# Which animal has killed the most humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441 "2014-05-01T15:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/41 "2014-05-01T18:21:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > In one sense cows won’t qualify because they’re killing us when they’re inside of us. Isn’t that how AIDS is transmitted? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/42 "2014-05-01T18:36:23Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > OK, I’m being Mr. Pedantry Personified here, but since the OP used the term ‘animal’ in the singular I’m putting forward [The Champawat Tigress](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champawat_Tiger), thought to be responsible for killing about 430 people in the early Twentieth century. Thank you. So far, just about everyone has been interpreting the question to be “Which animal _species_ has killed the most humans?” But I couldn’t help wondering what the answer would be if you interpreted it as “Which individual animal has killed the most humans?” ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/43 "2014-05-01T18:38:13Z")
I want to nominate poisonous snakes in general, and cobras specifically. Range highly populated by humans. I’m gonna google a bit and see if I can find some good sources of informed speculation… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/44 "2014-05-01T18:48:45Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Add 300 more deaths to the death-by-cow total: > [Great Chicago Fire - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire) “It appears that agent 6373 has accomplished her mission.” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/45 "2014-05-01T19:08:28Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > You might want to take another look at what the [definition of an animal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal) is. > > Hint: includes insects. Dammit. That explains why my harvest of mosquitos out of my garden hasn’t worked out. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/46 "2014-05-01T19:26:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > T For instance I’ve see the claim that hippopotami are the biggest direct killers in Africa, despite the presence of lions and other large predators. Hippos are just really big, territorial, and don’t get scared away. Nope. Crocodiles are about the same (exact figures are hard to find for either) and snakes (and more specifically, puff adders, ) kill many more people directly. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/47 "2014-05-01T19:30:26Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The answer is mosquitoes, followed by humans, snakes and dogs. Holy Shit! :eek: Excluding humans, \*Dogs \*make the top 3?? 😕:eek: Bad Dog! _Bad Dog!_ :rolls up newspaper: ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/48 "2014-05-01T19:33:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > “It appears that agent 6373 has accomplished her mission.” Wouldn’t that be “Agent 31573”? She was a cow, wasn’t she? ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/49 "2014-05-01T19:37:25Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Since when did mosquitoes get reclassified as animals? I don’t want to belabor this point, but I’m reminded of a conversation my wife had with her co-workers many years ago. She was working in a bookstore at the time; all of her fellow employees were certainly educated and knowledgeable individuals. Somehow, the topic of conversation was birds, and when my wife happened to use the term “animal” in the course of referring to them, she was set upon by the others. “What do you mean? A bird isn’t an animal!” They were all quite insistent upon this point. My wife came home in a daze and asked if she was crazy or something. I had to assure her this was not the case. Uh, so now, as it was then… ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/50 "2014-05-01T19:43:10Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Holy Shit! :eek: Excluding humans, \*Dogs \*make the top 3?? 😕:eek: > > Bad Dog! _Bad Dog!_ :rolls up newspaper: We’re excluding carriers of disease. Any research into this claim shows that nearly all deaths by dog bites happen outside of industrialized countries through rabies. In the US, where dogs are the #1 pet, about 20 people a year die from non-rabies dog bites. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/51 "2014-05-01T19:52:14Z")
Look up a book called “The Man Eater of Kumoan” by Jum Corbett. He was a hunter who had to track down dangerous tigers and leopards in India, some who killed over 400 people. So I would say leopards, tigers, lions, and then wolves. Especially European wolves. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/52 "2014-05-01T19:54:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Nope. Crocodiles are about the same (exact figures are hard to find for either) and snakes (and more specifically, puff adders, ) kill many more people directly. The internets are full of noise on the subject, but most sites report 2900 deaths by hippo each year, 2500 or less for crocs, less than a 1000 for puff adders. If you lump together all snakes they may win. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/53 "2014-05-01T19:54:58Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > Wouldn’t that be “Agent 31573”? She was a cow, wasn’t she? Sorry, it was a [classical reference.](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283867582736480455/) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/54 "2014-05-01T19:55:33Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > We can just decide that ourselves eh? Ok, it has to be direct, not just carrying a disease. > > I’ll stick to cows. > > 1.4 billion people worldwide are obese. > [Obesity and overweight](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/) > > “According to the McDonald’s Corporation website (as of June 2012), McDonald’s has, “More than 33,000 restaurants around the world in 118 countries. In the United States, there are more than 14,000 restaurants…” In 2007 there were 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries so in the intervening years, one McDonald’s country was lost.” > [An Introduction to Geography](http://geography.about.com/od/lists/qt/mcdonalds.htm) That still doesn’t prove that the cow is a leading cause of obesity. In a regular McDonald’s hamburger, you get more calories (and sodium) from the bun than the meat: [http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product\_nutrition.sandwiches.256.hamburger.html](http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.sandwiches.256.hamburger.html) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/55 "2014-05-01T20:21:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The internets are full of noise on the subject, but most sites report 2900 deaths by hippo each year, 2500 or less for crocs, less than a 1000 for puff adders. If you lump together all snakes they may win. Not going to quibble about crocs, like I said numbers are not exact, but actual detailed research done recently gets **[somewhere](http://www.livescience.com/16044-snake-bite-burden-africa.html) in the [multiple tens of thousands](http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050218;jsessionid=66B81B3E56F5DABADB52D86E51BE334F)** [for snakes](http://en.ird.fr/the-media-centre/scientific-newssheets/374-snakebites-a-public-health-problem-in-africa), as the numbers have been shown to be grossly underestimated historically. And that means tens of thousands for puff adders, given the research cited, combined with the fact that puff adders are responsible for by far the majority of snakebite fatalities in Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/56 "2014-05-01T21:21:38Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yeah, but why single out cows, or hamburgers? Because the hamburgers are just a crafty vehicle for cheese (Also a cow-based assault on the human cardiovascular system) ---
**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:** [May 1, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/57 "2014-05-01T21:36:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > And that means tens of thousands for puff adders, given the research cited, combined with the fact that puff adders are responsible for by far the majority of snakebite fatalities in Africa. The Puff Adder probably takes first place in Africa, but it appears that snakebite is a worse issue in southern Asia generally due to the greater population density, particularly in India. For that reason I’d be inclined to stick with the aforementioned Russell’s Viper, simply because of the wide distribution in that area. Of course the Saw-Scaled Viper crosses into both continents and is another big problem. But on average I’d likely still favor the Russell’s, even with the lack of really good numbers. But granted it is a bit of a supposition. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/58 "2014-05-01T21:56:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not going to quibble about crocs, like I said numbers are not exact, but actual detailed research done recently gets **[somewhere](http://www.livescience.com/16044-snake-bite-burden-africa.html) in the [multiple tens of thousands](http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050218;jsessionid=66B81B3E56F5DABADB52D86E51BE334F)** [for snakes](http://en.ird.fr/the-media-centre/scientific-newssheets/374-snakebites-a-public-health-problem-in-africa), as the numbers have been shown to be grossly underestimated historically. And that means tens of thousands for puff adders, given the research cited, combined with the fact that puff adders are responsible for by far the majority of snakebite fatalities in Africa. If you include the whole suborder Serpentes then you have the top contender. I don’t know if all of Carinvora beat their record. But for one species Puff Adder isn’t going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/59 "2014-05-01T22:44:32Z")
My guess: [amoebas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoebic_dysentery). ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441/60 "2014-05-01T23:05:04Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Cows don’t kill humans in any appreciable numbers. [I wouldn’t be so sanguine.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMbXvn2RNI) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animal-has-killed-the-most-humans/687441.md?page=4)