When you think of killer animals, odds are you picture a lion, a shark, maybe an elephant. But those fearsome beasts are but players in the bigger picture of human demise. The ones that truly take a toll on Homo sapiens are diverse, often surprising, and impressively lethal. The 10 deadliest animals combined kill less than a million humans per year.
While any loss of human life is tragic, humans also have a part to play in the circle of life. We have contributed to habitat loss, and consume hundreds of millions of fish and livestock every day. Technically, humans are the most dangerous species to our own, accounting for nearly half a million annual deaths, according to a 2019 report. But setting aside our own issues, here are the creatures that lead to the most human deaths.
1. Mosquitoes — 700,000 People Per Year
An unrivaled executioner, the humble mosquito (its name means “little fly” in Spanish) is the only organism that kills more of us than we do. Published estimates for the total number of victims range almost comically, but as a vector for ravaging diseases like malaria (600,000 deaths alone), dengue fever, and yellow fever, there’s no doubt mosquitoes constitute a unique threat to humanity.
