If you count insects, then mosqitoes are the most prolific killers, transmitting diseases that take out at least two million a year. Our own kind is second: In recent decades, we've offed an average of one million of ourselves annually. But if you're talking claws-out, fur-flying, fangs'bared, When Animals Attack wild critters, snakes are by far the deadliest. Cobras, mambas, carpet vipers, and their slithering brethren send some 50,000 to 125,000 of us to our graves every year. After that, the body count drops precipitously. Crocodiles chomp roughly 1,000 souls annually, and tigers take out around 700. Sharks, alligators, and bears dispatch only a in the single to low double digits. Then there's that big, brown-eyed attacker you're likley not worrying about: moose, which, according to one study, kills about 11 people a year. "They can kick in all four directions," warns Rick Sinnott, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game "and move like Muhammad Ali."
Outside Magazine
Outside Magazine
