Top 10 The Deadliest Creatures

Top 10 The Deadliest Creatures 

10. You might be surprised that frogs make it onto a list of dangerous animals, but at number ten we have the Poison Dart Frog, which lives in Central and South America. Although it is only the height of a paperclip it can produce enough poison to kill 10 adults. The frogs are brightly coloured to warn predators to leave them alone so although they are dangerous you are very unlikely to get attacked by one.

9. Don’t be fooled polar bears aren’t quite as cuddly as they look! They can grow up to eight feet tall that’s nearly two and a half metres. They generally have no fear of humans and have a reputation for being the only animal that would actually hunt humans for food. Luckily, however, they don’t come into contact with very many people.

8. At number eight we have that old horror film favourite: the Great White Shark. Sharks are amazing swimmers, far out stripping humans in the water. British swimmer Rebecca Adlington broke the world swimming record at the Beijing Olympics by swimming at an amazing speed of 3.6 miles per hour. But Great White Sharks can swim at up to 15 miles an hour around five times faster than the fastest human swimmers!
Great White Sharks have up to 300 sharp, serrated teeth. However, despite their fearsome reputation, most of the 100 shark attacks each year are not fatal. Researchers think that Great Whites are not actually trying to eat humans, but just biting them out of curiosity.

7.  At number seven it’s the Box Jellyfish, which lives in the sea north of Australia and around South-East Asia. Their tentacles can grow up to three metres long and each has 5,000 stinging cells that can release one of the world’s most deadly toxins.

6. At number six, we have the majestic African Lion. This beast is famed for its ferocity, so it may be a surprise that it is so low down the list and is actually less deadly than several other African mammals we’ve yet to encounter. Still, you would probably want to give a lion a wide berth if you met one at feeding time!

5. At number five, it’s the African Elephant. Surprising, isn’t it, that these muchloved animals cause more deaths on average each year than lions? Yet African Elephants can weigh more than four tonnes and young elephants especially can be aggressive. The biggest risk is being trampled by an Elephant, but their tusks can do a lot of damage too.

4. A surprise at number four: it’s the Hippopotamus, which also lives in Africa. Don’t be fooled by its chubby looks and lazy lifestyle, hippos can actually run pretty fast and can match a human’s speed over short distances.  Hippos can bite a canoe in half and they kill more people each year than any other African mammal. Females can be especially aggressive if you get between them and their babies.

3. At number three it’s the Saltwater Crocodile, which lives in Northern Australia and South-East Asia. This type of crocodile can grow up to five metres long! They will attack any animal straying too close to the edge of the water and often attack boats.

2. At number two it’s the Indian Cobra. It’s not the most poisonous snake in the world (the Inland Taipan, which lives in Australia, gets that prize). However it does have highly toxic venom and, because it feeds on rats and mice, it is much more likely to come into contact with people, making it the most dangerous snake for humans.

1. And so we come to number one the most dangerous creature on earth…Can anyone guess what it is? The answer: the mosquito. More dangerous than a shark, snake, or crocodile! It’s astonishing to think that while sharks those famously ‘dangerous’ animals kill on average twenty people a year, mosquitoes are responsible for more than a million human deaths every year. The reason that mosquitoes are so deadly is that they can carry diseases, particularly malaria. Fortunately, although mosquitoes do live in the UK, they don’t carry malaria here. But around the world malaria is one of the biggest killers it is estimated that a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria.

Although mosquitoes are so deadly, it is actually pretty easy for people to protect themselves against them certainly much easier than it is to protect yourself against an attacking shark, charging elephant or lurking crocodile. The best way to protect against malaria is a mosquito net.