Are wild animals really that dangerous?

There’s nothing wrong with being scared of wild animals because I know that if I came face to face with a great white shark id probably poop a little, but as scary as some wild animals look, is there any real reason to fear them? Unfortunately, there’s no right answer because how dangerous an animal is depends on the situation you are facing them in and a whole range of other factors, but here are a few examples to get a better understanding of what it is worth being scared of.

Bears

These giant teddy bears may look scary but their size is no indicator of how aggressive they are. Sure if an angry grizzly bear got hold of you then you’d be in a lot of trouble, but fewer people are killed in the US each year by bears than they are by vending machines. There are around 750,000 black bears in the United States yet there’s only one person killed by them each year, compared to humans who commit one murder per 16,000 people, making humans almost 47 times more likely to kill than a black bear.

Snakes

Even though snakes can be extremely dangerous, there are many places in the world you will never see them in the wild. In the UK the last snake death was in 1975 when a 5-year old was bitten on the ankle in Scotland, but today the vast majority of the population will never see one in the wild. Other countries aren’t quite so lucky and Southeast Asia has the highest rate of deaths caused by snakes by a long shot, but even with all the deaths combined they still only kill around 50,000 people each year globally, which may sound like a lot but is still far from the 650,000 deaths caused each year from falling.

Wolves

One of the favorite animals to be featured on the banners of ancient houses, a true predator with sharp fangs and lightning speed. These creatures may be impressive but due to how rare they are, you’re much more likely to be killed by literally anything else than one of these beasts. There is on average, one death caused by wolves globally every five years, and these are almost always people who found themselves stranded in far northern Canada or Russia.

Rhinos

If you’ve never seen a rhino before, you would be forgiven for thinking they could be extremely dangerous, with their huge stature and a giant horn on their nose, but in reality, they are very shy creatures and prefer to run instead of fight. There doesn’t seem to be an average deaths per year statistic for humans killed by rhinos because attacks on humans are incredibly rare, and deaths seem to be isolated incidents instead of a steady average. If you go out into the African wilderness and drive through rhino country, you’re more likely to die from the drive than the animals.

Hippos

The hippo is by far the most dangerous animal on earth in terms of physical capabilities but still doesn’t cause as many deaths as certain other creatures. The mosquito causes the most deaths each year, with a range of between 500,000 and 750,000 people, far above the hippos average of 500 people. All the hippo-caused deaths are exclusive to Africa, except for the occasional zoo accident, and the majority of those deaths are from people who tried to get too close for a better look or poachers hunting them. The hippo can outrun any human over short distances and has thick skin and layers of blubber that make it almost bulletproof to small-caliber weapons. They trample crocodiles to death and bite freshwater sharks clean in half, combined with their short tempers and aggressive nature, these are one animal to avoid at all costs.

Bees

In the US there are around 100 deaths from bee, wasp, and hornet stings each year, with most of these being caused by allergic reactions in the victim causing them to go into anaphylactic shock. The CDC ( Center for Disease Control) reports a general average of 62 deaths per year in the US alone, with the global average being less than 1000 people. It’s actually quite difficult to get killed by most types of bees if you aren’t allergic, and running for a long enough distance usually does the trick. The country you’re in is the biggest factor in how at-risk you are, with Africa and India being the most at-risk areas from bee deaths and also the least supplied in antidotes.

Sharks

The average global death rate from sharks is officially four people, but there are situational incidents that can occasionally increase this number. In the US there is an average of 16 shark attacks each year, but only one death occurs every two years. In reality, they are just giant fish and simply not interested in attacking people for food, mostly because they may not recognize them as food after living off fish since they were born. About 75% of all shark attacks on people are unprovoked, with the shark usually just having a quick bite before retreating, and the other quarter of attacks are from people who purposely got a little too close.