A lot of people have nightmares about being attacked by a lion or a shark, however these happen once in a blue moon compared to animals that are less frightening. There are hundreds of animals smaller than our fingers but still have the ability to kill us. Read the list below about the TOP 14 deadliest creatures to reveal the fatal truth!

14. Sharks (7 deaths)

Length: 3.4 - 6.4m

Weight: 520 - 1100kg

Lifespan: 20 - 30 years

Every year, around 80 attacks are reported worldwide, but only 7 are fatal. There are 440 shark species discovered, but only three of them are responsible for attacks on humans. These are the great white, tiger- and bull sharks. Most of the attacks happen in the USA, while most of the fatal attacks were near Africa.

13. Wolves (10 deaths)

Length: 1.2 - 2m

Weight: 23 - 80kg

Lifespan: 6 - 8 years

In France nearly 7600 people were killed from 1362-1918. A study shows that most of the victims of wolves are under the age of 10 and they attack mostly women, as their hunting strategy is to attack weak and vulnerable preys. To survive a wolf attack, the strategy is the same as with lions, don’t act as a prey.

12. Lions (22 deaths)

Length: 1.4 - 2.5m

Weight: 130 - 200kg

Lifespan: 10 - 14 years

Most lions are afraid of humans and often chose to flee, but there is a possibility of a lion attack if you bother them in their natural habitat. Never forget that they are predators, but specialists say it’s better to fight than run in this case. Try to intimidate them by waving and clapping, but never turn your back.

11. Elephants (500 deaths)

Length: 5.5 - 6.5m

Weight: 2700 - 6000kg

Lifespan: 48 - 70 years

Although elephants eat between 149 and 169 kg food daily, they consume only plants. They are herbivorous, not like the other animals listed above, so they don’t see us as potential components in their dinner. That’s why they only attack humans if they are agitated.

10. Hippos (500 deaths)

Length: 3.3 - 5.2m

Weight: 1300 - 1800kg

Lifespan: 40 - 50 years

Don’t be so certain about lovely, gentle hippos that you see in movies and cartoons, because in fact hippos are extremely aggressive. Even their cute yawn and laughing voice are threat sings. A recent study states that they not only eat meat occasionally, but they even hunt wildebeests, elands and impalas, and it’s not rare among hippos to eat each other. Hippos don’t chase humans, except if they run into one of us on the way to the lake.

9. Tapeworms (700 deaths)

Length: 1 - 4m

Weight: 10 - 100g

Lifespan: 25 - 30 years

Have you ever thought about invisible bacteria and even animals living in the glass of water you are just about to drink? Well, it’s easy to get tapeworms in your gut even by eating or drinking something that contains their eggs. Tapeworms are flat worms that can live in your gut or worse, leave your intestines and form larval cysts in organs and body tissues. The former is called intestinal infection – consumed eggs and larvae become adult tapeworms. They can live there for 30 years and produce eggs. The latter - invasive infection- can cause allergic reactions and in severe cases, even organ transplant is needed. Other complications are digestive blockage and brain & central nervous system impairment.

8. Crocodiles (1,000 deaths)

Length: 2.5 - 5.2m

Weight: 200 - 1000kg

Lifespan: 60 - 100 years

From the 25 crocodilian species only half of them have been involved in any fatal attack. Lethal crocodile attacks mostly occur where large species (2.5 metre and above) are native, as smaller types are unable to cause serious damage on human body. Nile crocodile and Saltwater crocodile are the main species known as preying humans. More than half of their attacks are fatal. These species eat their victims, so they hunt for food, while the mugger crocodile kills for protection from potential threat.

7. Roundworms (4,500 deaths)

Length: 10 - 35cm

Weight: few grams

Lifespan: 1 - 3 years

Roundworms are parasites, which means they use the human body to live and reproduce. About 60 types of them can be found in human body, especially in the gut. You can get it similarly as tapeworms, but even transferred to your mouth from infected soil on your hand or some of them can get into the body through the skin. Adult worms can be 2 metres long and female worms produce 200 000 eggs daily. The complications of roundworm infection are intestinal blockage, duct blockage and nutritional deficiency.

