People are not the only masters on this planet - we share it with many other living beings who are sometimes not aware of our deep conviction that we consider ourselves the main ones here, and they must obey us implicitly. There is a constant process of interaction. Just as we influence other animals, they influence us. Sometimes this communication has a tragic ending for both those and others.
The dangers of the wild world
When compiling a list of animals dangerous to humans, various aspects can be used. For example, rank them according to their toxicity, or consider only domestic animals (after all, at least 100 people die each year from dog attacks or as a result of horse-related accidents). However, today's description includes wildlife that kills many more people each year.
In a world wheresurvival is the basis of existence itself, every living being must be equipped with everything necessary to achieve the main life goal, because the ability to adapt to the environment and protect oneself is a guarantee of life.
All animals (both predators and prey) have unique characteristics inherent in them, which they use both for defense and for attack. These mechanisms and instincts that help them forage for themselves and survive in the wild make some animals dangerous to humans.
It's hard to say exactly how many people die each year from attacks by wild animals. Official statistics often do not reflect the real numbers, as many deaths occur in underdeveloped countries where reports of animal attacks often do not reach the authorities.
Therefore, the estimated number of human deaths is reflected here. Perhaps surprisingly, the list does not include bears (between 5 and 10 deaths per year), sharks (12 deaths during 2011) and spiders (between 10 and 50 deaths per year).
In the animal world, appearances can be deceiving, it is quite difficult to distinguish between danger and charm or determine which animals are dangerous to humans. So let's get started?
10th place - jellyfish
Deaths every year: 50-100.
About 150 million people are burned every year by these seemingly harmless creatures, which, on occasion, fire thousands of small poisonous arrows at their victims, causing unbearable pain.
Several species of jellyfish are so poisonous that they can cause anaphylaxis in the victim, which in some cases leads to death from cardiac arrest. The deadliest is the box jellyfish, found mainly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Representatives of this species are difficult to see in the water, as they masterfully differentiate themselves from other brethren, because their main goal is to hunt for prey. They do not prey on people, but divers often fall into their nets. In the Philippines alone, it is estimated that between 20 and 40 people die every year from the sting of a box jellyfish, and worldwide, these figures reach between 50 and 100 people, making them an extremely dangerous representative of the aquatic world and an animal dangerous to human life.
9th place - Tigers
Deaths every year: 50-250.
On account of these representatives of the noble cat family, there are the largest number of dead people in history. Tiger attacks became especially frequent in areas where large populations of these animals had to contend with growing human populations.
It is believed that in India alone during the 20th century, from 15,000 to 20,000 people died from the claws of these animals. Today, there are only 3,000 to 5,000 tigers left in the world, so the number of human encounters has dropped dramatically. However, they are still very dangerous for many inhabitants of our planet. Especially in the Sundarbans, India's world heritage site, and Bangladesh, where most deaths occur.
Here, the Bengal tiger is under increasing pressure from people, and human deaths are mainly related to territorial disputes and lack of prey. Due to the difficulty in determining the exact number of deaths from tiger attacks, it can be assumed that they kill more people each year than lions and are included in the list of the most dangerous animal killers of people.
8th place - lions
Deaths every year: 100-300.
Lions live in Africa and India and are carnivores whose menu includes many large mammals. They sometimes harass people, and there are many true stories of lions terrorizing nearby communities.
However, most lions that attack humans are either starving, old or sick.
It is believed that the main reason lions attack people is the lack of prey in areas dominated by people. But a toothache can also cause a lion to choose a person who, pardon our sarcasm, can be chewed more easily than a tough antelope.
The country most affected by their attacks is Tanzania, where 50 to 70 people die every year. The opinion that lions are the most dangerous animals in the world and killers of people is widely believed, but they do not occupy the first place in the list.
7th place - hippos
Deaths every year: 100-300.
Hippos live in the southern half of Africa and are very aggressive by nature. They attack anyone who intrudes on them.territory. And they are especially dangerous if they have young. Hippos attack people both in water and on land, and they can do it even without provocation.
It's hard to know exactly how many people these animals kill each year, since most people who come into contact with hippos live far from civilization. The hippopotamus can quite compete with the lion and is the most dangerous animal for humans in Africa.
6th place - bees / wasps
Deaths each year: 400-600.
Bees and wasps belong to the same order (Hymenoptera). Many people affected by their sting do not know what kind of insect caused it, so they occupy one place in this list.
Bees and wasps play a vital role in plant pollination, and are inherently quite peaceful animals. However, they will attack if they feel cornered, or if you get close to their homes. They are especially dangerous animals for the he alth of a person who is allergic to their venom (for example, 1% of the Swedish population is allergic to wasps).
