It is never nice to be the victim of a dangerous animal’s attack, let alone get killed by them. There are many dangerous animals that are responsible for killing people each year, a lot of people actually. It is either our human carelessness that walk into their territory or it’s our bad luck running into them when they are hungry. Either way, it might be helpful to know about some of these ferocious killers so that we can avoid being their next victims. Below is the list of 10 dangerous animals that are responsible for killing many people annually. Check them out and see which one you think is the most fearsome of them all.
8Cape Buffalo
Kill: 200 people per year
Large, heavy, and aggressive is a great combination for a dangerous animal that is capable of killing anything in its way. Look like a bad hairdo, but the horns of these African buffalos make them fear nothing. They even chase lions sometimes, so think about that. Even hunters also describe them as extremely dangerous animals to approach especially when wounded or when one of the calves is under attack. You think the animals are weak when you injure them, but cape buffalos get even stronger.
Get ready to run like hell if any of the mentioned cases above happened. An angry buffalo will run after you, find you, and they will kill you. Their bad hairdo look-alike horns are their main weapon, those horns are massive, sharp, and thick. The buffalos use their horns to tear their opponents apart no matter if they are prey or enemies. Oh, and they are fast runners as well so good luck running away if you happen to trigger one.
7Elephant
Kill: 500 people per year
We all know that elephants are the largest land animals in the world, so there is nothing difficult in being killed by one. They can easily crush you with just one step, and they are extremely dangerous when provoked. According to the study, elephants have become more and more aggressive in the past several years. We cannot blame them because many hunters have killed their family members for tusks while more members are forcefully used for different purposes.
Researcher Joyce Poole said, “An elephant whose family members are killed by people is unlikely to forget it very quickly. Just as you or I; wouldn’t forget if an elephant killed a member of our family.” Plus with their habitat loss and poaching, we can observe that elephants begin to show aggressive behavior toward people. In total, elephants are responsible for an estimated death toll of 500 people annually.
6Crocodile
Kill: 1,000 – 2,500 people per year
There are no docile and friendly crocodiles out there in the world, so basically, all crocodiles are dangerous. These giant reptiles have sharp teeth, fast speed both in water and on land, and they are aggressive. Let’s not forget about their mass attack on Japanese soldiers during World War II where crocodiles killed everyone except twenty lucky soldiers overnight. There were 1,000 soldiers in total.
Among members of the family of crocodiles, saltwater crocodiles are the most dangerous. They are huge and aggressive, and they can leap up from the water like dolphins. Except these dolphins-wannabes will eat you. These killing machines are not afraid to attack, and they can run up to 10 miles per hour as well. Crocodiles are very deadly, so it is always a good thing to try to avoid them.
5Hippopotamus
Kill: 2,900 people per year
If a hippopotamus runs after you, it is not in the case of “Moto Moto likes you”; so run for your life. You might have seen a video of a cute hippopotamus eating watermelon in Japan, they’re not like that in reality. There have been many hippo attacks, especially in Africa which lead to the deaths of both locals and tourists. These plumpy animals can kill both in water and on land, and they are even faster than crocodiles. When provoked, hippopotamuses are very vicious and aggressive. They can capsize the boat, and their bites are super scary; well their canines are nightmare y’all. The advice is to never get close to a hippo, and trying to get closer to them to take photos is not recommended. Don’t risk your life for some Instagram photos, okay?
4Scorpion
Kill: 1,000 – 5,000 people per year
Small yet venomous, scorpions have killed more people than any of us would expect. Being one of the oldest creatures to ever live on earth, there are some deadly scorpions out there with lethal venoms. They love to settle in our boots when we go camping in the deserts, and they sting us when we accidentally touch them. Normally, scorpions don’t attack humans first and they are aggressive only when provoked. Yet they still caused thousands of deaths per year because we don’t have antivenom for some of their venom. While some other times, we don’t even know that they had stung us. In case you haven’t read our articles on venomous scorpions yet, click here.
3Snake
Kill: 50,000 people per year
There are thousands of species of snakes in the world, and a majority of them are capable of killing humans. Venomous snakes normally kill us when we provoked them by accidentally stepping on them or walking into their territory. As for some large non-venomous snakes like anacondas or pythons, they kill us because they love to have us for dinner. Either way, snakes have caused up to 50,000 deaths around the world every year. We also have a list of some of the most dangerous snakes as well, you might want to check them out.
2Tsetse Fly
Kill: 500,000 people per year
Known in Africa for spreading the African sleeping sickness, tsetse flies are one dangerous insects. Like what kind of demon power that these bugs possess as they can put you in a deep fatal sleep with just one bite. There are several species of tsetse flies that can transmit such disease, and sleeping sickness is very fatal if not treated on time. Plus, it has a toxin that is strong enough to kill a man, these are the bugs that we should never encounter.
Fun Fact: Male tsetse flies usually attack humans while females prefer large animals.
1Mosquito
Kill: 660,000 – 1,000,000 people per year
Might be the smallest on the list, but mosquitos are the ones that have been killing people the most. There are several mosquito-borne diseases that have taken many lives of children and adults each year. These insects carry fatal diseases that can kill a human being in just a week or less. Mosquitos are tiny, and we can easily kill them with just a slap. What we don’t pay attention to is they can kill us with a single bite that transmits bacteria into our blood. So always be careful especially when you go camping or when you are in countries with the rainy season.
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