Assassin bug
We share this planet with many different creatures and some of them can kill us. What are the figures in an average year? Coming in at Number 10 - it's lions...
| Animal | Humans killed per year |
| 10. Lions | 200 |
| 9. Hippos | 500 |
| 8. Elephants | 600 |
| 7. Crocodiles | 1,000 |
| 6. Scorpions | 3,300 |
| 5. Assassin Bugs | 10,000 |
| 4. Dogs | 59,000 |
| 3. Snakes | 138,000 |
| 2. Humans | 400,000 |
| 1. Mosquitoes | 725,000 |
Yes, that's right, the biggest killers of all are mosquitoes! I doubt that this will come as any great surprise to anyone.
The only killer on the list that I had not even heard of was the assassin bug. It spreads the deadly Chagas disease in parts of Central and South America. You can pick it up from bites or through the faeces of this dangerous creature. In fact, there are around 7000 known species of the assassin bug and not all of them impact fatefully upon humans.
Actually, now that I have found out a little about assassin bugs, I realise that there is a whole lot more to know and no doubt there are entomologists who devote years to studying them. However, you will be delighted to learn that I have decided not to follow that path.
An assassin bug may use the corpses of its victims as camouflage
Goodness, Neil, what made you think about this? Pretty creepy and sad at the same time! I may be afraid to leave the house now!
ReplyDeleteSorry about that Ellen - "Don't have nightmares!" I saw a story about a British man who survived a hippo attack in Zambia. He was very lucky.
DeleteWe have the first 4 killers.
ReplyDeleteDo you get mosquitoes in Red Deer?
DeleteOh yes we do. But not a lot of mosquitoes.
DeleteHonestly I probably would have guessed humans killing humans would be number 1. Mosquitos doesn't surprise me though.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what good mosquitoes do. Probably none.
DeleteI did know that mosquitoes kill more people than anything but I was quite happy not knowing about assassin bugs.
ReplyDeleteI am not entirely sure but I do not think you have assassin bugs in the Edmonton area.
DeleteGee, thanks.
ReplyDeleteDon't have nightmares.
DeleteNow the Assassin Bug nightmares will begin.
ReplyDeleteMaybe 7000 nightmares - one for each species.
Delete400,000 sounds very optimistic for humans. I'm sure there a many more that we never hear about.
ReplyDeleteI would not publish inaccurate figures.
DeleteThe snake killing figure surprises me. I thought it would be much less. I suppose that includes snakes that squish people.
ReplyDeleteI thought 138,000 would be the figure for Australia alone.
DeleteI thought us humans would be high up on the list. Man is so destructive.
ReplyDeleteWoman is too, breaking pots when washing up.
DeleteI wonder where cows rank on such a list. Actually, I would have expected humans to be at the top, and I wonder what counts as death by humans - only murder, or also killed by a car with a human at its helm, by bombs thrown by human pilots on your village, or by human-controlled drones? Baby girls killed by neglect because in their country‘s culture people value boys more than girls?
ReplyDeleteIn Great Britain, between 4 to 6 deaths a year are caused by cattle. As for your other queries I could not say what the figure of 400,000 includes.
DeleteThese things "bug" me. Oops, sorry, I couldn't resist that.
ReplyDeleteArise the new Larry Grayson!
DeleteLooks like you are relatively safe from cattle.
ReplyDeleteI have found myself in several scary situations with cattle.
DeleteOh yuck. I had to read this with my eyes closed.
ReplyDeleteNumbers of the guanche assassin bug have risen tremendously in Tenerife in the last decade but only a few deaths have been reported - less than a hundred.
DeleteI've heard the name assassin bug, it pops up now and again in novels I read, but I don't think we have them in Australia so I won't waste time watching out for them. it's enough to be avoiding Eastern Browns (deadly snakes), red back spiders (black widows in the USA) trap door spiders and another spider I can't remember the name of that rears up when approached. And mosquitos.
ReplyDeleteThe name of the spider that rears up when approached is I believe elsius adelaidae - better known as The Elsie Spider. Highly venomous.
DeleteWrong, it's the Funnel Web Spider.
DeleteAmazing how we can learn useful and useless information,
ReplyDeleteIs this useful or useless?
DeleteReading that list makes me want to stay inside and minimize my chances. Fortunately though, six of the ten aren't in my area of the world to off me.
ReplyDeleteOnly four? Why not risk it?
DeleteThat chart was fascinating to read. When I went to Peru in 2018, I had to get a malaria shot, and a yellow fever shot too. When we were in the jungle, I was hyper aware of any bug.
ReplyDeleteVisiting central Africa does not appeal to me because of insect-borne diseases. It's a shame because some of those countries would be really interesting.
DeleteWe have 1,2, 3, 4, and 7. Also sharks and alligators which sadly did not make the list.
ReplyDeleteIn England we have only got 2 & 4 and thankfully no storms with fancy women's names like Helene. Once again, good luck!
DeleteI'm going to nitpick about that list. Mosquitoes don't kill directly -- they're merely a vector for the microbes that do the killing. Same with assassin bugs. Seems to me the microbe should be on the list, not the insect.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to argue with you Steve because you are of course right!
DeleteOh dear, information I could do without! We have 1, 2 and 4 - don't know if our snakes are lethal, any I've seen have been squashed by cars.
ReplyDeleteI saw an assassin bug up close and personal when I was trimming a bush. I took a quick picture of it and then the trimming was done for the day. That's a creepy and mean looking bug.
ReplyDelete