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Hard to overstate how mosquitoes are the deadliest creature known to man: https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/stories/2019/world-deadliest-animal.html https://www.

Hard to overstate how mosquitoes are the deadliest creature known to man: https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/stories/2019/world-deadliest-animal.html https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/stories/2019/world-deadlies...

hulitu 3y ago
I thought the man is "the deadliest creature known to man". /s
- dgb23 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_h... Seems we're second.
  - meepmorp 3y ago
    If/when we move into first place, nobody will be left to update the Wikipedia page.
  - agnosticmantis 3y ago
    Even more surprised to see dogs in the fourth spot (third according to BBC). Are most of these pets or stray dogs?
    - nukeman 3y ago
      The cause is mostly rabies infections acquired from either strays or village/communal dogs (not quite pets, but not strays either).
      - tyleo 3y ago
        Do you have a reference?
        nukeman 3y ago
        Per the CDC, they estimate 59,000 deaths worldwide due to rabies, with the vast majority caused by dogs. There may be more deaths that are unreported. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - tyleo 3y ago
      My understanding (which may be wrong) is that it is disproportionately due to Pit Bulls. A quick google search turned this up: https://coloradoinjurylaw.com/blog/dog-bite-statistics/ https://coloradoinjurylaw.com/blog/dog-bite-statistics/
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - js2 3y ago
      Rabies. From the BBC citation: > Rabid dogs are responsible for the deaths of an estimated 25,000 people per year. In countries where dogs commonly carry rabies they are involved in up to 99% of infections, according to the WHO. Countries with large numbers of stray dogs, including India, are the worst affected. According to the WHO, about 36% of the world's rabies deaths - 20,000 of about 55,000 deaths worldwide - occur in India each year, most of those when children come into contact with infected dogs. > Dying from an actual dog bite is much more rare. There is no reliable worldwide data, but of the estimated 4.5 million dog bites in the US every year, only about 30 people die on average.
  - dehrmann 3y ago
    Interesting that our "best friend" is number four. Cats don't even crack the top ten.
SanderNL 3y ago
Luckily we are on HN whereby I am granted full permission to unleash the most obnoxious of pedantry: It's not the mosquitoes that kill us.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  It wasn’t the bullet doctor, but the resulting blood loss :)
- kdmccormick 3y ago
  I'll play :) Bears don't kill people. Lacerations from their teeth and claws do.
  - 542458 3y ago
    Is it the lacerations, or the blood loss? Is it the blood loss, or the stopping of the heart? Is it the stopping of the heart, or oxygen starvation of the brain? Is it the oxygen starvation of the brain, or the chemical breakdown therein? Is it the chemical breakdown of the brain, or the resulting changed perception of others causing them to ascribe the very human and sometimes subjective label “dead” to the subject of the bear’s attentions?
    - kdmccormick 3y ago
      Or is it the victim themselves for going near a bear? Or is it the victim's ancestors, who made sure they were alive in the first place, thus setting the stage for their guaranteed death?
      - dkersten 3y ago
        Deep. Just like the cuts from the bear claws.
      - biofunsf 3y ago
        Must be our ancestors fault. They did a good job at contributing to the extinction of many megafauna (in addition to Paleocene climate changes), but didn’t quite get all the bears. How lazy of them. Though fun-fact: California used to have an endemic subspecies of Grizzly bear that was entirely wiped out by the European settlers. I can’t really fault them for this... times were tough back then. Some Grizzly Bears have re-enter California from the north in more recent times. Makes me realize that in certain contexts ecological preservation is a privilege. If there’s a 2% chance a Grizzly is going to kill my darling child Timmy, I’m okay with wiping them out and worrying about the ramifications later. I’m not going to risk little Timmy being eaten to preserve some amorphous concept of natural balance. Fortunately we don’t live in that world any longer. (And >0.05% risk of Timmy being eaten is acceptable to me, since this is on par with many other risks)

hulitu 3y ago

I thought the man is "the deadliest creature known to man". /s

dgb23 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_h... Seems we're second.
- meepmorp 3y ago
  If/when we move into first place, nobody will be left to update the Wikipedia page.
- agnosticmantis 3y ago
  Even more surprised to see dogs in the fourth spot (third according to BBC). Are most of these pets or stray dogs?
  - nukeman 3y ago
    The cause is mostly rabies infections acquired from either strays or village/communal dogs (not quite pets, but not strays either).
    - tyleo 3y ago
      Do you have a reference?
      - nukeman 3y ago
        Per the CDC, they estimate 59,000 deaths worldwide due to rabies, with the vast majority caused by dogs. There may be more deaths that are unreported. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - tyleo 3y ago
    My understanding (which may be wrong) is that it is disproportionately due to Pit Bulls. A quick google search turned this up: https://coloradoinjurylaw.com/blog/dog-bite-statistics/ https://coloradoinjurylaw.com/blog/dog-bite-statistics/
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - js2 3y ago
    Rabies. From the BBC citation: > Rabid dogs are responsible for the deaths of an estimated 25,000 people per year. In countries where dogs commonly carry rabies they are involved in up to 99% of infections, according to the WHO. Countries with large numbers of stray dogs, including India, are the worst affected. According to the WHO, about 36% of the world's rabies deaths - 20,000 of about 55,000 deaths worldwide - occur in India each year, most of those when children come into contact with infected dogs. > Dying from an actual dog bite is much more rare. There is no reliable worldwide data, but of the estimated 4.5 million dog bites in the US every year, only about 30 people die on average.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  Interesting that our "best friend" is number four. Cats don't even crack the top ten.

SanderNL 3y ago

Luckily we are on HN whereby I am granted full permission to unleash the most obnoxious of pedantry: It's not the mosquitoes that kill us.

mensetmanusman 3y ago
It wasn’t the bullet doctor, but the resulting blood loss :)
kdmccormick 3y ago
I'll play :) Bears don't kill people. Lacerations from their teeth and claws do.
- 542458 3y ago
  Is it the lacerations, or the blood loss? Is it the blood loss, or the stopping of the heart? Is it the stopping of the heart, or oxygen starvation of the brain? Is it the oxygen starvation of the brain, or the chemical breakdown therein? Is it the chemical breakdown of the brain, or the resulting changed perception of others causing them to ascribe the very human and sometimes subjective label “dead” to the subject of the bear’s attentions?
  - kdmccormick 3y ago
    Or is it the victim themselves for going near a bear? Or is it the victim's ancestors, who made sure they were alive in the first place, thus setting the stage for their guaranteed death?
    - dkersten 3y ago
      Deep. Just like the cuts from the bear claws.
    - biofunsf 3y ago
      Must be our ancestors fault. They did a good job at contributing to the extinction of many megafauna (in addition to Paleocene climate changes), but didn’t quite get all the bears. How lazy of them. Though fun-fact: California used to have an endemic subspecies of Grizzly bear that was entirely wiped out by the European settlers. I can’t really fault them for this... times were tough back then. Some Grizzly Bears have re-enter California from the north in more recent times. Makes me realize that in certain contexts ecological preservation is a privilege. If there’s a 2% chance a Grizzly is going to kill my darling child Timmy, I’m okay with wiping them out and worrying about the ramifications later. I’m not going to risk little Timmy being eaten to preserve some amorphous concept of natural balance. Fortunately we don’t live in that world any longer. (And >0.05% risk of Timmy being eaten is acceptable to me, since this is on par with many other risks)