World's Deadliest Animals (Chart)

[Scuba]

[bigwillq]

1. You say mosquito. I say republican.

One and the same.

[femmocrat]

2. What is an Assassin Bug?!

And where are they found?

[bigwillq]

3. Iraq

[bigwillq]

4. Assassin Bug

http://causeofdeathbook.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-deadly-are-assassin-bugs.html

[femmocrat]

6. "also known as the KISSING bug"!!

:whew: ---- Venezuela.

Thanks!

[Scootaloo]

10. And to be fair...

In the case of the tsetse fly, the assassin bug, and the mosquito, they aren't the ones doing the killing - three different protozoa are the big killers there - the snail I think, delivers a fatal package of nematode worms, which ARe animals, and ought to be on the chart instead.

So really, humans are still #1 on this list, as Trypanosoma sp. and Plasmodium sp. aren't animals!

[Fred Sanders]

13. Another good point, the real killers are microscopic, the animals and insects are just carriers.

[TexasProgresive]

19. There are lots of varieties of Assassin bugs

The one I am most famililar here in Texas is the Wheel Bug. These other worldly critters caught my eye as a child because of the wheel. It looks like something from a watch.

Wheel bugs and other assassin bugs

Most assassin bugs (family Reduviidae) are predatory insects that are of great benefit to gardeners. They are proficient at capturing and feeding on a wide variety of prey including other bugs, bees, flies, and caterpillars. Prey are captured with a quick stab of the assassin bug’s long mouthparts. After being immobilized by a paralyzing toxin, the prey’s body fluids are then drawn through the assassin bug’s soda straw-like mouthparts.
http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/others/ent-1003/

The Kissing Bug is an invasive species that has moved into Texas from the south. They can carry a protozoa which can infect people with Chagas disease.

Chagas disease /ˈtʃɑːɡəs/, or American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and spread mostly by insects known as Triatominae or kissing bugs.[1] The symptoms change over the course of the infection. In the early stage, symptoms are typically either not present or mild and may include: fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, or local swelling at the site of the bite.[1] After 8–12 weeks, individuals enter the chronic phase of disease and in 60–70% it never produces further symptoms.[2][3] The other 30 to 40% of people develop further symptoms 10 to 30 years after the initial infection.[3] This includes enlargement of the ventricles of the heart in 20 to 30% leading to heart failure.[1] An enlarged esophagus or an enlarged colon may also occur in 10% of people.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease

[Ms. Toad]

5. I think calling a mosquito an animal is a bit of a stretch... n/t

[Fred Sanders]

7. Good point. Title should be deadliest "creatures"......"living beings"? Mosquito kind of surprised

me for the same reason.

Same with the other creepy crawlers.

[Scootaloo]

11. See above post from me.

They're in the kingdom Animalia and are therefore animals. However, the killers are protozoans that live in their saliva, not the insects themselves. So, really no, the bugs shouldn't be on the chart, any more than bats should be due to their being vectors for rabies and ebola.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Even more precise. Thanks. n/t

[11 Bravo]

20. Well, it is not an archaebacteria or eubacteria (formerly combined as monerans) ...

nor is it a protist, a fungus, or a plant. That pretty much leaves animal.

[hobbit709]

21. They're not plants or fungi.

[aikoaiko]

8. Mosquitonado does sound terrifying. Tara Reid, save me.

[gordianot]

9. Where are bacteria and virus?

[Scootaloo]

16. Bacteria aren't animals, and viruses aren't even organisms

[Strelnikov_]

14. Hippo . . 10x more than wolves

Never Cry Hippo?

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Deadliest animals in Africa ...

IIRC, mostly because it's easy to surprise an underwater hippo you can't see ... they like to loll at the surface with just their nostrils, ears, and eyes barely above the surface. Add a few lily pads, and you've got a fatal encounter waiting to happen.

[KittyWampus]

15. What? No Honey Badger?

[Scootaloo]

17. Don't worry about honey badger....

After all, honey badger don't give a fuck