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It may surprise you just how many dangerous animals there are in the world. No matter where you live, from sub-Saharan Africa to the suburbs of Detroit, you’ve definitely crossed paths with one, whether you know it or not. They roam freely on the street, they rule the rainforest, they own the ocean. These dangerous beasts can even fly. But how will you be able to identify them? We searched the farthest reaches of the internet to bring you a list of animals that you should definitely watch out for if you value your safety.
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Anyone who has crossed paths with a Canadian goose will tell you that they’re incredibly territorial. These birds have been known to aggressively chase intruders.
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It has been rumored that swans are strong enough to break a human arm or leg with their wings. However, this is not true. While incredibly aggressive, swans are more prone to biting during an attack than breaking any limbs.
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While not aggressive, anteaters have dangerous 4-inch-long claws. According to National Geographic, with these weapons, anteaters can fight off even the most fearsome puma or jaguar.
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Dolphins are friendly and beautiful, but also incredibly dangerous. When provoked or agitated, dolphins can cause a lot of bodily harm to their attackers with their razor-sharp teeth and super-strong tail. Although limited in number, there have been a few dolphin-related human deaths in the past couple of years.
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Although they may look like shaggier dogs, wolves are not friendly pups. Every year, there are a handful of fatal wolf attacks across the world — though mainly in rural or wooded areas.
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Twenty people die every year from a horse-related death. These majestic animals have thrown, trampled, and paralyzed riders and bystanders when threatened.
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Monitor lizards are often kept as pets, but these exotic creatures have become an invasive species in the U.S., and they were never meant to be domesticated. In 2002, a man named Ronald Huff had his face, hands, and stomach organs eaten by the seven 6-foot-long Nile monitor lizards he kept in his home. Although they only attacked him after he was weakened by a staph infection, his boss reported that the lizards had physically harmed Huff in the past.
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Also known as the Israeli yellow scorpion, the deathstalker is one of the most dangerous species of its kind. A sting will not kill a healthy adult, but may kill a young child, an elderly person, or anyone with a heart condition.
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This particular kind of bee can kill you after multiple stings — regardless of allergy. Humans stung by these bees can expect inflammation of the skin, dizziness, headaches, weakness, edema, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Stings from this species have also been known to kill horses. Yikes!
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You may think deer are beautiful and sweet when you drive past them on the road, but due to how skittish they are — there are around 200 human deaths related to collisions between deer and vehicles each year.
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Man’s best friend? Or man’s worst enemy? In 2017 there were 39 dog attacks that resulted in human deaths, with the state of Ohio ranking highest in number of dog bite-related fatalities.
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Elephants are one of the most dangerous animals to humans in the world, due to their enormous size. But they are becoming extinct at a faster rate than they can kill anybody.
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These large-bodied, horned animals do not have a strong sense of sight. Anything can be perceived as a danger, since their eyes aren’t great at identifying what is or isn’t. These powerful animals use their lower incisors as weapons and their bodies as brute strength to knock other animals and even vehicles to the ground.
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If you ingest a tapeworm, you can develop symptoms ranging from nausea to headaches, cystic masses, and even seizures.
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This creepy crawly is typically found in South America — hence the name — and belongs to the genus Phoneutria, which means “murderess” in Greek. They are among the most venomous spiders on earth and a bite can be fatal without antivenin.
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This big boy is typically found in southern Africa. Terrifyingly, it has been known to eat or chew on people in their sleep. It can be pretty hard to notice that happening though, as their venom has a numbing agent that makes it difficult to feel their bite.
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A brown recluse spider was most recently responsible for the amputation of a woman’s leg after she received a bite from this vicious arachnid. Symptoms of a brown recluse bite include pain, a deep sore where bitten, fever, chills, nausea, joint pain, weakness, seizures, necrotic skin, and coma.
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Australia is home to a bunch of terrifying creatures, including the Sydney funnel-web spider. Considered to be the world’s deadliest spider, its venom can kill a human in just 15 minutes without an antivenin handy.
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There are 500 cone snail species, with the geographic cone being the most poisonous. Cone snails sting with a harpoon-like tooth that they propel forward to paralyze a victim’s body — including the diaphragm, which can result in death. They also live in beautiful shells to attract fish (which they eat). Be careful not to pick one up!
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These ugly-looking Australia-dwelling creatures are the most venomous fish in the ocean and when stepped on, they cause instant agony. Stonefish antivenin is the second most administered in Australia, so be careful where you step!
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The bull shark is the second most dangerous shark in the ocean. They are aggressive in nature and tend to hunt in packs.
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While not nearly as big a threat as depicted in Jaws, great white sharks are the deadliest sharks in the ocean. On average, there are 16 shark attacks in the U.S. every year, some of which are typically from great whites.
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This highly venomous snake is Africa’s longest venomous snake, reaching up to 14 feet in length. According to multiple outlets, it is also one of the most aggressive snakes in the world — and also one of the quickest, making it even more scary.
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Cape buffalos have killed more big game hunters than any other animal in Africa and are extremely dangerous. If they feel one of their calves is being attacked, they will attack the predator in a group. They are known for having a mob-like mentality.
