avoid contact between the two groups. This will only work, however, if the wolves are capable of finding natural prey.
While it is difficult to close the case of the eighteenth-century French attacks in the Gévaudan, we have taken a small step to provide a possible scientific explanation to the enigma of the animal or animals responsible for such aggressions.