Super fact 98 : The deadliest animals in the world are mosquitos, snakes and dogs. Mosquitos kill an estimated 760,000 people each year. Snakes kill an estimated 100,000 people each year. Dogs kill an estimated 40,000 people each year. By comparison humans kill on average 600,000 other humans annually due to wars and violence.
The first time I heard that the deadliest animal in the world was the mosquito I was surprised. After I heard that the reason was all the diseases that mosquitos spread, such as malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever, it made more sense to me. I recently learned that snakes kill 100,000 people every year. It surprised me because it seemed like a lot to me.
I was also surprised to learn that our best friends the dogs, come in as number three on the list of deadliest animals, at an annual kill rate of 40,000 people. Even though scorpions are not at the top of the list they kill 3,000 people annually, while spiders only kill 50 people. We have both venomous spiders and scorpions where I live, but I’ve been worried about spiders, not scorpions. It is also surprising to me that sharks only kill about 6 people per year. I guess my super fact 98 is a collection of facts regarding “killer animals” rather than one specific fact. I am hoping that at least one of the facts will be surprising to you.
I should mention that the numbers vary over time and different sources give different statistics. Therefore, the numbers should be seen as ballpark numbers and not exactly. However, Our World in Data is considered one reputable and highly reliable data source that is frequently cited in scientific journals, and access is free.
Mosquitos Kill 760,000 People Each Year
Mosquitos are the biggest killers of humans by far. 80% of those deaths are the result of malaria which is transmitted and spread by the Anopheles mosquito. We have made progress against malaria, and it used to be worse. In the 20th century 150 to 200 million people died from malaria, which is more than one and half million people per year. Smallpox killed 300 million people in the 20th century, but it was entirely eradicated by 1977 thanks to the smallpox vaccine. The two existing vaccines for malaria are relatively recent (2021 & 2023), not as effective as the smallpox vaccine was, and not yet as widely used, which is one reason malaria is still a major health concern.
In addition, mosquitos spread other diseases killing more than 100,000 people every year. Dengue fever, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, are a few of the more dangerous mosquito borne diseases.
Snakes Kill 100,000 People Each Year
The death toll from venomous snakes is uncertain but it is likely to be 100,000 deaths per year. The World Health Organization estimates that snake bites kill between 81,410 and 137,880 each year.
The most venomous snake in the world is the Inland Taipan. Its venom can kill over 100 people in a single bite. However, due to its shy nature and remote Australian habitat, no human deaths have been attributed to it. The most dangerous snake to humans, in terms of fatalities, is often considered the Russell’s viper, responsible for 25,000 deaths annually. Other snakes that kill several thousand people every year are the saw-scaled viper, the common krait, the Indian cobra in Asia, and the black mamba.
Dogs Kill 40,000 People Each Year
Even though there are some large and dangerous dogs, most deaths caused by dogs is from rabies resulting from being bitten by a rabies infected dog. See the horror movie Cujo.
Freshwater Snails, Kissing Bugs, Sandflies, Roundworms are Mass Killers
Other critters that kill thousand of people every year are freshwater snails, kissing bugs, sandflies, and roundworms. These critters kill people by infecting them with dangerous parasites or as in the case of roundworms, being a dangerous parasite.
Scorpions Kill 3,000 People Each Year but Spiders Only 50
I was at an overnight outing with the guys at work. I had just moved to Texas. We were standing or sitting around the fire drinking beer when I asked a question. I’ve heard about the scorpions in Texas, but I’ve never seen any. How common are scorpions?
A coworker named Gary told me to turn around, so I did. Behind me was a tree, and the tree was covered by crawling scorpions. Well, I was glad I did not lean on it. The scorpions I saw were the striped bark scorpion.
The reason scorpions kill a lot more people than spiders is that some scorpion species have a very potent and deadly venom. Some spiders are dangerous too, but spiders tend to have less potent venom.
The Big Cats kill only 300 People Annually and Sharks Only 6
Would you prefer to stay in a room with a Tiger or with a mosquito? Mosquitos kill 760,000 people every year, whilst Tigers only kill a handful of people every year. However, Tigers don’t kill less people than mosquitos because they are less dangerous than mosquitos. The difference is exposure. Mosquitos are everywhere but not Tigers. If Tigers were as common as people and everywhere people were, the numbers probably would be different.
