World's Deadliest Animals

Since the dawn of man, humans have held sway over the animal kingdom, hunting animals for purposes of food, tools, survival and sport. But animals still do a fair bit of damage to humans, claiming the lives of a more than two million people each year.

So which animals are the worst offenders? It’s not the usual suspects. Sharks, whose attacks receive the most publicity, only kill three to four humans a year. The most poisonous animal on earth, the poison-arrow frog, lives deep within the tropical rainforests of Central and South America and rarely makes contact with humans.

The mosquito rarely lives longer than a month and is not ferocious or visually intimidating but it comes in much higher contact with humans than any other animal. It also leads to the death of more humans than any other member of the animal kingdom. By injecting parasites and viruses into the blood stream, the mosquito causes upwards of two million deaths a year.

Check out the top 10 deadliest animals based on the annual number of human deaths for which they claim responsibility, either through direct contact or disease.