Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/04/these-10-animals-kill-the-most-humans-annually.html
…
5 Likes
The fact that humans are only 2nd on that list is just amazing to me. But yeah, mosquitos are a PITA.
20 Likes
Mosquito and Humans and Snakes! Oh my!
17 Likes
WTF is an Assassin Bug?
Now I’ve looked them up and they are in the US and Canada? Ye Gods.
13 Likes
Yeah, that number seems incredibly low, especially factoring in ongoing wars and conflicts. That would mean at least 1/10 of all those human deaths occurred in the US, which has less than 1/5 the world’s population.
2 Likes
And half the world’s firearms. I would expect that number to be higher as well.
Well, hell!
List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia
By raw numbers, we are 6th, ahead of Columbia and behind South Africa.
By rate, 54th! Between Yemen and Zimbabwe.
I want to say, those are terrible neighborhoods to be in, but actually, I thought it would be much worse. 
12 Likes
They seem to be counting just “homicide”, not war, suicide, or tobacco, or any of the other ways we do in ourselves/others.
12 Likes
Oh what, the 300 species of Carnivora get broken down but all 4000 species of snakes get lumped together? That hardly seems fair to them. I bet no one type of snake deserves to be anywhere so high up on this list.
15 Likes
Ah! I was also counting traffic fatalities (over 35K in 2023 according to NTSB) while homicides in 2023 was just over 18,600. I wonder if they excluded manslaughter, which would also skew the numbers lower.
6 Likes
“Oh man, just imagine how many mosquitoes would have to bite you to suck all your blood out!”
“Ummm. . . the cause of death is from transmitting disease, not loss of blood.”
“. . . oh. . . right. Duh.”
9 Likes
Word; I expected us to be numero uno.
That said “bear” didn’t even make the top ten; go figure.
16 Likes
True, Bears are strong and dangerous, but they aren’t ambush predators like men.
13 Likes
Aw, do we have to break this list out by sex too? Well, I’m pretty sure the mosquitoes responsible are all female, so at least that part stays the same.
14 Likes
I guess they aren’t including delicious but undercooked animals on that list. The WHO estimates that 420,000 people die of food poisoning annually.
6 Likes
Aw, c’mon, Bears! This is downright em-bear-rassing for you. What are you even doing out there?
1 Like
15 Likes
Sharks don’t even make the top 10, despite having a whole week on Discovery Channel. 
10 Likes
that’s because sharks are cool.
i was looking for cows! those fuckers are downright murderous!
15 Likes
I suspect the death toll from cows would be even higher than mosquitos if you added deaths from eating beef (heart attacks caused by cholesterol-clogged arteries, for example.)
6 Likes
Meh, cholesterol from dietary sources isn’t nearly as strong of a risk factor as people think. At extremes, yes (think Supersize Me levels). But genetics is a much stronger factor for cholesterol levels and how our circulatory system responds, as well as sleep, stress, and smoking are much stronger risk factors for coronary artery disease.
Which is to say, that circles back to human causes.
15 Likes
