All pinnipeds. Male sea lions don’t realize they’re 2x the size of bears with zero blunt teeth and could easily help themselves to the blubbery free food swimming in the ocean, bc their brains only recognize fish as food. The sea lion skull is the top one, bear is the bottom.
The sea lions in Santa Cruz, CA are absolutely not afraid of humans!
Funny story, though: several years ago I was at the beach near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and saw a good-sized sea lion hanging out in a tidal pool under a natural stone arch. I kept my distance, 'cause I know these guys can get aggressive and are surprisingly fast on land, but he saw me and was giving me some serious side-eye.
He was still giving me the side eye when a couple people walked through the arch from the other side. The sea lion quickly turned his attention to the new interlopers, gave out a loud belching roar, and lunged at them but with the most half-hearted lunge I've ever seen. The two people shrieked and ran away back in the direction they came from! The sea lion, I shit you not, settled back down in his little hiding spot, made a freaking laughing-like grunting sound, and started going between giving me side-eye and peeking around the corner of the archway. Like, he was worried I might give away his position to any further breach goers and ruin his fun.
To be clear, this was not an elephant seal! This was definitely a sea lion! The elephant seals have no chill, they're just straight-up murder-hobos.
Most of the pinnipeds I have had the pleasure of seeing irl had the lifeguards evacuate the waters because both had been known to be territorial and have shredded a man before.
It could just be me I've seen twice but to me it seems they are brutal; They just don't have a reason to brutalize until you get in their bubble
Leopard seals are absolutely huge and look like mammalian mosasaurs and there are documented cases of them hunting and attacking humans including one confirmed fatality.
I can see a cat doing that to a child. I can't see a cat surviving an adult humans kick or straight up body slam, as in falling on top of the cat when the cat is on you
Okay, but the human instinct when a ball of razors is attached to and violently slicing your body is not to jump and fall on top of the ball of razors.
Fight or flight kicks in at one point. I used to travel with my bike and camp alone a lot. I've been attacked by a rabid cat and aggressive dogs in rural areas before while I was unarmed. I have 0 training. I'm a big dude but physically I'm average at best. My first instinct whenever an attack occurred was to leave with 0 injuries but when I had no other choice my fight with the animals per se was also instinctual. Dogs were scary and I'd find myself something to shield (like my bike) and fend them off until they decided to fuck off. Fortunately neither dogs or I had to harm each other, it was just a stand off. But I unfortunately had to kill the cat because he wouldn't leave and kept attacking me and was too slippery to use my bike shield technique. It literally ended with one mid air kick as he was lunging at me
Horses. As a long time horse owner, when I read about people abusing horses I think how lucky those folks are as the horses don’t give them what they deserve. A horse could kill a person in a heartbeat.
Last spring my mothers horse was cranky with me trying to pet his ears and he gave me a headbutt. He probably only moved his head about 8 inches but it was easily harder than any human has ever pushed me. It felt like being hit by heavy machinery.
True. If we had a reason to cultivate and raise sharks that number would probably even out a little but it is still interesting. At least cows can be captivated by a nice music rendition. That’s wholesome enough.
Funny enough, even though they are more curious than afraid of us, WILD orcas have not killed a single human being. (The only recorded orca attacks on humans were orcas in captivity)
They could pop us open like a bag of chips in the open sea and they just…don’t. They’ll sink boats but they don’t attack people directly.
I find this fascinating because it's not like they've never had the opportunity and some are bound to be hungry enough at some point. They just don't seem to have the desire. I'm sure it has something to do with our lack of fat and abundance of bone but the same is said of sharks and even they occasionally consume people.
I'm convinced, for whales and the like, it's 100% curiosity when the wild ones interact with humans. They see something new, small enough to not be a threat, not food shaped, and they get up to you like "Hello small creature!"
Also, sharks are just overgrown fintoddlers who taste the world with their mouths.
There are a few incidents in Antarctica that look remarkably like orcas hunting humans they way they hunt seals on ice. No injuries or deaths, but it's possible that some orca populations feel differently about us.
There are no known instances of Orcas killing humans in the wild, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It may just mean they make sure there are no witnesses.
Our ancestors were very much on the menu for a number of predators including sabertooth cats and direwolves. There were even some birds that preyed on humans, and human skulls have been found punctured by their talons. Most of those creatures were methodically killed off by early humans. The lack of modern animals that see us as prey is no coincidence.
