Human beings are easily the biggest killers on the planet, killing not only other members of their own species but also of other species. The number of homicides alone is close to 500,000 per year. But what animal is the biggest killer of humans? It turns out that it is the mosquito, causing the deaths of about twice as many people as humans do. But the mosquito is not really the killer, it just serves as a vector for diseases. If one eliminates vector-carriers such a mosquitoes, flies, bugs, snails, and worms, the top four killers are in the order: snakes, dogs, crocodiles, and hippos.
Snakes, with 50,000 annual deaths, are no surprise. I did not expect dogs (25,000), which many of us view as friends of humans, to be second on the list, but I expect that they are there because there are so many of them and they live in close proximity with humans, so even if the probability of being killed by any given dog is very small, the total number can be large. Crocodiles come in third with 1000 and that also make sense, given that they have such a ferocious image.
But the real surprise was the hippo because although the number at 500 is just 1% that of snakes, the image I have is that of a placid animal that spends its time floating lazily in the water or lumbering around on land. One does not think of the hippo as being a dangerous animal, but that is probably because most of us never encounter a hippo in the wild. I will steer clear of them in the future and not try to make friends with them.
snakes, dogs, crocodiles, and hippos
They probably don’t count people who die tripping over cats.
Cows are surprisingly dangerous too, they kill one or two people a year in the UK.
Many more than that for cows if you consider the cardiac issues from overconsumption of high cholesterol red meat.
Wild dog packs number eight to fifteen, and domesticated dogs aren’t that far removed from wolves. It wouldn’t take that many feral dogs to become a hazard.
https://petsitting-arizona.com/understanding-dog-pack-hierarchy/
In Africa, conflicts are common because humans and elephants live in close proximity (this story of elephants destroying crops is from September 25th). Many large herbivores become highly aggressive towards humans because and have the size to back it up. Hippos attack on rivers as often as they do on land.
Injuries and deaths from elk and moose are few compared to other animals because of isolation and vast wilderness, but they can be just as dangerous.
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm%3Fadfg%3Dlivewith.aggressivemoose
Excuse the grammatical error. I missed that.
I recall that fact about hippos being mentioned quite frequently in nature documentaries. If I recall correctly, they can be highly territorial, they’re huge with massive jaws, and have a tendency to attack people boating down the river with no provocation.
Crocodiles have more sense than to try and eat baby hippos. I know there is a wildlife show that featured a mother hippo parking her calf within a huge amount of crocodiles in a drying up water hole. They didn’t even think about touching her calf.
Deer are responsible for many car crashes and resulting deaths in my locality. Every year has a report of a young buck attacking its own reflection, going through the glass doors, and ending up killing a homeowner who tried to shoo him back out of their cabin or house.
I remember going on the Jungle Cruise boat ride at Disneyland back in the late ’50s where the tour guide had to scare away the mechanical hippos with shots and explaining that hippos are very dangerous.
@DrVanNostrand:
Not only are hippos territorial… well, a lion dealing with humans acting threatening will usually realize that the best approach can be to back off and try again later because humans can be dangerous. Hippos, on the other hand, are just plain ornery, and tend to respond to threat displays with threats of their own.
They are also big (a ton and a half or so) and capable of running a lot faster than you might expect over short distances. You do not want to be in front of a hippo in a bad mood if you value your bones remaining intact.
I looked online and various sources claim that hippos can run as fast as 20-30 mph over short distances.
I knew that dogs were pretty high up in the “kills humans” thing. When dogs pack up, they will often stop behaving like friendly pets. I have been personally attacked by friendly pet dogs. These dogs had just killed 8 of my animals (llamas), and when I ran up to stop the bloodbath they turned on me. If I had not thought to bring my gun with me I would not be typing this right now due to being dead. One week after my incident, a woman in Colorado was killed by a pack of dogs when she went out to visit her horse. According the American Veterinary Medical Association, more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year just in the US. (link: https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/dog-bite-prevention ) Many people show up in the ER due to dogs, and sadly, it’s often children. Yes, dogs can be cute and friendly, but people should remember they are predators; they need to be trained properly and treated with respect.
I’ll also point out that dogs stay out of an awful lot of trouble when they are properly restrained. The woman in CO, and actually me, would have been fine if all those owners had kept their tame friendly pet dog at home, and not allowed the dog to run free and pack up with others.
Sorry for the long post. This one hits close to home for me.
Yikes Kestrel that must have been terrifying!
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.Keith Valachi DDS
I was talking about direct killing, usually by trampling, occasionally by crushing. Should you ever chance to be walking in the same field as cattle with a dog if the cattle start to come towards you DROP THE LEAD, your dog will be able to evade the cattle and they will chase it, giving you achance to exit the field unharmed. Most of the direct deaths in the UK are to dog owners who do not follow this advice and are trampled along with their dog.
I have a great deal of caution around bulls, but I’ve never felt any danger from the average herd of cattle. Being kicked by a cow is definitely something to be avoided, but rarely fatal. They are pretty easy to scare off by simply yelling and waving your arms around.
The pigs were the animals we were warned to stay clear of. A mother pig can be quite dangerous if she thinks her piglets are endangered, and the boars have razor sharp tusks that they use to slice your Achilles tendons so they can gore you at leisure.
This isn’t a surprise to people fascinated by ancient cultures. In Egypt, the hippo (which was a river god, but all animals were gods) was a fearsome beast, sort of equivalent in their culture to a dragon. Note in this depiction, the hippo second from right is casually munching on a crocodile.
@11:
Indeed. Most injuries and death attributed to dogs are more properly attributed to irresponsible antisocial arseholes who own them. I’ve even been in conversation with someone who stated that because they despise kids, if a child bothered their dog to the point the dog became aggressive, they’d deliberately allow the dog to attack the child. I did point out that they may be underestimating how much parents love their kids and the likely physical trouble they, the owner might find themselves in as a result of their violently antisocial behaviour in such a hypothetical situation, but at that point they lost all rationality and accused me of threatening their life. No great loss, there are other blogs on FtB to comment on. Dogs are dangerous, and anyone who doesn’t treat one out in public like a loaded shotgun shouldn’t be allowed to have one.
I once very early in my XC flying experience landed a paraglider in a field with cows in it. I was at the other end of the field, but they all came over to look. I balled up the wing and nonchalantly walked to the edge of the field and got over the fence, and they were calm and just inquisitive… but it was incredibly intimidating and if they’d been just a bit spooked I’d have been in real trouble.
have a tendency to attack people boating down the river with no provocation.
It is provocation. It’s their river. We just assume we can boat wherever we want.
I’m reminded of a somewhat tongue in check first aid guide for treating injuries sustained when scuba diving that consisted solely of:
Don’t touch it.
“I did not expect dogs (25,000), which many of us view as friends of humans”
Well, yes, someone used to Baxter the Wonder Dog won’t expect it.
However there are men (women less so) who need dogs to boost their ego. Remember the pitbull terrier? There is a reason it’s forbidden in many countries.