The world’s 10 most dangerous animals

On a recent sojourn into Samburu, our driver and guide coloured our trip with vivid descriptions of giant pythons that set traps for their prey in the dead of night using “magical” stones that glow in the dark.

He described how the over-eight-foot-long snakes patiently lie in wait near the stone, monitor the small dikdiks or stray goats as they curiously approach the stones, then lash out when the prey falls within striking distance. They then quickly coil tightly around the hapless animals and crush them to death before swallowing them whole.

The idea that a snake has the intelligence to set a trap is terrifying, but a cursory search on the internet reveals that any such phenomenon is mythical and deeply steeped in Indian forklore.

Still, I would not want to risk traipsing in the rugged Samburu countryside at night.

We grow up afraid of monsters and beasts. Claws and jaws colour our nightmares and the thought of poisonous fangs makes our skins crawl and break out in goose bumps.

It is for good reason, though, that animals that possess these fearsome traits instil fear in us. Everyone knows someone who knows a good story about someone who has died or suffered grave injuries inflicted by sharks and lions and snakes.

So, to secure ourselves against any threats to our lives, we have caged these potential predators or isolated them in parks, where they are far enough not to do any harm.

We might visit these parks once in a while to gawk at them and take pictures for our Facebook pages, but that is done in the safety of a hardy vehicle that can breeze over rough terrain, ensuring that armed rangers are a shout away.

What if I told you that you are more likely to die at the hands (ok, not hands, but proboscis) of a mosquito than in the jaws of a lion? What if you learned that chances of dying from the powerful constrictions of an African python or the venomous bite of a cobra are way less than the possibility of being killed by a snail?

In April this year, Bill Gates posted an infographic on his blog that illustrated 10 of the most dangerous animals to human beings. You would think that ferocious species such as sharks and lions would top the list. These fearsome carnivores did not even make it to this deadly list.

Instead, mosquitoes were identified as being the number one cause of death in the world, killing more people than the rest of the animals on the list put together. Here, the world’s most dangerous animals, ranked according to the number of deaths they cause in a year:

10: CROCODILES

For all their snapping jaws, sharp teeth, and fearsome reputations, crocodiles are at the bottom of the killer list, causing only 1,000 deaths in a year.

According to Pravda, a Russian online publication, crocodile attacks are virtually impossible to fight off.

Generally, the only way not to die from a crocodile attack is to… ummmmmh… stay well away from these monsters that live in both salt and fresh water bodies.

The largest of them has been known to grow to be 7.5 metres long.

9: TAPEWORMS

These are responsible for the deaths of around 2,000 people annually. They cause an intestinal infection called taeniasis and are found in either pork or beef.

In its minor form, taeniasis does not cause any noticeable health problems. However, in more serious forms, the disease manifests in the central nervous system, where it causes epilepsy.

8: ASCARIS

This large round worm has been found to kill 2,500 people every year because it causes a disease of the small intestine called ascariasis.

A person gets this disease by accidentally swallowing ascaris eggs either through eating uncooked food or by soil contaminated with human faeces.

In the intestines, the eggs hatch into large worms (the females can grow to over 30cm in length).

The WHO says that children are more likely to be infected than adults and that this happens mostly in areas with poor hygiene or nutrition.

The first sign of infection is passing worms in stool. More severe infections may lead to intestinal blockage, coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.

7,6,5: TSETSE FLIES, ASSASSIN BUGS AND FRESHWATER SNAILS

These seemingly innocuous creepy crawlies tie at positions five, six, and seven, each being responsible for 10,000 deaths every year.

Tsetse flies are known for the peculiar “sleeping sickness” (African trypanosomiasis) disease they cause in humans.

Data from the WHO shows that this disease occurs only in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where tsetse flies are common.

The disease is primarily transmitted through tsetse fly bites but mother-to-child transmission in pregnant mothers is also possible.

The first symptoms are bouts of fever, headache, and joint pains, while disturbances in the sleep cycle from which the disease gets its name come later. If untreated, it is mostly fatal.

Assassin bugs, also called kissing bugs, cause Chagas disease in humans. The WHO reports that over 10 million people are infected with the disease every year, most of them in Latin America.

In its initial stages, Chagas causes flu-like symptoms such as headache, muscle pain, and swelling on the bite area or the eyelids.

If left untreated for more than two months, the disease enters a chronic stage which graduates into severe organ failure and death, sometimes years after initial infection.

You now have one more reason to stay away from snails. These freshwater dwellers do not only repulse you, but are also the vectors of schistosomiasis.

They house the larvae of blood fluke which they release into rivers and ponds. These parasites burrow under human skin, where they grow into schistosomes that then lay eggs inside the body.

This causes the onset of intestinal schistosomiasis, characterised by abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and blood in the stool, or urogenital schistosomiasis, which causes blood in urine.