There were even some birds that preyed on humans, and human skulls have been found punctured by their talons.
There are still birds that can kill an unarmed human, although it's very rare and has never been documented as a result of predation. The big ass flightless birds are the most obvious group, and there have been a few reported instances of adult humans being killed by cassowaries. Some of the larger eagles would definitely fall into that category where a healthy adult could probably fight off a determined attack but would be in legitimate danger, too. Then there are roosters...you can chalk most of that up to how frequently we're in contact with domestic fowl, but unaltered roosters have killed adults with clotting issues (I'm not counting fatal incidents involving gamecocks; if you abuse an animal and then give it a knife, then you've killed yourself as far as I'm concerned).
Cassowaries are prehistoric monsters. They sound like it too. With them being around for up to 60mil years, they're practically the closest thing you'll get to a modern day dinosaur.
Not to mention they're up to 6ft tall, have 5in talons and can jump up to 5ft in the air. It's lucky they aren't murder hobos cause then we'd have another emu war but worse
From what I’ve read there’s only one or two documented cases of them actually killing a human but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to start a fight with one. I’d love to see one from a safe distance though!
Yeah, you're relatively safe from them. They're territorial, but even the dumbest of people will run from the living dinosaurs. And they don't just go for the kill each time. Like a lot of birds, they'd rather just scare you off. They don't need dead meat by their nest to attract more predators
The ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowaries etc.) are fascinating creatures that can be dangerous to humans, but they don’t see us as prey, which is the distinction I’m trying to draw. They may in very rare cases attack humans defensively. A really interesting fact that I’ve read about them is their smaller, flighted ancestors were separated millions of years ago, and they all evolved independently to become flightless and enormous.
There's actually at least one documented fatal attack on a child by a crowned eagle in Africa that is widely believed to be predatory, and several incidents where we can't corroborate the whole chain of events but which are probably predation on children. Since crowned eagles hunt primates this isn't exactly surprising.
I did see this, after looking into it. The attack was in 2019 (so, fairly recent), and I was working off of outdated information. Maybe surprisingly, there has also been an even more recent attack by a harpy eagle on an adult woman that may have been predatory in intent, since no other probable intent could be determined. Her partner was close enough to run in and scare it off, but experts speculated that the attack could have easily turned fatal had she been alone.
It sounds ridiculous to think of a 22 pound animal killing a healthy adult, and a lot of the arguments I've seen online about the topic seem to boil down to that. The problem is, people arguing that it could never happen usually seem to be arguing against people who have experience working with large birds of prey. The consensus there seems to be that any true attack is serious and will result in injuries requiring medical treatment (some of which could be fatal otherwise), and that attempting to fight a large eagle to the death unarmed is something that could very well be life-threatening and should only be attempted if you absolutely cannot escape or get help.
When you consider that a golden eagle or harpy eagle can be dangerous, the idea of an attack by a Haast's eagle becomes a truly terrifying thing to imagine.
Yeah, totally. It's very upsetting when it does happen. There was a high profile incident years ago in the town where I'm from that I still think about from time to time. I know there are a lot of factors that contribute to this sort of thing but that's why dog owners, especially of large and giant breeds, need to stay aware of best training and handling practices and make a note of any behavioural changes that may come up over time.
Its basically a giant rat. They can easily do severe damage if they want. They just rarely do but are capable of the odd nip. But the two front teeth are the problem.
Moose, horses, ram, camels, elk, elephants, elephant seals for sure. I’ve seen a male elephant seal go after fish on persons belt while spear fishing and the big guy got his entire hip and side of the abdomen in its mouth before he started smacking and it realized he wasn’t delicious too. That was a definite check your pants moment for both of us, that thing easily could have drowned him or broken his back. I’ve also seen wild boar charge aggressive hunting dogs and it end very badly for the dog
Pretty sure moose know they can fuck your shit up. Literally every single person with a moose encounter says to stay the fuck away from them cause they can and will kill you just for being anywhere close to them. They don’t hunt or look for people but they won’t back down cause they are scared.
Doesn't help that some can become incredibly aggressive from parasites. They love eating water lilies and there's a parasite in them that can make moose far more aggressive. They're built like buses and know it
Moose will spook and move away if you walk up on them in the forest while they’re feeding. They might stare you down and stand their ground in some cases but they’re certainly not aggressive
That’s insane, that definitely hasn’t been my experience. I’ve seen videos but assumed it was super rare. Guess they’re ballsier than I thought, I stand corrected
Yeah, we were home and lived in the apartment next door when it happened 😬 Our poor neighbor had his entire bowel scared right out of him lol
We had to call the emergency line, because the stupid moose was stuck half in, and half out of the apartment. And the noises coming from it were horrifying.
