# Killer beasts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575 "2004-04-06T16:37:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDS)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/1 "2004-04-06T16:37:28Z")
Which (non-human) vertabrates kill the most humans world wide? I’m guessing poisonous snakes and crocodiles are #1 and #2. I know sharks aren’t vertabrates, but how many do they kill? For mammals, maybe domestic dogs? I keep hearing, “Hippos kill more humans than any other African animal.” I don’t quite believe it. Does anyone know a reference source? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/2 "2004-04-06T17:02:03Z")
I’d believe that hippos are among the most dangerous. They are highly territorial and have huge, strong jaws. BTW, sharks are vertebrates. What makes you think they’re not? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/3 "2004-04-06T17:21:41Z")
I’d expect it to be snakes. India has a particular problem, no exact figure can be arrived at but estimates go as high as 20,000. India has a dense population due to its farming methods, add to this a tendency not to wear shoes or leggings, and that India is a perfect habitat for snakes, and poor and remote medical services and a high death toll is not at all surprising. Add in fatalities from other third world nations, especially out the far east and you must surely get a high number. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/4 "2004-04-06T18:59:43Z")
I susspect the OP is thinking about the fact that sharks have cartiligeous (sp) bones, this does not discount them as being vertebrates, just vertibrates of a very ancient lineage. Does the OP include vertibrates that form part of a biological chain of creatures that form a disease vector? In such cases maybe the birds carrying flu viruses, or the frog that forms part of the life cycle of one of the bacterial killer diseaeses ( can’t remember the details too well, it was a long time ago I learnt this). Please SDMB biology geniuses expand on my frog memory, or tell me I’m wrong in that memory. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/5 "2004-04-06T19:04:50Z")
No vertebrate comes even close to what kills the most people in the world. The mosquito of course. ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/6 "2004-04-06T19:09:45Z")
I think I heard that deer are pretty high up there. They kill a lot of people when they are hit by cars. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/7 "2004-04-06T19:27:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I think I heard that deer are pretty high up there. They kill a lot of people when they are hit by cars. Thank God deer don’t have access to flaming pitch tossing catapults! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/8 "2004-04-06T19:41:56Z")
In any case, it’s [not sharks](http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/Statistics/2003attacksummary.htm) > [@](#): > > Four fatalities occurred in 2003, a total similar to the three recorded in 2002 and four reported in 2001, but much lower than the 11 fatalities in 2000. The 7% fatality rate was significantly lower than the 1990’s decadal average of 13%. Single fatalities occurred in Australia, California, Fiji and South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/9 "2004-04-06T20:05:07Z")
I know that in Yellowstone, the deadliest beast is the bison, and that bison, elk, and moose all have higher death tolls than the bears. Apparently, people know that the bears are dangerous and keep a safe distance, but folks are always doing their part to cleanse the gene pool by doing things like sitting their kids on top of the bison for the cute photo-op. Contrary to popular belief, just because they’re herbivores does not mean they’re safe. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/10 "2004-04-06T20:11:21Z")
> [@BDS](#): > > I keep hearing, “Hippos kill more humans than any other African animal.” I don’t quite believe it. > > Does anyone know a reference source? You could always get the [straightdope on hippo attacks](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhippo.html). Getting accurate statistics for deaths in remote parts of Africa is going to be impossible, but most people seem to agree that hippos “win” this particular contest. If you want a comprehensive source of reported animal attacks, then just go [here](http://www.igorilla.com/gorilla/animal/) - and check out the story of the killer rabbit :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/11 "2004-04-06T20:29:21Z")
Worldwide, venomous snakes in general. More specifically Russel’s Viper in South Asia is probably the reigning world champ - active at dusk, cryptic, likes cultivated areas, quick to bite if trod upon and has some nasty venom. The last good study of worldwide snakibite mortality was done 50 years ago, when they claimed about 40,000 a year. One can imagine the total today is probably a fair bit lower, even with higher population densities in places like India. However it is still going to easily exceed the rate for any other vertebrate by a large, large margin. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/12 "2004-04-06T20:34:09Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > The last good study of worldwide snakibite mortality was done 50 years ago, when they claimed about 40,000 a year. > > - Tamerlane That was for ALL venomous snakes, not the Russel’s Viper in particular. By the way that mortality was overwhelmingly concentrated in Asia. However Latin America and Africa do get their share as well. In the U.S. there are about 1,000 -2,000 bites a year, with very low overall morbidity ( fewer than 10/year ). My ex-roommate’s brother personally contributed four of those bites to the stats 😛 - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/13 "2004-04-06T20:50:42Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > The last good study of worldwide snakibite mortality was done 50 years ago, when they claimed about 40,000 a year. If anyone can get hold of _Chippaux J-P. Snake-bites: appraisal of the global situation. Bull WHO 1998_ it apparently estimates 100,000 deaths per year in Asia these days. ---
**Author:** ![BDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDS)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/14 "2004-04-06T20:57:00Z")
Thanks for the feedback, although nothing appears settled. The mosquito simply carries germs, like rats used to during the bubonic plague. That disqualifies birds, too. The West Nile Virus is a virus, not a bird. If we’re counting invertabrates, presumably bacteria win out (which is why I disqualified them). I think the death tolls in Yellowstone are probably too low to be statistically significant. Interesting hippo information, although not particualrly persuasive. I’m sure tigers and lions used to kill fairly many people, but there aren’t that many left. I believe that I’ve seen somewhere that dogs kill 20-30 Americans a year, which is probably as many as are killed by any other vertabrate in this country. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/15 "2004-04-06T20:58:54Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Thank God deer don’t have access to flaming pitch tossing catapults! 🙂 Maybe not in _your_ neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/16 "2004-04-06T21:15:13Z")
> [@](#): > > I believe that I’ve seen somewhere that dogs kill 20-30 Americans a year, which is probably as many as are killed by any other vertabrate in this country. [As noted, above, Bambi is the most lethal sumbitch in North America (following humans, of course).](http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/25/coolsc.critters.attacks/) (Of course, their big brown eyes and their _kamikaze_ approach to inflicting damage gets them excused a lot.) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-beasts/238575/17 "2004-04-06T21:29:06Z")
> [@BDS](#): > > I believe that I’ve seen somewhere that dogs kill 20-30 Americans a year. According to the [Center for Disease Control](http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/prevguid/m0047723/m0047723.asp) > [@](#): > > From 1979 through 1994, attacks by dogs resulted in 279 deaths of humans in the United States So, that’s about 18 per year.