If you’re out in the wild, what’s the last creature you want to encounter? A shark? A rattlesnake? A jaguar? There are a lot of different traits which make animals dangerous. Some animals are particularly aggressive. Others are stronger or faster than we are, or have razor-sharp teeth. Still others are venomous, and can poison us with a sting or a bite. Others yet are clever and cunning. Here are the top 10 most dangerous animals in the world.
10. Sea Wasp Box Jellyfish
Flickr / Chuck Domitrovich
If you see one of these ethereal looking creatures floating toward you in the sea, it is wise to get away fast. The box jellyfish is the most venomous creature on the planet, beating out even snakes and scorpions. There are many different types of box jellyfish, but the sea wasp species is the most lethal. The venom can paralyze other animals, and even dissolve flesh after a long enough exposure. The pain from a sting is described as some of the most unbearable on the planet.
9. Deathstalker Scorpion
Deathstalker Scorpion (Wikimedia)
This appropriately named scorpion is relatively small, and can be found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Over three quarters of all deaths caused by scorpions every year are attributed to this particular species. Children regularly die from the bites, though adults usually only suffer intolerable pain.
8. Cone snail
Flickr / Yin Keen Chan
This innocuous looking snail is actually quite deadly. It is incredibly venomous. A single drop is enough to kill twenty people. There is no antivenin available, and you can die from a sting within a matter of minutes.
7. Shark
flickr / Steve Garner
It would be remiss not to mention sharks at least once in this list. Their lethal predatory nature was made iconic (and notorious) in the film “Jaws.” Thankfully, human beings really are not a primary or preferred food source for sharks. They do like to eat meat, but they prefer dolphins or sea lions to human flesh. So long as other food is available, most sharks will not eat people. Sharks will often change their minds if they bite into a human by accident, and let the person go when they realize it is not a sea lion or something similar. With their incredible speed and strength and their deadly teeth, however, even an accidental bite can leave a victim maimed for life, and may result in death.
6. Cape Buffalo
Flickr / Wildlife Wanderer
This animal roams the grasslands of Africa, and will regularly charge people for no particular reason. The cape buffalo will even go after trucks or jeeps, and can easily overturn them. Weighing 2,000 pounds and being able to run at around 40 miles per hour makes this possible. Even after a shot to the heart, a cape buffalo will usually charge a hunter, and every year, over 200 people are killed by these powerful creatures.
5. Siafu Ants
Flickr / jbdodane
We have all seen films where travelers are overrun by ant colonies and devoured. This is not without foundation as it turns out. Siafu ants, also called driver ants, can swarm in columns of up to 50,000,000, and will react as a unit if the colony is attacked. If one bites you, it is incredibly hard to remove. You can tear it in half without getting the jaws to unlock. In fact, the jaws are so hard to remove that indigenous tribes have used them for emergency sutures when no other materials are available to sew up a wound, removing the bodies after the jaws are attached. The jaws can hold for days afterward. Siafu ants can swarm and kill small animals when they feel threatened, which makes them impressively dangerous, considering the diminutive size of each insect!
4. Black Mamba
Flickr / Rodney Lewis
This snake may not have the most intimidating appearance, but it is one of the most dangerous snakes on the planet. It is incredibly fast and its aggression is notorious. The black mamba will regularly attack victims without any reason.
3. Brazilian Wandering Spider
Flickr / Graham Duggan
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Brazilian wandering spider is the most venomous spider on the planet, making it the most dangerous animal in the world where arachnids are concerned. These spiders roam and may be found anywhere. They love to hide in cars and homes, which makes them extra dangerous.
2. Hippopotamus
Flickr / @Doug88888
You may not think of hippos as being among the deadliest animals in the world, but they are in fact extremely aggressive. Like the Cape Buffalo, they have been known to regularly attack people without provocation. And like the Cape Buffalo, they will not hesitate to maul a vehicle, often quite successfully. Interestingly enough, the hippopotamus is a plant eater, so this aggression has nothing to do with food.
1. Us
Flickr / something something freeparking
And the most dangerous animal on the planet? That dubious honor without a doubt goes to the human race. Human beings are incredibly dangerous for a number of reasons. We may not be the strongest or fastest animals on the planet, but we are the smartest, and thanks to our opposable thumbs, we are able to manufacture tools. Considering how many of the tools we have manufactured are weapons to leverage our strength over other species and over one another, we also display extraordinary aggression. Human beings are the only animals on the planet that have waged world wars or set up concentration camps. We also display a propensity for waste. A starving shark may eat a human, but only a human being could come up with a delicacy like shark-fin soup. So however scared you might be of wild animals the next time you’re taking a walk in the wilderness, just remember that most of them are even more afraid of you than you are of them. For this reason, most wild animals will avoid encounters with humans.
But this list stands as a great reminder that we share the planet with other powerful creatures, and that it would be hubris to assume we are always at the top of the food chain. Stripped of our tools and ingenuity, we are physically much weaker and slower than many of the beautiful and deadly creatures on this list.