5th place - elephants
Deaths each year: 400-600.
Elephants are known for their bad temper and attack without warning. Sometimes they act for certain motives, which can be called revenge. There are many examples of elephants suddenly killing their owners with whom they have lived together for decades. Elephants are vegetarians, but attacks on humans nonetheless in recent yearsintensified.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the elephants have less and less places to live. In India, villages are regularly attacked by angry male elephants. For example, 300 people were killed in the Indian state of Jharkhand between 2000 and 2004. Worldwide, it is estimated that elephants kill 400-600 people every year, making them the deadliest mammal in the world.
4 place - crocodiles
Deaths each year: 800-2,000.
The largest species of crocodiles, without a doubt, are animals that are dangerous to humans. They are one of the few representatives of the wildlife world who consider humans as prey.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of victims killed by crocodiles. Most of the areas where people meet them are hard to reach, poor or in countries affected by conflict. The areas where attacks most often occur are believed to be New Guinea, Borneo and the Solomon Islands, where several hundred deaths are recorded each year. Mostly from s altwater crocodile.
He is the largest crocodile and reptile in the world. The Nile crocodile is slightly smaller but just as dangerous.
3rd place - scorpions
Deaths each year: 1,000-5,000.
Scorpion with its sting is one of the most feared creatures in the world. Of the 1,700 species of scorpions, only about 25 have venom strong enough to kill a human.
Approximately 95% of all bitesScorpios only lead to pain and suffering. But the remaining 5% need medical attention and can have dire consequences. Scorpions often live near humans in tropical or arid underdeveloped countries. It is estimated that up to 5,000 people die each year after being stung by scorpions.
Mexico suffers the most from dangerous insects that kill up to 1,000 people every year.
2 place - snakes
Deaths each year: 20,000-125,000.
About 5.5 million people are bitten by snakes every year, and between 20,000 and 125,000 of them die.
The venom of these animals also causes damage to parts of the body, and every year around 400,000 amputations are performed worldwide after human encounters. Some of the most dangerous and venomous snakes live in sparsely populated Australia, but they cause fewer than two deaths a year, while up to 50,000 deaths are caused by their bites in overpopulated India. The photo shows an Indian cobra, also known as a spectacle cobra.
This is one of the four snakes that cause most deaths in India.
It must be admitted that these reptiles are usually quite timid. They only attack when they feel threatened. For example, accidentally stepping on or passing too close.
Thus, snakes are the deadliest animals in the world. Except for the six-legged disease spreaders described below.
1 place - insects spreadingdisease
Deaths each year: 700,000-3,000,000.
There are over a million different types of insects in the world, and many of them love to bite. Only a few insects can be killed directly with poison (for example, spiders, bees and scorpions), why are they the most dangerous animals for humans? There are many species that can kill indirectly by spreading deadly diseases.
Mosquitoes are the animals that kill most people every year, carrying deadly viruses and parasites. They carry the viruses that cause dengue and yellow fever. The malaria parasite, for example, is spread by mosquitoes. Every year, 250 million people contract malaria, of which 600,000 to 1.3 million die.
Every year, 50 to 100 million people get dengue fever (of which 12,500 to 25,000 people die) and 200,000 people get yellow fever (of which 30,000 die).
Africa is also home to the tsetse fly, which spreads the parasitic disease "African trypanosomiasis" or "sleeping sickness". It tends to grow into an epidemic, and in some areas, for some periods of time, kills more people than AIDS. Cases of "sleeping sickness" are now on the decline, but still about 10,000 people die from it every year.
The blood-sucking Triatominae, or "kiss beetle", spread the parasitic Chagas disease, which kills 10 every year000 to 20,000 people. Mainly in South America.
Ticks spread several diseases, the most common being bacterial Lyme disease and the viral disease TBE (tick-borne encephalitis).
Lyme disease rarely kills, but it lingers, is difficult to treat, and has many different symptoms. TBE exists in Europe and Asia, killing at least 1000 people every year.
Plague is a bacterial disease that can be transmitted from rats through fleas. Although, fortunately, the plague is much less common today than it was in the Middle Ages, when about 75 million people died in the world, two hundred people die every year today. Fleas also spread bacterial typhus, which kills about 20,000 people every year.
Dangers on the way
In addition to those listed, there are many more animals and plants that are dangerous to humans. As we could see, the size and formidable appearance of an animal does not always determine the degree of danger that it poses to humans. And distant Africa is by no means the only place fraught with risks to life and he alth.
However, this is not a reason for every second of anxiety, which should lead to imprisonment in four walls. The world of wildlife is beautiful and amazing, you just need to stock up on safety knowledge and be careful.