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To see the other Super Facts click here
Super Facts 
Am I correct in interpreting the initial figure as showing the second most lethal animal are human beings?
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Yes if you count human as an animal. I should say that the numbers for humans killing humans have gone a lot in modern times. It used to be that humans killed several million other humans every year.
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Thank you, Thomas, for this wonderful post. It is most useful in demystifying some of the myths people believe about killer animals. I knew about mosquitos, humans and snakes. I also know that hippos are the deadliest animal in Africa and kill a lot more people than cats. Its still comparatively a low number. The information about scorpions is most interesting.
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Yes I certainly expected you to know a lot about this subject. There were a few surprises for me in this list. I agree, that scorpions were that dangerous, much more dangerous than spiders, surprised me.
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Yes, I knew scorpions were dangerous but I thought spiders and scorpions were about equally venemous.
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I thought so too. I fact I thought some spiders like black widows were more venomous than scorpions, but as it turns out some scorpion species are deadly, and black widows are not as bad as their reputation.
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Yes, I see this. I think spiders are vilified by the media and public. Just like hyenas. I blame Disney for the bad press about hyenas which are actually amazing animals.
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Oh yes I think you are right. You know these animals really well. I was just at your LatinoUSA looking at the painted dogs, and I thought they looked like Hyenas but I know they are very different.
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Wow, how interesting! I have to say, freshwater snails would not have occurred to me as a cause of death. I never considered the parasites they carry. Mosquitos are horrible; when I went to Mauritius to visit family, I always slept under a net to avoid them. Dogs attacks have been in the news lately here in the UK, mainly due to banned breeds, I think.
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Yes, there are a lot of critters with dangerous parasites and like you say mosquitos are horrible. They spread so many diseases. I mentioned malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis, but there are also zika, chikungunya, and the West Nile virus, and more. Some dogs are dangerous. Many people don’t want to hear it, but some breeds are also more dangerous. It is largely up to the owner though. However, the biggest threat comes from rabies infected dogs roaming around.
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I’m surprised about the dog numbers but not the mosquito numbers. I didn’t know about the snails and never would have thought of them. Mosquitoes are awful and in some areas of the world could almost carry you away!
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Yes it is surprising how many dangerous mosquitos there are in some places of the world. In Sweden, where I am from, there are a lot of mosquitos, especially in the north. Here in Texas where I live now, there are less mosquitos but some of the carry dangerous diseases. Rabies (chiefly from dogs) is a big problem in developing countries.
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Speaking of smallpox…
The American Revolution (1775-1783) coincided with a continent-wide smallpox epidemic that killed an estimated 130,000 people between 1775 and 1782. History doesn’t record Ground Zero for the initial outbreak, but the viral disease (which has a 30% mortality rate) caused General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, to adopt inoculation…a measure that wasn’t embraced wholeheartedly by many inhabitants of the 13 colonies along the Eastern seaboard.
The disease wasn’t confined to the Atlantic coastline. It spread westward to other parts of North America all the way to the Pacific Northwest. Every Native American tribe was affected; in present day Washington state, 11,000 of the 37,000 natives died from smallpox before the epidemic ran its course in the early 1780s.
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Thank you so much for the interesting information Alex. It is interesting inoculation of smallpox existed before Edward Jenner’s invention. Apparently it was invented by the Chinese.
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Interesting! I also recently learned the mosquito fact, but I wasn’t familiar with the rest of this list.
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Thank you Diana. Yes I think Our World in Data has a lot of interesting and well researched data and statistics.
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Doesn’t surprise me! Humans need a few more natural enemies.
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Yes, we certainly don’t have many, except for mosquitos and snakes.
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Eish! Is all I can say (I don’t like looking at scary snakes).
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Me neither. Snakes scare me, even the non-venomous ones. Once when I was showing my daughter a central Texas whipsnake (and holding it in my hands) it crawled in under my shirt sleeve. It was a thin snake but very strong. I was able to pull it out and then I put the rascal back in its jar, but I had to fight it. It didn’t want to go back in. I felt very uncomfortable during the entire incident but my daughter just sat there and watched me being a clown.
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I have a feeling that the shark death count might be higher lately. Or maybe it’s just shark attacks I’m thinking of and not necessarily deaths. Scary stuff anyway.
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That is certainly possible. When the number is as low as 6, it probably varies a lot from year to year. Like the article (the Our World in Data article) mentions. The numbers vary. What you should consider is the magnitude. Is it 6 or 60 or 600? Is it 10,000 or 100,000? The numbers are not exact and varies from year to year.
