Joe Exclamation
When we think of a deadly animal, we tend to go with Lion, Shark even Hippopotamus. Sure. They’re your standard deadly animal. However, there’s a whole array of much weirder animals that may be smaller but are just as deadly!
1. Cone Snail
Beware of picking up one of these little critters, next time you’re in the sea. They attack their prey with a built-in harpoon, which then injects venom like a syringe. Also nicknamed cigarette snails, they can kill a human in less time than it takes to smoke a cigarette.
2. Hooded Pitohui
This Papa Nui Guinea native, is one of the few species of poisonous birds on the planet and the most deadly. In fact many scientists agree that the neurotoxin homobatrachotoxin secreted from it’s skin and feathers is the most powerful known to man. Usually reactions to venom tested on rodents will take place after a minute or two. The venom from the Pitohui takes seconds. However the toxin isn’t fatal unless it finds its way into the blood stream, so touching one of these birds should only cause a numbing of the hand.
3. Flannel Moth Caterpillar
Okay we’re all thinking it, this little guy looks just like Trump’s combover. Sure. But it’s actually a hugely poisonous caterpillar! Each of its hairs is covered with tiny spikes, much like stinging nettles, only with a much more powerful irritant.
4. Portuguese Man-O-War
If you spot something looking like a deflated beach-ball floating about, run! Or indeed, swim! The Man-o-war is one of the most poisonous jellyfish out there, with a sting powerful enough to kill humans. However it’s not actually a jellyfish, if not a Hydrozoan. A huge colony of tiny zooids that all cooperate together; thousands of dactylozooids form the 30 foot long, neurotoxin spewing tentacles, and an inflatable zooid that acts as a float.
5. Daddy Long Legs
Daddy-long-legs, or Pholcidae spiders are known for having the world’s deadliest venom, capable of killing a grown man in seconds buuut it doesn’t have the necessary mandible strength to penetrate human skin… This was recently proven to be false, although the pholcid spider has a powerful venom, it’s far from being lethal to humans.
6. Tsetse Fly
Found in Africa pretty much everywhere but the desert, the tsetse fly has a deadly bite. Unlike a mosquito it saws its way into the victim’s skin and starts sucking its blood. The deadly part is that it can carry Trypanosome parasites which once in the blood stream, start to attack the brain, causing sleeping sickness, a slow degenerative process lasting months to some times years, where the victim gradually becomes more and more fatigued and confused and finally fall into a coma.
7. Pacu Fish
Fish don’t usually have teeth, but the ones that do are there for a reason. Piranhas have a row of razor sharp teeth because they are largely carnivorous. However the Pacu Fish have teeth but only eat plants. But the really weird part is that the teeth they have developed to eat plants look almost exactly like human teeth! This is because they are perfect for grinding down shrubbery. Pacu Fish aren’t deadly but will bite anything that resembles fruit or nuts and have been known to castrate naked male swimmers with their powerful bite…
8. Poison Dart Frog
Probably the world’s cutest frogs are also the world’s deadliest animals. The tiny Colombian Rainforest natives contain enough poison to kill 10 grown men which is why tribesmen would rub their blow-darts on their backs, earning them their name; poison dart frog. However much like the Pitohui the frogs don’t make the poison themselves, if-not sequest it from the bugs that they eat, which obtain the alkaloids from plants.
9. Blue Ringed Octopus
As we’ve seen with the poison dart frog, the cutest and most colorful animals are usually the most deadly. The dear-little blue ringed octopus has enough Tetrodotoxin in its bite, to kill 26 grown men, so it would be reallllyy stupid to handle one of these guys, especially as there is no known antidote..
10. Blue Dragon
Cute ocean creatures have a thing for being deadly. Remember that highly deadly Hydrozoan from before? These little cuties hunt them down! They float belly-up, and latch on to the Man-o-war, slowly consuming it. The blue dragon, or blue sea slug is not in itself poisonous, but given its diet of strong neurotoxins, it develops an even more potent poison that could easily kill.
Which one of these strange and deadly creatures weirded you out!?
Comment Below!