# Scariest animal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225 "2004-08-17T10:58:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/41 "2004-08-18T20:24:25Z")
Well, I wouldn’t want to run into a full grown one of these swimming in the local pond. [http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/index.htm?http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/turtles/Alligator\_Snapping\_Turtle/&2](http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/index.htm?http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/turtles/Alligator_Snapping_Turtle/&2) These guys are mean! Here in St. Louis I was at a picnic that had turtle races as one of the activities. People had brought little box turtles for the kids to race. Except one good ol’ boy from Ozark country who brought a small alligator snapper. The idea was to set the turtles in the center of a circle and whichever one got to the edge first won. When the dozen or so turtles were released by their owners, the snapper basically started grapping the box turtles and flinging them 10 to 15 feet in the air just as fast as he could. After creating this picnic mayhem (including crying children), it fled at surprising rate of speed out of the circle, heading for the woods, scattering the picnic participants in all directions, further adding to the mayhem. I almost pissed myself laughing. But on a serious note, these guys can get up to 200 pounds, have heavily armored spiked shells and can snap your arm off. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/42 "2004-08-18T20:45:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If men could do that, we wouldn’t need to vocalize either. If we could do that, we wouldn’t be _able_ to vocalize. Our pickup lines would be, like, _hunnn unn unthg unnunn chnunng?_ \ \ \ (Oh, and **BadBadger** , you must have missed [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5176807&postcount=14). But your link’s picture is better. :eek: ) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/43 "2004-08-18T21:04:19Z")
> [@BadBadger](#): > > Gotta agree with the spider thing, any. Cept maybe the really little ones cause you’d just feel stupid shying from them. > > I submit to you [CANDIRU](http://www.exile.ru/168/schoepenhauer_awards.html) > > This is the parasite that swims up your arse, or even up your stream of piss :eek: Wow, hey, not work friendly there. That’s the most ghastly picture I’ve ever seen. Almost [Rotten.com](http://Rotten.com) worthy… Still, this is the winner in my book. Any fish that goes in the arse and makes you have to get your bits cut off is scarier than being stomped by a hippo for sure… ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/44 "2004-08-18T21:20:19Z")
I’ve always thought it would be very scary to be attacked by a very large squid just the thought of those huge eyes and the tentacles pulling you to that beak sends a chill down my spine. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/45 "2004-08-18T22:07:32Z")
**Pool** Mesonyteuthis and archytheutis, scary? Archyteuthis is likely not particularly agressive and likely doesn’t visit the surface often. Mesonyteuthis is agressive. Rather than suckers, it’s tentacles are studded with swivelling hooks. The navies of the US and USSR have recorded mesonyteuthis attacking their ships. But scary? It’s not as if you’ll be swimming and look beneath you to see a great pale shape rising, pushing a chill current before it as it comes from sunless depths. A hundred foot long tendril, barbed with claws greater than any bear or lion’s, breaks the surface. You want to run, but you are mesmerized by the stare of it. The eyes are black, endlessly black, and each is the size of your head. A tentacle swiftly enfolds you. It is gentle, and hesitant like a new lover. Then, it tightens. Skin and muscle parts as the hooks enter you. You close your eyes and scream. Brine fills your mouth as it drags you under. You look to see ten small tentacles, moving in a strange dance. They part to reveal a cruel black beak. You are drawn closer. You’ve given up praying for escape. You watch the beak open and close. You prey you’ll drown first. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/46 "2004-08-18T22:43:33Z")
_Not_ a shark? I sense that we all agree that it is the shark, but are looking for better answers. Yes, I realize that if they attack a human it’s an accident, and they’ve gotten a bad reputation over the years, but still…how’d you like to be the the guy from [this](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/17/MNGPB89CQ41.DTL) article? Or even his buddy that was in the water next to him? I’ll stick with shark. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/47 "2004-08-18T23:10:43Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > _Not_ a shark? I sense that we all agree that it is the shark, but are looking for better answers. Shark never crossed my mind. The only answer I had before rat was homo sapiens. Outside of Saturday Night Live, sharks aren’t really a threat if you’re on land. This holds true for giant squids. Bears, wolves, komodo dragons can be similarly avoided. The Boyscout manual told us to properly store our food overnight so that bears didn’t eat it. It never mentioned bears eating us. Rats are damn near unavoidable. They hide in the holds of our ships, the basments attics and crawlspaces of our houses, and thrive in subways and stormdrains. The shark closest to my apartment is in a state aquarium. The closest rats have a thriving warren in the banks of a stream running between two of the apartment complexes parking lots. Do you know anybody who fears reaching into a box of crackers and being bitten by a bear, wolf, wolverine, or komodo dragon? Do you know anybody who fears reaching for a saltine and being bitten by an angry rat? Which animal helped spread the black plague? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/48 "2004-08-18T23:15:17Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > If we could do that, we wouldn’t be _able_ to vocalize. > > Our pickup lines would be, like, _hunnn unn unthg unnunn chnunng?_ \ \ \ Exactly. And with an 18-inch tongue, I suspect that would be good enough. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/49 "2004-08-18T23:24:06Z")