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Fascinating research, Thomas. Thank you! I grew up in rattlesnake country and have a healthy fear of that creature. After moving to the Northeast, however, my kids and I contracted Lymes disease–miserable for years. The ticks did not kill us, but they tried.
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I am so sorry about the ticks. Lyme disease is terrible. Our niece’s husband contracted lyme disease and he was sick and miserable for more than year. Yes rattlesnakes are very dangerous. Whenever we go out on the Texas countryside we have to watch out for rattlesnakes. We don’t have rattlesnakes in the city (Dallas) but we have some cottonmouth.
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I have only known one person negatively affected by either- malaria contracted in Vietnam. But this piece broadens my spectrum of awareness for sure.
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Yes malaria is common in developing countries. I had a collegue he contracted malaria on a vacation to Indonesia. When I visited India on a business trip I had to eat medicine to prevent malaria, but I am not sure how effective it was. However, I did not get malaria.
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Sobering statistics.
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Yes thank you Cindy
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I can see the movie title ‘Attack of the Killer Snails’. That one really surprised me. Interesting list Thomas
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Thank you so much Maggie. In fact, there is a horror movie called slugs about killer slugs.
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🤣🤣 Great minds 😊
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I was surprised about dogs but it makes more sense with the rabies infection. It’s the disease itself rather than them.
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Yes you are right Sara. It is especially in developing countries where stray dogs may get infected with rabies, bite people, and then the health systems are poor and people don’t get the vaccines and other treatment before symptoms develop.
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That’s truly awful for the dogs and people. 😦 And there’s a lot of homeless dogs in 3rd world countries too.
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Yes unfortunately you are right. I also feel awful for both the dogs and the people who get rabies.
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Hopefully they can have better resources in the coming years to help prevent and treat it.
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Yes hopefully. Apparently the vaccine works but you have to get on time, or it is 99% chance of death.
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True it would need to be asap
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Yes you are right. If you get the vaccine promptly (best if within 24 hours) it works nearly 100% of the time. If you already have symptoms it is typically too late. Without the vaccine death is 100% certain. You can also take it beforehand and it lasts for 1-3 years. Anyway, that’s what I read.
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Java Bean: “Ayyy, I had a run-in with one of those venomous snakes once! I spent the night in the emergency hospital afterwards and did not enjoy the experience.”Charlee: “And yet, there you were the other day barking at another snake.”Java Bean: “Sí, but at least that one was just a gopher snake …”
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I am so sorry to hear that Java Bean but I am very happy that you survived. Despite ordeal you were barking at another snake like Charlee said. You are very brave Java Bean.
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Quite interesting facts and post, Thomas, really new information to me… the fact that dogs are so high on the list. Anyway, it seems it all depends on the degree of exposure, to the presence of these insects and animals. A bit of a strange thing… that if we take the mosquitos out of the way, I mean if there were vaccines or people got the necessary shots, then humans seem to be left the first on the list, all in all.
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Thank you so much Sara. I was also surprised about the fact that the dogs are so high on the list. But like you say, it is all about exposure. In addition, the dogs who kill people are mostly stray dogs in developing countries with rabies and their health system might not be good enough to give them the vaccine on time.
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Interesting statistics on all of these. I’ve lived in TX since I was born and have only seen maybe 2 snakes, both harmless ones. My daughter accidentally stepped on scorpion and got stung. Also they climb up high. There were some got into my dad’s house attic and they’d fall down from the vents in the rooms sometimes just randomly!!! I think he finally got rid of them. 🙂
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I am so sorry about your daughter getting stung by a scorpion. I am surprised you’ve only seen two snakes. I’ve lived here only half my life and I’ve seen a whole bunch. We’ve found snakes in our backyard. We had a rat snake in the sink in the bathroom. One time at dinosaur state park I was carrying my five year old son on my shoulders when he told me “Dad you almost stepped on that green mamba”. I looked down and between my feet was a green mamba. But seriously it was a green grass snake. It is harmless.
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I’m glad I don’t see snakes. Probably because I’m never outside. Lucky that green snake was a harmless one that time for you. 🙂
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Yes I admit my son frightened me a bit but to him any green snake was a green mamba. However, I had a feeling it was no a green mamba. Green grass snakes are beautiful little green snakes though.
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