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These pretty frogs are actually deadly. They are considered to be some of the most toxic animals on Earth by National Geographic. Their poison is used by the Emberá people of Colombia to coat the tips of their blow dart guns when hunting.
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These small, brilliantly colored, water-dwelling snakes have the second strongest venom of any snake. However, they’re considered less dangerous than many other kinds of snakes, due to their poor poison-delivery system.
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These white bears — who are quickly losing their homes — are the largest and most dangerous bears on the planet. However, they live in places with low human populations, making their attacks far and few between.
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Should you be stung by certain species of box jellyfish that live in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, the venom will kill you within two minutes. Enough said.
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African lions in the wild kill about 250 people each year in Africa. As befits their reputation, these big cats are definitely dangerous.
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The boomslang snake can open its mouth to an almost 180-degree angle when biting, meaning the fangs fangs can sink deeper into flesh. Its venom — a slow-acting type called a hemotoxin, causes victims to hemorrhage internally and is deadlier than the venom of a black mamba, based on testing on mice.
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The cassowary is the most dangerous bird in the world. It is also the third largest bird in the world, and it looks like a prehistoric creature. However, this wild bird is capable of killing and maiming humans with its sharp beak and enormous body.
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Baby puffer fish may be super cute, but adult puffer fish are super poisonous. Occasionally, their meat is consumed in Japanese restaurants, but if it’s prepared incorrectly, consuming puffer fish can result in paralysis and death.
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These highly intelligent, social animals are super-predators. They will attack people who appear hurt, sick, or weak in any way with their sharp teeth and claws.
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A monitor lizard species, the Komodo dragon is wildly poisonous. These enormous lizards have serrated teeth and deadly toxic bacteria living in their mouths. Ouch!
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Being bitten by a tse tse fly often results in the sleeping sickness — a tropical disease that causes fever, chills, pain in the limbs, anemia, extreme lethargy–hence sleeping, and death. Your chances of being bitten by this fly increase in sub-Saharan Africa.
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A bullet ant’s sting is 30 times more painful than a bee’s. While it doesn’t typically sting humans, when it does, it’s remarkable. According to the BBC’s Infinite Monkey Cage: "You start shaking. You start sweating… It goes through your whole body… Your heart rate goes up, and if you have quite a few of them, you will be passing in and out of consciousness. There will be nothing in your world apart from pain for at least three or four hours."
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Leopards are considerably more dangerous and unpredictable than their cat cousins, lions. Leopards kill humans when they mistake them for other animals. Many leopard-related deaths occur in India, where they occasionally prowl the streets.
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During the late 19th century, the “Champawat tiger” was responsible for 436 deaths in Nepal and India. Since then, tigers have been losing their habitats quickly and are being pushed into more urban areas, threatening the lives of humans.
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Leopard seals are just as dangerous in real life as they are in the animated movie Happy Feet. At the top of the Antarctic animal food chain, these curious animals are known for dragging humans below the water. They also have razor sharp teeth that they usually use to eat smaller animals (such as penguins) and fish. Not people.
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Yeah, it’s super cute, but the slow loris is actually deadly. They have toxic glands hiding in their elbows which they lick to lace their bites with poison. Although it’s fatal to other animals, it’s only dangerous to humans who are allergic.
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Another Australian creature, this snake is one of the most venomous in the world and also the fastest-striking. It can go from the strike position to striking and back to the strike position again in 0.15 seconds.
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It doesn’t have the most terrifying name, but the eastern brown snake is responsible for about half of the deaths from snake bites in Australia every year. Deaths happen within the span of four hours.
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These very pretty looking snakes native to South and Southwest Asia are nocturnal and typically eat mammals, birds, other snakes, lizards, amphibians, and scorpions. The saw-scaled viper is the smallest of the “big four” snakes that cause the most deaths in India.
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Slow in their movements but alert in their behavior, these common Indian snakes are among the deadliest in the world. (Don’t get too sick of snakes yet; there’s another one later on this list.)
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Although some dispute whether the black mamba or the inland taipan is the most venomous snake, it’s almost certainly the Inland Taipan. More toxic than any land or sea snake, this Australian snake is actually super shy, but when it encounters humans it is extremely dangerous.
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This super pretty octopus is actually super dangerous. It carries enough venom to kill 26 adults within minutes. The nearly painless bites don’t alert victims that they’ve been bitten until it’s already too late. They’re dead.
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Surprisingly, hippos kill around 3,000 people every year. But in a surprise twist of events, human are causing hippos to die out faster than they are killing us thanks to human settlements encroaching upon hippo habitats.
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Considered to be one of the strongest animals on Earth, saltwater crocodiles have the strongest bite of any animal on Earth. They are enormous in size and incredibly quick in speed, making it hard for any prey to escape them.
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Mosquitos are the most dangerous creature on earth. They carry diseases that can sicken, kill, and mutilate humans such as: the Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue fever, malaria, lympthaic filariasis, and West Nile virus.
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Surprise! Humans are the most dangerous animals in the world. We kill more other humans than all the other animals on this list combined. We pollute the environment, we overuse resources, we wage wars with guns and other weapons, and we eat and kill many animals that would be threats to us. We are the worst!