Professional athletes are usually pretty competitive individuals. If they weren't, they probably wouldn't be professional athletes to begin with. A serious competitive drive is one of the fundamentals of the job.

Another characteristic most of them share is a healthy ego. A very healthy ego. They're rich and famous and constantly being propped up by an army of adoring fans.

That kind of positive reinforcement is good to a point. But if an athlete is constantly being fed a steady stream of BS, eventually high self-esteem will give way to clouded delusions of grandeur.

The next thing you know, he's challenging a kangaroo to a pay-per-view boxing match. Or throwing down with a with a hostile weasel, before being sliced up by its razor-sharp teeth.

Every now and again an athlete has a very public tangle with a wild animal. Sometimes it's a carefully planned event and other times it's more of an unpleasant surprise. Either way, the animal usually wins.

Let's take a look at some athletes and animals who have gone mano a...animal.