The nature of European explorers’ and hunters’ perceptions of the wildlife they encountered during their travels, and how this shaped their responses to it, has been surprisingly little studied. This may in part be because of the wealth of primary material and the dearth of secondary sources. Animal studies has come of age in recent decades, with a focus on how humans have conceptualised and related to animals, but much of this new field concerns domesticated or captive animals and has tended towards philosophical, political and theoretical approaches. Yet there is much to be gained from a historical exploration of the abundant sources on Europeans’ encounter with wildlife, notably during the height of colonial exploration and adventuring in Africa. This review focuses on the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) in Africa. Crocodiles had a major impact on European travellers, elicited extreme reactions and reveal an irrational difference in attitudes to large mammalian predators, as opposed to reptilian. The oft-repeated statement that Nile crocodiles kill more humans and are more hated than any other predator (or even, all other predators) in Africa is still current. The expansion of human settlement and activities into the habitats of crocodiles and increasing demands on water supplies is resulting in escalating conflicts and some experts regard crocodiles as a ‘growing threat to rural livelihoods and development’. If these important apex predators of the continent’s waterways are to be conserved, then a good place to start seems to be with an exploration of the long history of interactions with them that have shaped expert and public perceptions of crocodile.

中文翻译：

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非洲人类与尼罗河鳄鱼的纠缠关系，c.1840-1992

令人惊讶的是，欧洲探险家和猎人对他们在旅行中遇到的野生动物的看法的性质，以及这如何影响他们对野生动物的反应，却鲜有研究。这可能部分是因为一手资料丰富而二手资料匮乏。近几十年来，动物研究已经成熟，重点是人类如何将动物概念化并与动物相关联，但这个新领域的大部分涉及驯养或圈养动物，并倾向于哲学、政治和理论方法。然而，对欧洲人与野生动物相遇的丰富资源的历史探索，特别是在非洲殖民探索和冒险的高峰期，有很多收获。这篇评论的重点是非洲的尼罗河鳄鱼（Crocodylus niloticus）。鳄鱼对欧洲旅行者产生了重大影响，引发了极端反应，并揭示了对大型哺乳动物捕食者的态度差异，而不是爬行动物。尼罗河鳄鱼比非洲任何其他捕食者（甚至所有其他捕食者）杀死的人类更多，也更受人憎恨，这一经常被反复提及的说法仍然流行。人类住区和活动向鳄鱼栖息地的扩展以及对水供应需求的增加导致冲突升级，一些专家将鳄鱼视为“对农村生计和发展的日益严重的威胁”。如果要保护非洲大陆水道的这些重要的顶级掠食者，那么一个很好的起点似乎是探索与它们互动的悠久历史，这些历史已经塑造了专家和公众对鳄鱼的看法。