9 Animals To Avoid – If You Want To Live!
From cute and cuddly animals to some of the biggest ones, here are the scariest animals on earth you definitely want to run away from… if you can
9 The Amazon Assassin Bugs
If the name does not make you want to run the other way, then the information about them may. These little critters are found in the Amazon rainforest and they look like any other bug that you can find in your backyard or maybe home. Their colors vary from brown to black and speckles of red or orange can be seen. These gentle and passive insects have a large bottom, narrowed neck, long legs and a prominent mouth. Although the description of their physical characteristic sounds like a model, their hunting instincts will take down pray even larger than them. Using their prominent mouth to inject the venom into the unsuspected prey, melting the inners so the assassin bug can easily drink it. If harassed, this bug will retaliate by injecting its venom potentially causing anywhere form redness to the bitten area to anaphylactic shock or worse, Chagas disease. These not so friendly bugs do have other cousins that live in the United states and Latin America, you may know them by the name of kissing bug or nose cone bugs. They are plainer looking than the assassins of the rain forest and find it very attractive to be near humans and warm blooded animals because of the odor and warm body temperatures. The death toll? Over 18million people have been bitten and of those, 14k dying from it every year.
8 African Cape Buffalo
When you think of a buffalo, you may think of the large, short horned and gorgeous buffaloes roaming the hills and savannas of Yellowstone Park of somewhere in a prairie with cows used for meat and milk. Such massive body and large horns would be a defense mechanism against predators such as the African Lion of Hyenas. Such majestic size almost leads you to think of a gentle giant that wins over its potential predator by sheer size. With its massive weight of about 2000 pounds, there should be no need to have much of a worry in the world. But instead, the Cape buffalo is known for charging without provocation to anyone who gets near. The not so gentle giant can run top speeds of about 40 miles per hour! Faster than the speed limit in many inner cities! They are so strong and hot tempered that there are reports of cape buffaloes charging cars and lions, even if they are very hurt and holding on to life by the threat!
7 Siafu Ants Of Equatorial Africa
You probably have heard of the fire ants, these little ones are found in many parts of the world and the bite is painful for couple of days, burning the skin and leaving a mark where the bite was... But Siafu ants? They are even meaner and more dangerous. Siafu ants are also known as driver ants or by the locals in Africa “blind deadly machine” These little critters are very, very deadly. Its said that is you fall a sleep on their path or by their nest... well say good bye to a joyful life… They are known for eating everything that gets on their way. The ants move like one entity. If you are so unlucky to walk in the beautiful and breathless equatorial Africa and happen to step on one of the Driver ants.. well, over 50 million of its relatives will come and literally make you suffer for it. They will bite and release formic acid, entering the organs and choking you and leave you half done holding for dear life. Do you remember the episode of indina jones were an ant armi of much larger ants ate one of the bad guys in about couple of minutes? Well not so fast with the real Sifu ants… well they have the “ant attack” down to a science, they will skeletonize a full size human or large animal in less than 5 hours!
6 Brazilian Wandering Spider
From Africa to brazil, also known by its less terrifying name the Banana Spider, can be found in tropical areas of central and South America. This little wondering spider likes to sunbathe and enjoy the warm and humid air of the tropical paradise where it lives and can be found lodging in cars, homes and yes, banana trees! This tiny but immensely dangerous critter has topped the Guinness book of world records as the deadliest and most venomous spider in the world!. This tropical danger machine is not aggressive but does protect itself quite well when needed. 9 out of 10 times, the spider will inject its venom. The venom injected into its victim can cause loss of oxygen leaving the person or animal paralyzed, losing control of its muscles, creating inflammation and severe pain and finally resulting in the persons demise or possible lasting health challenges. Science is using its powerful venom to investigate new cures for issues such as erectile dysfunction.
5 Lions Mane Jelly Fish In The Northern Parts Of The World
You may have gone to the beach and had the unfortunate luck of swimming into a Portuguese man of war or even a small and transparent gelatinous creature like the jelly fish. And hopefully have been not stung by it. If you have, then you know there is a heating level of pain no fun for a vacation trip to the beach. To fix the redness and stinging sensation vinegar works very well. However, there are parts of the world where people like to go and swim with the jelly fish. Some regions like in the pacific islands have jelly fish that are harmless, they don’t have natural predators so no need to protect themselves. For some people swimming with the jelly fish is like being reminded of the lightless and relaxing feeling of letting go. Letting the waves take you where they may, no worries, no time frame no weight… Now imagine a gigantic version of the jelly fish and add some nasty chemicals that can seriously do some damage. This animal might as well come from a time before where giants ruled the world! Lions mane Jellyfish, fits the criteria for massively large and dangerous!. Found in the frigid waters of the Artic and northern parts of the pacific and Atlantic oceans where the waters remain cold all year around, the lions mane looks like its name, a mass of furry looking gelatin that seems to float in a relax cadence with no hurry to get anywhere. There are some similar species in southern parts of the world. In Massachusetts a young man found one larger that a small sedan car with tentacles that measured the size of a cargo truck! This was in the 1870s and I am sure few more had made the news in many other shores of Australia and the pacific islands.
