Based on a true story of an incident between a Russian poacher and an Amur tiger. After a close-quarters scuffle between the two over a boar, the wounded but living tiger followed the man's scent to his cabin. Once there the cat tore apart his belongings, dragged the mattress out the front door, and waited two days for the poacher to return. It was then that the poacher met a grizzly end, finally having his body dragged into the bush and eaten.
My interest in this story is as an entry point to “revenge" as an adaptive trait. It’s an evocative anecdote and works well to contrast a comparatively functional explanation of why it may be evolutionarily advantageous to eliminate threats in one's environment. This is simplified, to be sure, but it’s a salient experience for an audience to have their perspective shift from narrative anthropomorphism to a biological lens that is so clear and easy to grasp.
It can be powerful in science communication to make someone think “Oh, of course, why didn’t I think of that”.