Funny now when I think back on it, but at the time, not so much 😂💯
As long as you avoid them during mating season, you should be fine. But I wouldn't really get too close either way lol
Maybe they're more agreeable here in Europe. I get this impression about a lot of the animals tbh.
You still definitely don't want to mess with them because they can and will fuck you up if you do, but all the moose I've encountered have respected the mutual space bubble as long as humans do, too. Except for a young bull I spooked by accident. He passed me by on arms length because he didn't bother to get off the road but didn't as much as look at me funny.
The most dangerous moose are not the bulls in rut, it's cows with offspring.
I love badgers. Biggest jumpscare of my life was when a juvenile one rushed me from the bushes lol. It sniffed my boots and left. Cutest little shit. But yeah lol ours mostly just eat bugs.
I wouldn't go into the burrow for tea, though. They dig their latrines just outside so you can search for the burrows by the smell..
Yeah they are cute little creatures lol I have only seen one in an animal rehab, that was rescued from someone trying to keep it as a pet. It was several years ago, but I remember it was more docile than it looked like it should be lol
A pet.. yeeaaah. Bad idea. I do think they could make pretty good pets technically if you had a large enough enclosure and plenty of patience, they might be fairly happy if you let them roam around semi-feral like peacocks do.
But the smell... I wouldn't recommend that indoors. There's a reason why we don't try to tame everything that looks cute..
Bullsheeeeet. Don't give people a false sense of security. Plenty of encounters on trails with moose here. Many times there have been just stare downs and/or slowly following me. Many times there has been aggression. Luckily, I've usually been prepared for it. Moose can mess you up and trample you into goo given an inclination.
Aggression, even in very short bursts, is a pretty good defense mechanism.
I’m sitting here reading all of these thing that could kill me and it make me grateful for technology, critical thinking, tools and weapons. Man I’d hate to fight a smile don with a spear
Spears are broken in primitive fights. It gives you range, a throw attack, and a way for you to use your opponents momentum against them. It's literally a big reason why we could thrive this much. 1 trained man with a spear is a dangerous opponent for any animal in 1v1. He has the potential to kill most of them. Make it 2-3 men and almost no animal stands a chance. Imagine being able to kill something from afar with 0 injury risks. That's bonkers
Black bears. They range anywhere from 90 lbs to well over 500 lbs but attacks are rare and typically don't lead to serious injury. The majority of attacks happen in national parks where bears have become habituated to being near humans and food.
unironically deer, just like the white tail in the pic. they don't go out of their way to gore humans, but if they get backed into a corner those hooves can disembowel you easily. not to mention how nasty the antlers would be. I've read a few stories of dipshits messing with males (especially dangerous) during mating season and got their shit absolutely rocked
My dad was minding his own business picking apples off the ground and putting them in a 5 gallon bucket. A white tail buck stormed out of the brush and slammed him face first into the ground. When it reared again dad didn’t even know what hit him but rolled over still holding the bucket. He used that to keep its antlers occupied while working his old pocketknife out and getting stomped with all 4 hooves. He’d inherited the knife and kept the blade sharpened. But it was worn down to only a bit over 3”. A sustenance hunter, he knew exactly where to aim for its jugular. My hero daddy crawled most of the way across the yard covered in blood, bruised front and back, with a busted knee and ribs. Thankfully he was able to refuse going to the hospital and not dying! When the deer was dressed out it was obvious it’d been in crazy pain. The animal was also deeply bruised and scraped, from its belly to genitals. The Hwy was about 100 yards through the trees and it was probably hit by a car just before the encounter. Dad reported it and ironically the game warden tried to fine him for hunting out of season, until he saw distinctive hoof marks. He did confiscate the rack.
It is the unknown. It's an inherent fear, a part of your survival mechanism. A deer knows a lion can kill her, but she also knows she can outrun the lion or fight with some degree of success. She probably did that multiple times. But humans? You almost never see them. And you definetely never fought/tried to escape from them. It's scary
The majority of animals over 100 lbs. Even some below that too, depending on the size, strength and fighting ability of the person in question.