4 Bull Sharks In Australia
Remember in the movie jaws when the shark ate all kinds of people and frigten the world? Because of that movie, people started to believe that the great white sharks where aggressive, territorial and an indiscriminate killer. The reality is the total opposite of what the movie wanted you to believe. White sharks look like mean human eating machines with a double row of ever-shedding teeth but they are not the most dangerous of the almost 500 species in the shark family. Actually at the top of the list is the Bull shark. In Africa the bull shark is known as the Zambezi or Zambi. It sound cute but being longer than a Australian crocodrile, they are the most aggressive, meanest and will take what they what, even if its in land. In a particular incident in Australia, a crocodrile was blamed for attacking a horse. The investigation indicated that a horse trainer was rehabilitating his horse in a river, yes you heard well, a river, no salt water nearby, when something bit the horse leaving bite marks that where later identified as bull shark bites. The bull shark had adapted so well to their environment that during floods in Autralia, bull sharks passed the flooded levees that failed to keep the salty water away from land and the bull sharks, adaptable critters that they are, started growing and reproducing in rivers and lakes. The sitting of bull sharks have been a global phenomenon that includes Lake Michigan as one of the hosting fresh water homes for animals you want to avoid.
3 Hyenas In West Africa
This furry African inhabitant of the savannas, live among the more majestic lions, rhinos and zebras as well as the cape buffalo mentioned earlier. Hyenas are best known for their peculiar way of communicating with other hyenas. They look like they are laughing at a joke that only they can understand. Besides the laughable speech, Hyenas are very unique animals they look like a hybrid gone wrong between a long hair dog, a big cat like a leopard and a fat little horse, but don’t be fooled by their cuteness, they are avid scavengers they will bully a lion or leopard into giving them their half-eaten meal. But what makes them very dangerous is, that hyenas have been seen scavenging human remains an example being after a battle, developing a taste for the softer flesh of humans and if needed circling near villages going after humans and their animals that can be easier targets than the more common and wilder sources of nourishment.
2 Africanized Honey Bees
As we have been hearing in the news in the last couple of years, honey bees have been plummeting in numbers, and threatening pollination and therefore the food availability of the entire world. Therefore, worldwide, honey bees have been placed in the endangered list and campaigns have been in place to protect them from pesticides and non-natural predators. There are actually many species of bees, they may be European, Asian or African but none are native to the Americas but brought from Europe by farmers in the early 16 hundreds. As more and more awareness to protect the honey bees’ raises, the concern about sub species such as the Africanized bee climbs as well. The reason for it is their behavior and honey production. Honey bees are gentle insects who are willing to sacrifice to protect their queen and colony from threats but would not go any further. On the other hand, the Africanized bees that where a genetic hybrid gone wrong, will breed and build their hives faster than any other honey bee. Their honey production is not as high since they don’t need to store the honey for colder seasons like the Asian and European species, they come from Africa, no cold weather there. Although no more aggressive than the gentle honey bees, the Africanized counterparts will not think twice about pursuing and attacking anything perceived as a threat, in the haste of the chase, the entire colony of Africanized bees will swarm away abandoning the hive. There have been reports of animals and people being chased over long distances and seriously harmed not because the venom being stronger than the honey bee but because of the amount of the bees swarming and stinging together.
1 Salt Water Cone Snail
I am sure you have seen the cone snail before, usually when you go to flee markets near the beach and shells are being sold as pieces of jewelry or simply to be displayed in their natural glory. The cone snail, another sea creature to be weary of tops the chart in deadly cuteness. Cone snails can be found in all tropical and subtropical regions, living in the sand, under a rock or coral reefs. Cone snails are unique in that they hunt small fish, sea worms and even other cone snails. Using a harpoon like radula that they use to hunt their prey paralyzing them before engulfing it for a meal. The venom used can be deadly depending on the size of the cone snail. In the larger species, one drop of its poisonous venom can take down over 20 humans!. So be careful next time you want to go and grab a snail, they are cute, but dangerous! There is a lot or research being done to study the pharmacological uses of this neurotoxin.
