Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30033404-20170608021753/@comment-27815020-20180309024618

Cookie-Owl wrote: Atarashimono wrote: ...I didn't think my idea would be considered good. Thanks, I really appreciate it. If you want, I can give my thoughts on specific animals I've done more in-depth research into? Yeah, I'd love to hear more about this idea. Also no problem! Okay, so here are my thoughts on specific animals so far:

Spiders

Spiders (who are most likely Australian Redbacks since it’s the only venomous spider species living in Japan that I’m aware of) are by far the easiest animal to acquire, keep, and sneak into the school. In fact, the black market may not even be necessary to acquire one. However, spiders have no concept of loyalty, and after performing the elimination should then be killed, because if they aren’t, they’ll roam the school and possibly kill more students, even Yan-chan.

Snakes (venomous)

Snakes (who are most likely Mamushi or Okinawa habu as they’re the most venomous snakes in Japan) would be the second easiest at sneaking into the school, and Yan-chan may even be able to carry one in her bag. A snake is also the second easiest pet on this list to maintain, but all this has it’s downside. If it sees a rat or other small animal, it’ll forget about the rival and attack that instead.

Wolves

Wolves would be the most loyal animals, and will do best at following more complex orders. However, they are hard to sneak into the school, and are worst at killing a rival. Most rivals would be able to survive being attacked by one.

Big Cats

Big cats are, perhaps obviously, the second hardest animals to acquire, keep, and sneak into the school. Doing so will be virtually impossible for Yan-chan to do on her own, so she’ll need help if she wants to use this option. Big cats are more loyal than everything else on this list except wolves. They are also the only non-reptile that would dispose of the rival’s entire body after killing her (by eating it).

As for exactly what such an elimination would look like, well, Lions and Tigers usually suffocate their prey by going for the neck, while Jaguars use their elongated canines to bite through the temporal bones of the victim. That’s gotta hurt.

Hyenas

A halfway point between wolves and big cats. While they might shake and break the spine of smaller prey, they hop onto people-sized victims. When they have a victim prone, they start eating. Even if the person-sized victim is completely and utterly conscious. Fun fact: this is also how Velociraptor would prey on a human-sized target.

Crocodiles

First, determining the exact species to use is a bit less simple than it sounds. While the Nile crocodile causes more human fatalities and one of them has the highest kill-count for any single non-mammal animal, it should be noted that it’s habitat often extends into heavily populated parts of Africa, as opposed to the almost empty habitat of the Saltwater crocodile, which is actually more likely to view humans as prey.

At 1000-1200 kilograms, this is the most massive animal on this list, and also likely the one with the highest probability of successfully killing (and consuming) a rival. But there would be two obvious downsides to using it. First, it would not only be hard to bring into the school unnoticed, but hard for Yan-chan to even keep at her house due to it’s size. Second, the Saltwater crocodile is, to quote wikipedia, “a large and opportunistic hypercarnivorous apex predator”. So while it’ll have no problem chomping down a rival, Yan-chan would have to be extremely careful with it to avoid suffering the same fate, and it’ll always just target the nearest possible prey item, not a specific person.

As for what such predation would look like, again I’ll quote wikipedia:

‘The hunting methods utilised by saltwater crocodiles are indistinct from any other crocodilian, with the hunting crocodile submerging and quietly swimming over to the prey before pouncing upwards striking suddenly. Unlike some other crocodilians, such as alligators and even Nile crocodiles, they are not known to have hunted on dry land… As with other crocodilians, their sharp, peg-like teeth are well-suited to seize and tightly grip prey, but not designed to shear flesh… larger animals are forcibly dragged into deep water and drowned or crushed.undefinedLarge prey is then torn into manageable pieces by "death rolling" (the spinning of the crocodile to twist off hunks of meat) or by sudden jerks of the head.’

Snakes (predatory)

There are two snakes that could confidently go into this category, the Green Anaconda and the Reticulated Python. While the latter is the largest animal on this list by length, it’s ability to fit in small areas due to the flexibility of it’s body mean it doesn’t have the same problem as the Saltwater crocodile. Another benefit to using a snake would that unlike all the other predators, snakes don’t leave blood all over the place after eliminating a rival.

While predatory snakes do asphyxiate a rival, the cause of death would generally be cardiac arrest from the lack of oxygen. Contrary to popular belief, only after the target is dead would it be swallowed.

Piranhas

If a swimming pool is being used by a rival at predictable intervals, or if there’s a field trip to a beach, these aquatic predators could have their time to shine. The idea here is to simply dump a tank containing a large swarm of piranhas into the body of water the rival is in, either before or during the rival’s time in it. Piranhas would have the same will-eat-whatever-they-find problem as the Saltwater crocodile, so Yan-chan should try her best not to accidentally fall into the body of water.

Other

I also researched the potential uses for various prehistoric animals (both venomous and predatory), perhaps as an easter egg or something, but I think that’s going a bit too far.