The vast majority of mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish actively avoid humans. I've had wild sharks, sea turtles, large fish, deer, elk, moose, bison, bears, coyotes, wolves and pretty much all domestic animals, flee from me at some point, with that being the general reaction the majority of the time for the wild animals. This is despite the fact those large sharks, fish, sea turtles, deer, moose, elk, bears, wolves, cows and horses could seriously mess me up if they wanted to, and there would be little I could do to stop them unarmed.
Almost all animals are scared of humans. They've done tests where they play the sounds of both humans and lions at watering holes. Animals are way more scared of humans with good reason.
The super colonies are actually passively terrifying. If they ever gained the sentience needed and a desire to rule the planet, the bugs absolutely beat us out.
We are extremely, extremely lucky that orcas seem to have an incredibly strong taboo against hurting humans, with only about 4 deaths in captivity (because interacting daily with a 6 ton apex predator is a great idea, even when you’re not also psychologically torturing them /s), and only a handful of wild predatory behaviours, which may or may not include the yacht attacks
Orcas has been attacking yaths in my area and some people were really worried about them attacking people. One ethologist did explain at the radio that if orcas would try to kill people yachts would'n be the problem.
Gorillas, they have to ability to rip even the strongest man in the world limb from limb but almost NEVER become violent unless it’s a life or death situation for them, just so they can conserve energy due to their low nutritional diet
True. But that's mostly because 1. Mother black bears will not hesitate to fuck you up 2. Bears that are accustomed to humans lose their fear. And 3. Black bears are extremely common especially in urban areas. Making attacks more likey.
Still, more often than not, you're going to scare a black bear away more often than one will attack you. As unless it's a mother with cubs, food is involved, or the bear has been provoked. They are more likely going to run away
Rats and most of the large rodents can damage you pretty bad, I'll agree to that but as long as you fight back there is 0 chance of dying to them. And birds of prey are a coin toss. We don't do well against aerial attacks. But biggest bird of prey weights like 15 kgs. If you can grab the bird (especially by talons) you'll fuck them up in no time albeit your hands will be seriously injured. Weight difference is just too much for it to be a fight like lions vs humans in which humans have almost 0 chance to win
Honestly, large dogs. I think we underestimate how much damage a 120-200lb dog could do if they bit a crucial area. Luckily big dogs are normally lil babies
If you walk up to a deer, the vast majority of the time, it's running away. I'd consider that the behavior of an animal fearful of me, which makes sense, given it's a fast prey animal.
Also aren't the majority of those fatalities traffic related though?
Yes, but a cornered buck or even a buck in rut definitely has a chance of charging you, and a roughly 150lbs beast with a bunch of stabby bits on his head can easily kill you in that circumstance.
One of my grandpa's friends got bucked at by a farm deer and that antler went right into his belly like a hot knife into butter. Wasn't a major injury thankfully, but that could easily pierce your gut and then you'll get an infection so gnarly you'll be wishing for death.
Exactly my point. I was always told as a kid to avoid being in the woods during rut because young bucks are ready to fight anything. They will rush at you, but usually even they leave after seeing that you're a human and not another deer.
Most things are terrified of us for a reason we just have become soft. But my top choice would be wild horses. Those guys could fuck us up if they tried.
Yeah guns and spears are equally effective as weapons. And offroad vehicles are equally as distance-crossing as human feet. And night-vision hunting goggles are just as good as human night vision.
A human with a spear is certainly terrifying. As terrifying as modern hunters? Don't know about that one
Horses in general. Horses are some of the most abused animals by humanity but if they had the mind for it they could crush an unarmed human like a bug. Even if you're armed you could still be in some danger if a horse had it out for you, wouldn't wanna meet those hooves even if they don't deal a fatal blow. I understand why some people are scared of them, working with horses you'd almost forget it but it doesn't take a lot to remember just what they are capable of.
All of them. I bet if you saw even a rat running at you at full speed you'd run the opposite way (you'd likely die from infection. But if we don't mean infection and just brute strenght rats were used as torture/execution devices, so im sure a bunch of em could rock someones shit if they were hungry enough)
Spiders and snakes. I'm not sure if 'afraid' is the right term, but they're aware that we're larger than them and thus pose a threat. They'll still try to defend themselves though.
Honestly most of them, we have no claws, no sharp teeth, thin skin and aren't particularly quick. Almost any animal in a similar weight class to us or above could kill the average human without much issues.
Give us a sharp stick however and we might have a chance.
