This probably won’t come as a surprise to most of us here, but is interesting, nevertheless.

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week

But what’s the deadliest animal when we’re at play?

In terms of sheer headcount, I would think H sapiens remains the deadliest animal.

dv said:

In terms of sheer headcount, I would think H sapiens remains the deadliest animal.

And mozzies aren’t animals, they are insects, but could at a stretch be called creatures.

bob(from black rock) said:

dv said:

In terms of sheer headcount, I would think H sapiens remains the deadliest animal.

And mozzies aren’t animals, they are insects, but could at a stretch be called creatures.

Insects are animals.

Nah, I’m pretty sure insects are plants. Why else would I have so many in my garden?

Speedy said:

bob(from black rock) said:

dv said:

In terms of sheer headcount, I would think H sapiens remains the deadliest animal.

And mozzies aren’t animals, they are insects, but could at a stretch be called creatures.

Insects are animals.

It’s not the mozzies that kill, but the nasty germs that they transport and inject into humans and other creatures.

“Mosquito” is a generic term for 3,500 different species, only a few of which carry diseases that affect people.

dv said:

In terms of sheer headcount, I would think H sapiens remains the deadliest animal.

Definitely true. I did an analysis of the deadliest animals in the world based on World Health Organisation (WHO) mortality and morbidity statistics a few years ago. Homos sapiens tops the list. Mosquito-borne diseases came second.

I’m trying to remember the rest. One other insect came third.

The dog turned out to be remarkably deadly, still killing 40,000 or so people annually (rabies).
I calculated that the cat was the third deadliest mammal (cat scratch disease).
No wild mammal could match the human, dog or cat for number of deaths and permanent disablements.