6. Tsetse fly (10,000 deaths)

Length: 0.5 - 2cm

Weight: few grams

Lifespan: 1 - 4 months

These blood sucking insects spread the Human African Trypanosomiasis, a disease that is fatal if it’s untreated. People living in cities are in safe as long as they stay in the urban areas, as tsetse fly is only common in rural, sparsely populated villages in sub-Saharan Africa. That makes it a challenge for health organizations to find and help infected people. 65 million people are at risk of getting the HAT disease, and its incubation time is quite long, even years. Stage 1 symptoms are non-specific, so stage 2 can easily develop and parasites invade the central nervous system.

5. Assassin bug (12,000 deaths)

Length: 0.5 - 4cm

Weight: few grams

Lifespan: 1 - 2 years

Assassin bug or also known as “kissing bug” bites humans near the lips, giving a deadly kiss to the victim if they’re infected. They terrorize the south part of the USA, threatening with parasites in their feces that develops Chagas disease which damages organs and lead to death if remains untreated.

4. Freshwater snails (20,000 deaths)

Length: 2 - 10cm

Weight: few grams

Lifespan: 2 - 4 years

Here is one more creature that kills humans by spreading diseases, the Schistosomiasis in this case. Parasites abandon the body of these snails in the water and look for another body to invade. Once entered through the skin, they hide in blood vessels and stay there for decades. Complications occur in the human body when eggs start feeling the urge to return to the snail for completing their reproduction cycle and accidentally stuck in tissues, causing serious symptoms and even death in 10 percent of chronic cases.

3. Dogs (35,000 deaths)

Length: up to 120cm

Weight: up to 150kg

Lifespan: 10 - 13 years

Although attacks by dogs with rabidity is the biggest slice of the cake, we must acknowledge those cases when healthy dogs turn against their loving owners. Pit bulls and Rottweilers commit most of the attacks derive from being the biggest breed. Apart from that, smaller dogs also attack humans, especially if there are more dogs involved, as ‘pack kill instinct’ head them to bite. Even a scratch or saliva from an infected dog can also transmit rabies. The viral disease causes fever in the early stages, then confusion, lack of consciousness, violent movements and a difficulty of moving body parts properly are common symptoms of rabies. The disease stays latent for a couple of months in most of the times, but once symptoms present, survival is uncommon.

2. Snakes (100,000 deaths)

Length: 10cm - 8m

Weight: up to 200kg

Lifespan: 6 - 14 years

Snakes can be found almost everywhere on Earth, as they have over 3 000 species from which 600 are venomous. Snake venom consists of many proteins and enzymes to cause various symptoms. It’s such a relief that some of the most venomous snakes live in the Indian and Pacific Ocean without threatening humans because of their peaceful habits, but to scare you even better, Mother Nature created flying snake species instead. It’s widely known that snakes can open their mouth three times bigger than their head, so non-poisonous snakes kill their prey by squeezing it or swallowing it alive.

1. Mosquitos (750,000 deaths)

Length: 3 - 7mm

Weight: few grams

Lifespan: 10 - 60 days

Mosquitos definitely win this deadly competition with four times more kills than all of the other animals in this list together. Mosquito bites spread diseases like Malaria, Yellow fever and Dengue fever quickly and easily. Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite which is mainly spread by female Anopheles mosquitos between dusk and dawn. Malaria threatens over 100 countries, mostly in tropical areas. The disease causes death in hours or a few days after first symptoms ap-pear.

+1. Humans (440 000 deaths)

Height: avg. 176cm

Weight: avg. 70kg

Lifespan: avg. 70 years

It may surprise you, but we are almost the worst enemy of ourselves among all of the predators, parasites and horrors that exists on this planet. In Latin-American countries homicide is the leading cause of death among young adults, in Venezuela over two times more people die by murder than in cancer. Luckily, globally this rate is less than 1%.

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