Statistics have identified Australia's most dangerous animal

Australia is known not only for its comfortable and warm climate, variety of coral reefs or the Harbour Bridge, but also for the fact that many animals that are very dangerous to humans live on its territory.

In Australia you can meet extremely dangerous representatives of the fauna: these are deadly poisonous reptiles, spiders, insects, as well as crocodiles and sea predators - sharks.

Doctor of Science from the University of Melbourne, Professor R. Welton tried to clarify which animal from all the Australian diversity poses the greatest danger to people. The results of statistical analysis surprised her very much.

In the course of the study, the scientist compared information on hospitalizations from the Institute of Health and Social Care of Australia for the period 2000-2013.

It was found that during this long period of time, 27 people were injured or killed by snakes. About the same number of people died from bites of insects such as wasps and bees. The bites of poisonous spiders have sent more than eleven thousand people to hospital beds, but not a single one of them has died since 1999.

Over the past 13 years, 26 Australians have died from shark attacks and 19 from crocodile bites.

The greatest number of deaths, seventy-four, were caused by horse bites. Horses are supposedly revered and harmless animals in Australia. However, they have caused more deaths than other truly dangerous creatures.

Let us recall: experts previously compiled a list of the most deadly representatives of Australian fauna:

• The blue-ringed octopus, which can send 26 healthy men to the next world with one bite, and its venom is recognized as 10 thousand times more powerful than cyanide.
• The tiger snake is a two-meter-long reptile whose bite causes numbness, paralysis and death.
• Thirteen varieties of the dangerous black widow spider, which causes a host of unpleasant symptoms, including paresis, paresthesia and even mental disorders.
• The Atrax spider, whose bite is fatal to humans.
• Saltwater coastal crocodile - its bite is considered stronger than that of a white shark. Crocodiles attack people near the shore or at shallow coastal depths.
• The desert snake Taipan is capable of killing up to a hundred people with one dose of its venom, since the secretion of its glands is almost 180 times more poisonous than that of a cobra.
• Bull sharks are relatively lazy creatures, which cannot be said about males, which can be even too aggressive and attack, including people.
• The box jellyfish and Irukandji jellyfish are light-colored, translucent small jellyfish whose stings cause excruciating pain and can be fatal.

Professor Welton, who spent a lot of time studying statistical facts, noted that the work she did completely upsets the stereotype about the degree and categories of danger of Australian animals. After all, horses were not previously considered as animals that pose any danger to people.

[ 1 ]