Advanced cases of the latter kind may lead to kidney damage and fibroids in the bladder and urethra — or, in extreme cases, even bladder cancer.

“In women, urogenital schistosomiasis may present with genital lesions, vaginal bleeding, pain during sexual intercourse, and nodules in the vulva. In men, urogenital schistosomiasis can induce pathology of the seminal vesicles, prostate, and other organs,” states a WHO report on the disease.

4: DOGS

Dogs might be man’s best friend, but they are responsible for over 60,000 deaths every year, according to the WHO.

Most of these deaths are as a result of rabies infections from bites, which are often fatal once they become symptomatic.

Although humans can contract rabies from other wild animals, 99 per cent of rabies incidents are caused by dog bites.

Rabies symptoms show after one to three months from the date of the bite and present in two forms: furious or paralytic rabies.

Furious rabies is characterised by excitable, hyperactive behaviour where death is caused by heart attack, while the paralytic form presents a more quiet death, where the patient slips into a coma and never wakes up.

The WHO says that most cases remain unreported due to poverty and misdiagnosis of the disease. Most deaths are reported in parts of Africa and Asia, where health care is poor and dog vaccination against the disease remains as low as 30 to 50 per cent.

To know if your dog might have rabies, look out for these symptoms: unprovoked biting, manic running, eating unusual items, and excessive salivating. It is, thus, very important to have your dog vaccinated against this killer.

3: SNAKES

A more conventional human killer is the snake, which has been found responsible for 50,000 deaths a year.

With over 600 species of venomous snakes in the world, it is no surprise that such a large number of humans is wiped out every year from snake bites.

Although Australia is home to most of the world’s most venomous snakes, most snake fatalities are reported in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

“Snake bite is primarily a problem of the poorer rural populations in these regions and affects mainly those involved in subsistence farming activities,” says a WHO report on neglected tropical diseases.

“Poor access to health services in these settings — and, in some instances, a scarcity of antivenom — often leads to poor outcomes and considerable morbidity and mortality.”

The report also says that snake bite deaths could be as high as 94,000 every year, while envenomings (introduction of venom into the body through bites or stings from venomous animals) could be as many as 1,841,000.

Snake venom is categorised into four main classes based on the effect it has on people’s bodies. They are cytotoxins, which cause local swelling and tissue damage, the haemorrhagins, which disturb the integrity of blood vessels and lead to incoagulable blood, hence causing internal or external bleeding, the neurotoxins, which cause neurotoxicity and lead to paralysis, and the myotoxins, which cause muscle breakdown.

2: HUMAN BEINGS

Second on the list of the world’s most dangerous animals is, surprisingly (or not), man himself, who kills an estimated 475,000 fellow human beings every year.

Although Bill Gate’s blog gave no further details concerning this cause of death, it is believed that major contributors to the figure must come out of human-to-human conflict.

In history, wars have amassed the largest numbers of human casualties, greater than any other phenomenon. Think about this for a minute: the Second World War alone killed over 10 million people.

While people have certainly become less deadly over the years, there has still been significant slaughter in war-torn areas such as Iraq, the Gaza Strip, Afghanistan, and, closer home, Rwanda.

But the most mass killings these days are attributed to murders, not genocide or wars. According to a report by the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime, 442,000 people fell victim to murder in 2012 alone.

From the study, the Americas top the list of the highest rates of intentional homicides in the world, at 161,865, closely followed by Africa at 134,881. Kenya alone contributed 2,761 deaths to the 2012 compilation.

1: MOSQUITO

According to the Gates’ blogpost, malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes, kills over 725,000 people every year.

However, the John Hopkins Malaria Research Institute puts the figure at over one million deaths every year, and this is thought to be closer to the truth.

The World Health Organisation reports that there were about 207 million cases of malaria in 2012, most of these among African children.

“Most deaths occur among children living in Africa, where a child dies every minute from (the disease),” states the WHO report.

The good news is that these mortality rates have been reduced by an estimated 54 per cent since 2000, and malaria is both preventable and curable.

The mosquito is, however, not a one-trick pony as it is also responsible for Dengue fever, which is thought to currently affect over 100 countries in the world.

WHO estimates that over 2.5 billion people worldwide are at risk of infection, which translates to about 40 per cent of the world’s population.

Currently, there are thought to be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year.

Unlike malaria, Dengue has no cure, but early detection and access to proper medical care lowers fatality rates to below one per cent. About 12,500 people die from Dengue fever every year, majority of whom are children.

The latest mosquito-borne disease is Chikungunya, which, according to the WHO, has affected over two million people in the last decade. Current Chikungunya infections have been estimated to be around 350,000.

Although no fatalities have been recorded and risk of transmission is relatively low, Chikungunya is characterised by debilitating pain concentrated in joints and muscles.