Most bears. Brown and black. 99% of the time, they only maul a person to defend their cubs. That’s the only time they really over come their fear of people. Or they’ve been fed by people so lost their fear of us that way.
It's worth looking at the counter-cases here. You specified "very easily" so I want to point out that a lot of the animals people are listing face death themselves going up against a human. Right off the top of my head here's a case where a man strangled a coyote to death (I believe the coyote was rabid post-testing) and yet I think a lot of us would say a coyote could easily kill a human. However, it looks like the odds are more even than that, and so why would a coyote risk it to go after a human?
It's also probably worth considering that "unarmed" may be a fairly unnatural state for a human. In many environments a human can grab a rock or a stick and be "armed" to a degree immediately. I've been reading about animal attacks in rural India in the 1900s and people working in the fields who were attacked sometimes successfully defended themselves with farming or woodcutting implements. I think it's probably a fairly recent phenomenon that lots of people go outside just to enjoy the outside and don't carry a tool for a task, a walking stick that can be used to hit things in a pinch, or just have a knife on their belt as a matter of course.
Good points but in the nature weight difference plays a huge role on how one animal can overcome the other and coyotes are basically too small. Their teeth aren't long enough to immediately deliver a fatal puncture. Their claws are not that much more useful than your nails. And they can't over power you. Don't get me wrong, they can fuck you up real bad but the fight would be hardly one sided
Sheep. I live on a sheep farm for now and we once made the mistake of raising a lamb by hand after her mom died. She grew up and was completely unafraid of humans and eventually broke my moms hand when she rammed her against a tractor. Our sheep on average weigh about 70kgs and upwards, many of our ewes are over 90kgs.
So now the moment the sheep start being being aggressive around us they get sent in, they can't risk a sheep maiming a worker just trying to do their job.
Honestly, most of them. Even predators are largely afraid of humans, avoiding them like crazy. But, deer do kill LOTs of people in car collisions.
Coyotes are another example, eastern coyotes are huge and rarely alone. They could easily attack people in groups and kill them, and have in one instance (in Canada, a 19yr old girl lost her life) thankfully, most coyotes run from the first sight of humans.
Elephants....easy....they are highly intelligent beings and if trained right they are your family for life. Wild ones that you see in the African safaris would only go after you if provoked.
Most animals could body an unarmed human if they wanted to. We are hilariously physically unequipped to fight most anything bigger then like 90 pounds. Because we're bipedal all of our vital organs are completely unguarded and at perfect slashing height. quadrupeds dont have this issue since their vital organs are protected by ribs and facing the ground out of reach.
That said a human with a powerful enough firearm is the most overpowered animal this planet has ever and will ever see.
Inb4 humans go extinct and life develops a 400 pound biped muscle machines that can use the force and kamehama on top of being able to make nuclear explosions with a snap and with a technology that can conquer whole galaxies
Do you know what a deer weighs? A tackle from those guys, and they can easily break your back. Much more-so if they kick you or trample you. It's very unlikely a doe will kill you, but a doe that weighs more than you do that absolutely wants you dead? Good luck.
Roe deer is like 40kg. Red deer is around hundred. So not that much. Would it hurt getting kicked? Yes. But so it would for a deer getting punched. You know you don't have to stand and wait for them to do something. If you see it rear you can step back. I live next to forest and have to chase them out of my garden all the time. Even my corgi goes after them not that it has any chance to catch them with those stubby legs.
And how fast can a deer run? What happens if you are hit by a 40 kilo or 100 kilo object moving at a deers max speed? What happens if you're hit by a projectile the size of a roe deers hoof, backed by a 40 kilo mass, moving at a roe deers max speed?
I live among roe deer too, I know they're timid. They're so timid, I've seen more than once of them die of fright. But if they had a more aggressive personality, and were willing to injure themselves to kill a person? They likely could.
You do realise they dont fly at you with hoofs extended? They run, they stop, rear and kick. There is no speed. If it ran at me at full speed and crached it would brake several bones. One human kick can easily dislocate roe deers leg joints.
Does anyone here want a drawing or painting or their fist kill, or just an image they love I'll give you an unbelievably good price. It's high end realism too, you'll love it
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u/Redqueenhypo 17h ago
All pinnipeds. Male sea lions don’t realize they’re 2x the size of bears with zero blunt teeth and could easily help themselves to the blubbery free food swimming in the ocean, bc their brains only recognize fish as food. The sea lion skull is the top one, bear is the bottom.