Beast of Gévaudan
man-eating animal(s) which terrorised Gévaudan (modern-day Lozère) in France in 1764–1767
The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La Bête du Gévaudan, IPA: [la bɛt dy ʒevodɑ̃]; Occitan: La Bèstia de Gavaudan) is the historic name associated with a man-eating animal or cryptids that terrorized the former province of Gévaudan (consisting of the modern-day department of Lozère and part of Haute-Loire), in the Margeride Mountains of south-central France between 30 June 1764 and 19 June 1767.
The attacks, which covered an area spanning 90 by 80 kilometres (56 by 50 mi), were said to have been committed by one or more beasts of a tawny/russet colour with dark streaks/stripes and a dark stripe down its back, a tail "longer than a wolf's" ending in a tuft according to contemporary eyewitnesses. It was said to attack with formidable teeth and claws, and appeared to be the size of a calf or cow and seemed to fly or bound across fields towards its victims. These descriptions from the period could identify the beast as a striped hyena, a large wolf, a large dog, or a wolfdog, though its identity is still the subject of debate and remains unsolved to this day.
The Kingdom of France used a considerable amount of wealth and manpower to hunt the animals responsible, including the resources of several nobles, soldiers, royal huntsmen, and civilians. The number of victims differs according to the source. A 1987 study estimated there had been 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. Other sources claim the animal or animals killed between 60 and 100 adults and children and injured more than 30. Victims were often killed by having their throats torn out. Several animals identified as the beast were reportedly killed before the attacks finally stopped.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Beast of Gévaudan” as man-eating animal(s) which terrorised Gévaudan (modern-day Lozère) in France in 1764–1767. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as man-eating animal(s) which terrorised Gévaudan (modern-day Lozère) in France in 1764–1767. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q211453. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1764, 1767 and 1987.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Beast of Gévaudan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.