🆒 [http://www.textamerica.com/user.images.san/23/IMG\_366323/\_0804/TZ200804155449113.jpg](http://www.textamerica.com/user.images.san/23/IMG_366323/_0804/TZ200804155449113.jpg) :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/50 "2004-08-18T23:24:26Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Shark never crossed my mind. The only answer I had before rat was homo sapiens. Outside of Saturday Night Live, sharks aren’t really a threat if you’re on land. This holds true for giant squids. Bears, wolves, komodo dragons can be similarly avoided. The Boyscout manual told us to properly store our food overnight so that bears didn’t eat it. It never mentioned bears eating us. > > Rats are damn near unavoidable. They hide in the holds of our ships, the basments attics and crawlspaces of our houses, and thrive in subways and stormdrains. The shark closest to my apartment is in a state aquarium. The closest rats have a thriving warren in the banks of a stream running between two of the apartment complexes parking lots. > > Do you know anybody who fears reaching into a box of crackers and being bitten by a bear, wolf, wolverine, or komodo dragon? Do you know anybody who fears reaching for a saltine and being bitten by an angry rat? > > Which animal helped spread the black plague? All valid points, but the OP specifically stated > [@](#): > > **In its own environment** , what is the scariest animal? Bolding mine ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/51 "2004-08-19T00:00:46Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Which animal helped spread the black plague? fleas, the rats suffered the effects of plague as well Rats are actually quite intelligent social rodents, the domestic pet rat can be taught tricks much like a dog, and they _like_ people as far as sewer rats go, maybe it’s because i have 2 female domestic rats as pets, but i’d hazard a guess that they aren’t as bad as their reputation makes you believe ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/52 "2004-08-19T00:16:24Z")
**Mactech** Re Fleas I did say helped. Re Pets Dogs are intelligent and like people. Wolves and feral dogs are inteligent but they don’t tend to like people so much. Re Sewers I never said sewers. I said storm drains. A man who worked for the Philadelphia Water Department for over thirty years once explained to me the exact chemical processes in sewage which gave off a gas that killed everything but the cockroaches. Storm drains don’t handle sewage though. ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/53 "2004-08-19T10:09:22Z")
Hey, sorry bout not putting a warning on the link I sent yester. I’ll be more careful in future :o ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/54 "2004-08-19T14:24:32Z")
- - - I’d also go with deep-sea squids and fish. Clear skin and blood, bizarre proportions and luminescent spots–like H R Giger paintings come to life. No-place else I’d rather not go and animals I’d rather not meet first-hand. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/55 "2004-08-19T15:52:09Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > Crocodiles and/or alligators scare the bejeebus out of me. I think it is those reptilian eyes and ALL THOSE TEETH. What a nasty way to go - chomped down on by a gator and pulled down under the water. These scare the hell out of me! I saw on a National Geographic type show where a woman was wading in ankle deep water with her 2 little boys. She turned around and there was only 1 little boy! She didn’t hear anything. A diver found the boys body wedged into an alligator nest, waiting to provide supper for the new babies. And then there was that American Crocodile in Florida, it was like one of 3 remaining ones. It lived on a golf course and never bothered the golfers, and they considered him part of the scenerey. Then one day, a golfer gets ahead of his group, and that’s the last anyone sees of him until somebody decides to look inside the crocodile. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/56 "2004-08-19T16:13:01Z")
Whatsup DOC, No I did not have Architeuthis dux in mind as a scenario in which I would even see one would never occur I just think that squids are a weird and freaky looking things. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225/57 "2004-08-19T19:09:47Z")
[HIJACK] > [@hillbilly queen](#): > > I saw on a National Geographic type show where a woman was wading in ankle deep water with her 2 little boys. She turned around and there was only 1 little boy! She didn’t hear anything. A diver found the boys body wedged into an alligator nest, waiting to provide supper for the new babies. That’s just horrible. [/HIJACK] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-animal/260225.md?page=2)