What would you say is
the world's most dangerous animal? A shark? A tiger? What about a crocodile?
An Australian man was killed by a crocodile this week; his friend escaped with his
life after a three-hour ordeal.
Crocodiles are
dangerous enough, they kill an estimated 1,000 per year. But the world's
deadliest animal, year after year, is a much smaller creature: the mosquito.
Here are some of the
world's deadliest animals.
Mosquitoes
According to the World
Health Organization, about 725,000 people are killed every year by
mosquito-born diseases. Malaria alone affects 200 million, of which an
estimated 600,000 die. Mosquitoes also carry Dengue fever, yellow fever and
encephalitis.
The sheer number of
mosquitoes adds to the risk they pose to humans. Unlike many other dangerous
creatures, they can be found in nearly every part of the world at various times
of year, and at peak breeding season they outnumber every other animal except
ants and termites.
Snakes
An estimated 50,000
people are killed every year by snakes. The most venomous snake in the world is
the Inland Taipan, also known as the Western Taipan. Its venom is highly toxic
and can kill a human being in under 45 minutes. More than 80% of those bitten
by the Inland Taipan die. But it is not the biggest killer, because it rarely
bites humans.
The saw-scaled viper
doesn't rank in the top 10 for venom toxicity - only 10% of bite victims die -
but it lives around inhabited areas and it bites fast and often. The saw-scaled
viper is estimated to kill about 5,000 people every year - more than any other
kind of snake.
The Inland Taipan is
native to central Australia, while the saw-scaled viper can be found in
Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, parts of the Middle East and Africa, north of the
equator. The various Krait species, also among the world's most deadly, are
found mostly in East Asia.
Dogs
Man's best friend?
Perhaps, but not mankind's. Rabid dogs are responsible for the deaths of an
estimated 25,000 people per year. In countries where dogs commonly carry rabies
they are involved in up to 99% of infections, according to the WHO.
Countries with large numbers
of stray dogs, including India, are the worst affected. According to the WHO,
about 36% of the world's rabies deaths - 20,000 of about 55,000 deaths
worldwide - occur in India each year, most of those when children come into
contact with infected dogs.
Dying from an actual
dog bite is much more rare. There is no reliable worldwide data, but of the
estimated 4.5 million dog bites in the US every year, only about 30 people die
on average.
Tsetse fly
The tsetse fly is
roughly similar in size and appearance to the ordinary housefly, but it packs a
lot more of a punch. The tsetse fly uses a large proboscis to bite vertebrate
animals, including humans, and suck their blood.
It carries African
trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease which causes fevers,
headaches, and joint pain, followed by vomiting, swelling of the brain, and
trouble sleeping. Somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people are thought to be
infected with sleeping sickness every year, the vast majority in sub-Saharan
Africa. An estimated 10,000 die from the disease.
Crocodiles
Crocodiles do not
necessarily set out to hunt humans, but they are opportunistic killers. In
Africa alone there are several hundred crocodile attacks on humans per year,
between a third to half of which are fatal, depending on the species. Many take
place in small communities and are not widely reported.
Worldwide, crocodiles
are estimated to kill about 1,000 humans per year, many more than sharks.
Hippopotamus
Ungainly as it is, the
hippopotamus is the world's deadliest large land mammal, killing an estimated
500 people per year in Africa. Hippos are aggressive creatures, and they have
very sharp teeth.
And you would not want
to get stuck under one; at up to 2,750kg they can crush a human to death.
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