The task of choosing only two of the nine types of fighters and defending against the other seven is an example of an exciting topic for discussion. At the same time, however, it demonstrates the narrowness of perception of most reasoners, who are led to the conditions set without elaboration and try to predict the winner of the conflict. The posing of the question lacks the specific conditions of what is going on, as well as the prohibition on setting them. For this reason and example, victory with the condition of choosing the man with the gun and four lions against all the others (three bears, fifteen wolves, ten crocodiles, five gorillas, fifty eagles, seven bulls, and one thousand rats) will be parsed as one of the many options for solving a problem of this kind in one’s favor.
For interest and projection of events, it is worth beginning by identifying the place, time, and parsing in order the motivations and potential actions of each animal species. It is done because the conditions of the problem do not forbid it, and these kinds of actions are often the solution in similar intelligence trap questions (Paulus & Nijstad, 2019). An example of this would be one of the origins of the problem itself on Reddit (2018), in which over 90% of the commenters did not show even a hint of ingenuity. In addition to this, one must likewise consider the psychology of the animals once the attack begins.
The place is a concrete warehouse with a narrow entrance and a low ceiling. In the far corner is a cage where the experimenter and the man with the gun will hide. It is needed for protection not only from the other animals but again from allied lions because the animals behave according to nature in this scenario (Breed & Moore, 2021). Lions are predators, and it can be assumed that of the four, not all are males, but a standard pride of a leader and three females, who are much better and more experienced at hunting than the male.
In the following, it is necessary to consider all possible groups of competitors in order. To begin with, one can look at crocodiles, which are inactive and ineffective away from water, and in conditions set, any water reservoirs are not available (Breed & Moore, 2021). In addition, crocodiles do not hunt in such numbers, and even when provoked, or in aggression, they quickly calm down and return to their usual habitat. Seeing many other species, they will try to attack buffalo and then sprawl out.
As for eagles, there is no way for them to go indoors. Moreover, eagles never practice hunting together in such numbers. At most, what they will do before they fly away is hunt for rats. Gorillas, on the other hand, when they see such an accumulation of different animals, will gather in a group and move away because both in freedom and captivity, they demonstrate a high level of intelligence and sociality (Houpt, 2018). Thus, three animal species have already refused to attack, even having potential aggression toward the experimenter.
Rats, as it may immediately seem, pose the greatest threat. However, the many predators around, the questionable food inside the concrete room, and the smell of big cats will make them scatter even faster than everyone else (Rojas-Carvajal et al., 2018). Furthermore, being non-predators and caught in their surroundings, buffaloes will be among the first to disappear from the confrontation site.
Everything left is only bears and a group of wolves around the warehouse. According to Morales-González et al. (2020), bears rarely show a desire to enter such buildings under such circumstances and may conflict with wolves. Consequently, the smell of humans, large predators, and the sound of gunshots will deter the last batch of participants. The final challenge for the winners is leaving the room without causing their own carnivore allies to become aggressive. Finally, the battle is won before it has even begun.
References
Breed, M. D., & Moore, J. (2021). Animal Behavior. Elsevier Science.
Houpt, K. A. (2018). Domestic animal behavior for veterinarians and animal scientists (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Mickstape animal hypothetical. Thoughts? (2018). Reddit. Web.
Morales-González, A., Ruiz-Villar, H., Ordiz, A., & Penteriani, V. (2020). Large carnivores living alongside humans: Brown bears in human-modified landscapes. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22(e00937), e00937. Web.
Paulus, P. B., & Nijstad, B. A. (2019). The oxford handbook of group creativity and innovation. Oxford University Press.
Rojas-Carvajal, M., Fornaguera, J., Mora-Gallegos, A., & Brenes, J. C. (2018). Testing experience and environmental enrichment potentiated open-field habituation and grooming behaviour in rats. Animal Behaviour, 137, 225–235. Web.