Related story:
“Call me Spatacus: the world’s only gladiator school”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-436752/Call-Spatacus-worlds-gladiator-school.html
“Ludus Matutinus, meanwhile, trained its students to fight wild beasts, with a training regimen that was somewhat different from the others.”
It would be interesting to know what sort of weaponry and/or training these guys received. One suspects both varied more than the other schools, as each type of wild animal would have its own strengths and weaknesses. Fighting a wild boar probably requires different skills than fighting several wild dogs, etc.
Very interesting article, btw. Thanks for posting!
One TV program on gladiators indicted about 90% of gladiators survived. Training and supporting a gladiator was expensive and effort was made to referee and preserve the lives of those vanquished in a fight.