To ask what is the largest wild animal you could fight off?

Galapagos giant tortoise. Unlikely to attack as such but certainly happy to mug you for any fruit you may have about your person.

Snap! Between us we’d certainly be fine.

How on earth does a koala attack if it’s likely to pass on vd? 😂 I mean, they’re pretty lazy aren’t they? Their claws are sharp (and their penises diseased, so might be too itchy to attack too long?) but wouldn’t they need a break from the attack to eat some eucalyptus and have a nap? But, in all seriousness, have definitely heard that they can be quite aggressive little fuckers, not the cute alter ego they like to present as! I wonder if they jump out of trees to attack? Like a fat flying squirrel coming at you? They’d fall quite fast and probably break your skull if they landed on your head.

Possibly a giant anteater? Very small mouths and teeth.

They have big claws, but I don’t think they can use them like a cassowary or a velociraptor or anything.

I think I could take on an anteater.

I have fought off a cow. But she broke my finger before she backed off and I don't think I broke anything of hers. So she might claim that she was the winner.

EDIT. Oh, but cows aren't wild so prob don't count., though this one was pretty feral.

I had a bit of a tussle with a monkey in a forest in Bali.
(They can carry rabies so I was quite worried)
I was also seriously intimidated by a herd of mountain goats in Corfu

I'm going to say racoon but may be over thinking my fighting abilities.
If I carried snacks I could throw them and divert it's attention while I ran.

Nothing, I'd likely die of fright if approached by a bear 🐻 or anything like that. I'm loving the assertion that Badgers are made of some sort of concrete, I concur!

There are a few vids floating around of people picking up sloths & getting attacked by them - they are very strong for their size & have super sharp / strong claws. On the plus side, you'd be able to out run it easily :)

I was gonna say a pidgeon -but then remembered a male blackbird (obviously protecting an unknown nest in my overgrown garden) divebombed me, clouting me on my head taking me completely by surprise.
So, as long as I knew the pidgeon was angry with me & gave fair warning it was about to attack, maybe I’d manage to hold it down! tho, a pair of gloves would be appreciated!

A wasp

Hamster? Hamster you say? I think not! Ask any vet or veterinary nurse.

Ha! You must be relatively near me! I’m not sure how fast they run but I’d like to think I could catch him if I saw him. Unlikely tho, so if he decided to go for me I’d probably be a goner! I think anything that moves faster than a tortoise and has fangs/claws I probably wouldn’t be able to fight off. I do wonder if I could reason with a monkey, or use my (nonexistent) charms on it, but in reality it would probably rip my face off. In my head I could take most things on with my crutches, but I expect that would just make them more angry. I’ve tried to picture the actual size of a wild bear, maybe a black bear or a polar bear, relative to me (I’m quite tiny) and I just can’t picture it properly. I’d definitely give them my lunch tho, to try and stall them. I’ve been knocked down on to the ground by an over excited dog once when I was younger and was surprised how difficult it was to get it off me and back up, can only imagine how impossible that would be if the dog was attacking me instead of trying to mount me 🫣
I guess my actual point is I could probably fight off a tortoise…

Nah I don't think I could, we've got badgers behind our back fence faster and bigger than you think , am I allowed an implement?

I would have a good go at a giraffe, if I could stay out of its neck swing and take it's knees out.

But how are you going to give it a good strong punch? The water resistance will take the force out of it unless you’ve very impressive biceps, and it'll just be a tap on the nose, probably making the shark even crosser…unless its on land, or in the massive puddle with the goldfish mentioned earlier. 😂

A large golden retriever that was trying to f me in a field. Don’t think it was left capable of trying that again. I laugh now but it was absolutely terrifying.

This is so funny and nothing on this thread has made me believe I could take on anything.
I might be able to "shoo" out a sheep if it came in the front door, but not if it was on the attack.

I am regularly attacked by my cat and I can't fend it off without a weapon. A cushion or towel is my preferred weapon - just to protect my legs from "friendly" bites.

Knowing what to do and actually doing it - radically different!

I know how to keep a croc’s mouth closed. Obviously it has to be closed at the time.
I know how to play dead. Works for bears, I believe?
I know how to disable a dog in a certain situation.
I know how to safely catch snakes.
(I sound like a psycho! But I just collect stories from people who do know these things, and mixed with interesting folk.)

Ive successfully scared cows away, by being big, loud and quite insane.
i also scared away a big pack of dogs once, again, by being insane.

Being charged by an elephant in musth was the most terrifying experience - never reversed a car so fast in my life.

However, Ive also been regularly attacked by rabbits (evil!) and hamsters (also evil).

So I think I’d go with running away if at all possible. Or play dead, which is the limit of my physicality these days.

This is my favourite thread title ever!!

Predator/carnivore wise, I'm going size of a large cat/medium sized dog

Prey type animal, im going small deer/goat kind of size (minus horns etc)

I sadly have no dramatic experience to base these (probably quite optimistic) assertions on

OP you were pushing it when you said badger.

Now you’ve gone full delusional and talking about punching sharks.

😂😂

We believe you even if science doesn’t 😂😂

Death awaits, with nasty big pointy teeth.

I reckon I could take on most baby animals, a baby panda or elephant up to a couple or weeks old should be manageable. Even a lion cub should be ok until their teeth come through. Though having said that, I’ve known kittens be real bastards when they launch at your legs and hang on with their tiny claws so maybe anything in the cat family might be problematic