Most Dangerous Animals

Any animal can be dangerous at some point so it’s hard to determine the only one factor that would help us to define which animals are the most dangerous. I can consider even my own cat dangerous but in no way it can be compared to some beast like a bear. Today we’ll be speaking about mammals and in the next posts we’ll also research the most dangerous animals of other types as well as insects and will make a summary of the most dangerous animals in the world.

Animals can get angry when protecting their kids or territory or they can be hungry, or they they can be simply aggressive by nature. The bigger the animal is, the more dangerous it is and this combination with aggression is the factor what we’ll consider one of the main in the post today. Of course, we’re also taking into account the fatality statistics that sometimes as we’ll see does not depend on the the size of the animal at all. 

The Wild Boar

Lives in: all around the world

Responsible for: no definite stats

Wild boars live in groups containing around 20 animals. They eat almost anything they come across, including grass, nuts, berries, carrion, roots, tubers, refuse, insects, small reptiles and even young deer and lambs. The animals are pretty big and can weight around 150-200 kg.

If surprised or cornered, a boar can and will defend itself and its young with intense vigor. The male lowers its head, charges and then slashes upward with his tusks. The female, whose tusks are not visible, charges with her head up, mouth wide, and bites. Such attacks are not often fatal to humans, but may result in severe trauma, dismemberment, or blood loss. The roars get very aggressive only when wounded and then they are most likely to kill.

Photo credit

Photo credit

The bear

Lives in: North America, Canada, North Pole, Russia.

Responsible for: an estimated 5-10 fatalities a year.

We all have seen bears on the pics but meeting them in real and on their territory can lead to the death, the polar, black and grizzly varieties are deadliest. Bears are big animals that can swim, run fast ( up to 50 km/h), climb the trees and they eat everything from berries to meat. Though usually they are afraid of people, they can become very aggressive if being hunted, protecting their kids and just coming to your camp to get food.

If you faced the bear this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll attack you. Sometimes it can just demonstrate that it’s attacking but if you see the bear running to you and there’s no place to hide or there’s no the tree to climb, don’t turn away to run and don’t show you’re scared. Look at his eyes as long as you can, the bear may turn away at the last moment. You can shout and if you have a gun you can shoot into the air. Don’t shoot the bear if you are not sure this will kill him. The wounded bear is much more dangerous and the animal becomes fearless.

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

The Rhino

Lives in: Africa and India

Responsible for: an estimated 12-14 fatalities a year.

Rhinos are big, heavy, non predictable and not very peaceful animals. They can easily trample or gore any creature around that they consider dangerous or annoying. Being very strong and heavy (up to 3.5 tones) they can cause serious destructions. Back in 1928 a mature rhino collided 2 wagons from the rails and disappeared to the bushes without any injuries. Rhinos are pretty quick and can speed up to 30 km/h

If you see the rhino, try not no annoy him. In most cases it will sidestep and let you go without paying any additional attention to you. The rhinos are pretty blind and male rhinos can take your car for a female, so if you see the rhino running to your car drive away as fast as you can.

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

The hippopotamus

Lives in: Lakes, rivers, wallows – in fact any water – in Africa.

Responsible for: an estimated 100-150 fatalities a year.

At the first glance hippos look clumsy, awkward and lazy but that’s not the case. These animals are considered among most dangerous in the world. They weight about 3-4 tones and their bodies are about 3.5 meters long. If you wounded them or occasionally turned out to be on their territory next to them and there’s a hippo baby, most likely you’ll be killed. They can trample the invader or cause fatal wounds with their massive tusks. They can turn over a small vessel or bite through the lining with their teeth. Hippos can run pretty quickly, about 35 km/h on the land so there’s no chances you can run away.

The Cape Buffalo

Lives in: Africa

Responsible for: an estimated 200 fatalities a year.

Also known as the African buffalo they are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They do not charge at humans for fun but they see the man as the predator and start fighting. According to stats, more hunters were killed by the buffalos than by lions so it’s a good point not to come close to the animals and let them feel safe for your own sake.

The Elephant

Lives in: Africa and India.

Responsible for: an estimated 300-500 fatalities a year.

Elephants are known as wise and friendly animals, but the true is that they kill an alarming amount of people every year. They are unpredictable creatures, and have been known to kill zookeepers who have been with them for as long as 15 years. Considering their huge size – the average elephant weighs over 6 tons – they trample and gore using their fearsome tusks and are capable of causing untold amounts of devastation.

If you think that you’ll be attacked by the animal, don’t startle at the beast. Make a loud noise or shout and see if there’s a big tree to climb around.

Big Cats

Lives in: Africa, North America and India

Responsible for: an estimated 800 fatalities a year.

Big cats such as lions and tigers will not usually attack the humans. But if they are very hungry and you are the only meat around, they can hunt you for food. Do not provoke the lion to attack and don’t show your fear. To avoid a heinous attack by a big cat, stare them in the eye and don’t look away. Don’t turn and run, you can’t overrun them in any case. If you have a coat, open it to appear larger as they are unlikely to attack a larger animal.

Old lions and tigers are extremely dangerous as they can’t hunt antelopes and other “quick food” while people are perfect and defenseless victims. The only way to stop the old animal from hunting people is to kill it. The history knows the case when 2 old lions killed 28 people that were building the railroad from Mombasa and Nairobi.

The Rat

Rat is the most dangerous mammal for humans, the potential killer of thousands of people. Rats are carrying more than 20 pathogens of various infections, including bubonic plague (Black Death), transmitted to humans by the bite, leptospirosis, relapsing fever, epidemic typhus etc.