1/18/2024 0 Comments Favorite predators animalsAs the World Health Organization notes, more than half of the human population is currently at risk from mosquito-borne diseases. The irritating insects-primarily those from the genera Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex-are the primary vectors of diseases like malaria, Chikungunya, encephalitis, elephantiasis, yellow fever, dengue fever, West Nile virus, and the Zika virus, which collectively afflict an estimated 700 million and kill roughly 725,000 people each year. Our reasoning: the sheer number of deaths each year, caused by various pathogens that several species of mosquitoes (of more than 3,000 in the world) carry to humans. While there are no vaccines or medications available to prevent infection, methods of protection include wearing neutral-colored clothing (the tsetse fly is attracted to bright and dark colors, especially blue), avoiding bushes during the day, and using permethrin-treated gear in more remote areas.Ĭlocking in at just three millimeters at their smallest, the common mosquito, even tinier than the tsetse fly, ranks as the second most dangerous animal in the world. If untreated, the condition can be fatal. These microscopic pathogens are the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness, a disease marked by neurological and meningoencephalitic symptoms including behavioral changes, poor coordination, as well as the disturbances in sleeping cycles that give the illness its name. While the flies themselves are nasty bloodsucking bugs that usually feed during the peak warm hours of the day, their true terror lies in the protozoan parasites they spread known as Trypanosomes. Often regarded as the world’s most dangerous fly, the tsetse fly-a small speck of an insect that measures between 8 to 17 mm, or about the same size as the average house fly-is commonly found in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially throughout countries in the center of the continent. If that’s not enough to scare you, let us put it into perspective: Humans chomp into a well-done steak at around 200 psi, a mere five percent of the strength of a saltie's jaw. Saltwater crocodiles are especially dangerous as they’re excellent swimmers in both salt and freshwater (yes, their name is confusing), and can strike quickly with a bite delivering 3,700 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure, rivaling that of the T. These ferocious killers can grow up to 23 feet in length, weigh more than a ton, and are known to kill hundreds of people each year, with crocodiles as a whole responsible for more human fatalities annually than sharks (then again, so are cars). Of all the species in the world, the largest-and most dangerous-is the saltwater crocodile. Sadly, deforestation has landed the frog on several endangered lists, but if you’re lucky enough for a rare sighting when hiking, don’t go reaching for it.įlorida's alligators may be scary, but they have nothing on their cousin, the fearsome crocodile, which is more short-tempered, easily provoked, and aggressive toward anything that crosses its path. Little wonder the indigenous Emberá people have laced the tips of their hunting blow darts with the frog’s toxin for centuries. But what makes the amphibian especially dangerous is that its poison glands are located beneath its skin, meaning a mere touch will cause trouble. Its poison, called batrachotoxin, is so potent that there’s enough in one frog to kill ten grown men, with only two micrograms-roughly the amount that would fit onto the head of a pin-able to kill a single individual. The most deadly, the golden poison dart, inhabits the small range of rain forests along Colombia’s Pacific coast, and grows to around two inches long (roughly the size of a paper clip). Poison darts are a large, diverse group of brightly colored frogs, of which only a handful of species are particularly dangerous to humans. ( They kill 20-40 people every year in the Philippines alone.) For those who are lucky enough to make it to the hospital and receive the antidote, survivors can sometimes experience considerable pain for weeks afterward, and are often left with nasty scars from the creature’s tentacles. While antivenoms do exist, the venom is so potent that many human victims have been known to go into shock and drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore. Plus, those tendrils are lined with thousands of stinging cells known as nematocysts, which contain toxins that simultaneously attack the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. Their namesake cubic frames contain up to 15 tentacles that can grow up to 10 feet long. Often found floating-or very slowly moving at speeds close to five miles per hour-in Indo-Pacific waters, these transparent, nearly invisible invertebrates are considered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be the most venomous marine animal in the world.
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