Suspiciously Stealthy Predator

The flip side to Super-Persistent Predator, this is what happens when a dangerous creature with the intellect and mindset of a wild animal, which has no business knowing what closed-circuit cameras, firearms, vehicles or other man-made devices are, nevertheless avoids these objects like the plague. This guarantees that the heroes who report it to the authorities will never be believed, as no photographic evidence exists to document its presence.

The creature will know not to leave tracks, claw tree bark, or dump a load where it might be found, save by a master tracker who's escorting the heroes. Likewise, this trope ensures that the creature will consistently find unarmed victims (usually confirmed jerkasses or lone sexy females) to prey upon, even as the armed hunters, police, and/or soldiers scouring the woods for the mysterious threat walk right by without noticing.

Sometimes clumsily justified as the creature disliking the smell of weapons or machinery, although it'll always lose that aversion in time for a climactic battle with the heroes. If this goes on long enough, viewers and/or characters may eventually deduce that It Can Think.


 * There's a very creepy Real Life example: the Lions of Tsavo. There were no cameras, but they did do things like avoiding an ambush to go attack helpless people in a hospital, avoided bait, and alarmingly good tactics.
 * The Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. It's left up in the air how intelligent they are on their own terms. Somewhat justified as it's implied that they're some sort of Attack Animal.
 * Somehow the T. rex in The Lost World Jurassic Park was able to wander into a suburban neighborhood without being spotted by anyone but a dog. It's only when it actually started looking for food instead of water that it began striding openly through a busy street, which is more in keeping with how a wild animal at the pinnacle of its food chain would act when it's not hunting.
 * The American Remake of Godzilla has the titular monster somehow being able to hide in the middle of New York City.
 * Seems to apply to most of the creatures on Primeval, even the ones that otherwise act incredibly stupid due to low brain/body ratios.
 * In Alligator, the gator always retreats to the sewers unseen after its nightly hunts, rather than staying outside to bask in the sun as any real alligator would.