Ranked: Top 10 Deadliest Animals to Humans
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While encountering wild animals in the woods may seem like the worst thing for humans, there are plenty of other animals that are far deadlier than large predators.
We rank the top 10 deadliest animals by the number of people they kill each year. Data for this visualization and article comes from BBC Science Focus.
Disease spreaders are the deadliest to humans
Mosquitoesare of course the reigning champions in the toll they exact on people. Every year they kill more than 700,000 people through a variety of deadly diseases: dengue, yellow fever and malaria.
By some estimates, mosquitoes are responsible for the deaths of half of all people infected with mosquitoes. ever lived.
| Rank | Animal | Annual number of deaths |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🦟 Mosquitoes* | 725,000 |
| 2 | 👫 People** | 400,000 |
| 3 | 🐍 Snakes | 138,000 |
| 4 | 🐕 Dogs* | 59,000 |
| 5 | 🐜Killer Bugs* | 10,000 |
| 6 | 🦂 Scorpios | 3,300 |
| 7 | 🐊 Crocodiles | 1,000 |
| 8 | 🐘 Elephants | 600 |
| 9 | 🦛 Hippos | 500 |
| 10 | 🦁 Lions | 200 |
Note: *Spreads disease. **Only murder.
In the meantime, people are (almost) their own worst enemies. Nearly 400,000 murders occur each year, making humans the second deadliest animal to other humans. And that’s without even counting all the human-caused accidents that result in fatalities.
In fourth place, dogs may be our best friends, but as carriers of the deadly rabies virus, they rank fourth on the list of the ten deadliest animals.
The top five is completed by: assassin bugsthat spread the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a condition that can go untreated for years and can lead to serious complications that can be life-threatening.
Large mammals, including lions, hippos and elephants, complete the top 10. Interestingly, bears kill an average of one person per year and would therefore not come close to being on the list of deadliest animals.