The World's Most Dangerous Animals. Kevin Baker Baker
These fish are simply defending themselves from others who would see them as food. The stonefish feeds mostly on small fish and shrimp. They would be completely vulnerable to bottom feeders if not for their 13 sharp, venomous spines and their flawless camouflage. They live amongst coral and rocky areas and tend to blend almost seamlessly into their environment. They don’t get much bigger than 50 centimetres tops, and because of their mottled brownish green camouflage, they can be extremely difficult to spot.
The first thing that happens when numbed by the shock of stepping on a stonefish is a light tingly sensation, similar to the feeling of when a limb starts to fall asleep. However, it does not stop there as the numb feeling quickly spreads, followed by intense pain and massive swelling. The pain level will depend on how many spines were involved in the stinging and how deep they went. Obviously, more spines involved means more venom in the blood.
After the numbing, pain, and swelling, more grizzly effects await the victim, as muscle weakness, paralysis and shock then set in. These are the symptoms that are the most worrying as these complications are what people die from. Interestingly, people are more likely to die from a stonefish sting in the Indo-China waters and not so much in Australian waters, two of the main places where stonefish are found.
Naturally, it is imperative to treat anyone who has been stung by a stonefish, especially if they are unable to identify the type of stonefish and the severity of the sting. The first thing to do is immerse the area in hot water. This can help alleviate some of the pain, but if it intensifies or spreads more the person should be hospitalized immediately. The typical treatment for stonefish stings includes a series of IV treatments, as well as plenty of observation in case of infection.
On a positive note, there were only 14 calls to the Queensland Poisons Information System about stonefish poison in the year 2008 for example. With care and some thick rubber shoes, walking in stonefish inhabited waters can be relatively safe. It just means being aware of your surroundings and looking very carefully at the seafloor.
And finally, stonefish are actually considered as food in parts of Asia. This should come as no surprise because in some parts of Asia they tend to class everything as a delicacy that moves, breathes and isn't on a conventional menu. The poison is harmless after they have been heated up when cooked, and in some areas of the world they are even considered to be good for your health. When cooked, typically with ginger in a soup, the white meat is dense and sweet. They can also be served raw as sushi.
8 – Deathstalker Scorpion
Deathstalker in the Negev desert, Isreal. Image author: Ester Inbar.
The Israeli Yellow scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus), also known as the Omdurman, Palestine Yellow, Israeli Desert, or Deathstalker scorpion (among many other names) is a member of the Buthidae family. Many other members of the Leiurus genus within this family are also known as ‘Deathstalkers’.
These scorpions are typical three to four inches long, depending on the gender (males are usually smaller) and their environment. Their colouration ranges from straw yellow to greenish yellow. They have a long, thin tail and long, thin legs. Their pincers are large, but weak, as is typical of highly venomous scorpions – where they rely on their strong venom to incapacitate prey, making up for their relatively ineffectual pincers.
In fact, the venom of the Israeli Yellow scorpion is considered to be the 3rd deadliest scorpion venom in the world. While it will not typically kill a healthy human adult outright, the young, old, and infirm (in this case meaning having a heart condition, or an allergy) have a significant chance of meeting death if stung. Even without a pre-existing allergy, anyone stung runs the risk of developing anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction to the venom. If the sting does prove fatal, the second most common cause of death is pulmonary edema. Even if someone survives the sting, they have an increased chance of developing pancreatitis later on.
There have been some anti-venoms developed. However, the venom of the Israeli Yellow scorpion has proven highly resistant to treatment. These anti-venoms are not at the time of writing fully approved by the FDA, and are considered experimental.
As with many other animal and plant venoms, the venom of the Israeli Yellow scorpion may have some medicinal properties. It is a cocktail of several neurotoxins: Chlorotoxin, Charybdotoxin, Scyllatoxin, and Agitoxins type 1, 2 and 3. Chlorotoxin has shown some potential in treating human brain tumors, and some of the others may aid in the regulation of insulin and could be used to treat diabetes.
The natural habitat of this particular species of scorpion is throughout the Middle East and North Africa. They favour hot, humid climates.
The Israeli Yellow scorpion is considered a dangerous exotic animal by many legal jurisdictions. Many require a special license to keep one as a pet, or to display one in a zoo. Some municipalities, and even a few countries, have banned this dangerous scorpion outright.
9 – Africanized Honey Bees
An Africanized Bee.
Honey has been a precious substance ever since the ancient civilizations, and man has done its best to come up with ways to easily harvest this precious golden liquid without compromising safety. Earlier on in history there was no such thing as harvesting honey, just simply the theft of it from the bees in the wild. As man learned to deal with the honeybees though, we also learned to breed them and make the availability of honey supplies a lot more consistent. From there, the interbreeding began.
Honeybees are of different kinds, and they produce honey best when in their own natural habitat. However, some bees were too sensitive to being affected by their habitat, so bee farmers needed a hardier bunch of bees that could easily adapt to their surroundings. The idea was to create a crossbreed between the African honeybee and their European counterparts, hoping that the outcome would produce a bee that would be able to adapt easily to whatever surroundings they were in and remain productive at the same time. The Africanized honeybees that came out of the cross-breeding experiment were just that, and a bit more. The resulting breed had the following characteristics:
Aggressive – the Africanized honeybees had the capability of attacking and taking over other hives and totally exterminating the previous colony. Although this has been known to happen with other bee types, this breed is more prone to this type of attacking behaviour.
Frequent swarming – a swarm happens when a bee colony grows too big and creates two queens. When this happens, one of the queens will leave the hive with a huge percentage of the workers in order to establish a new colony. This is the bee’s way of perpetuating their species, and these Africanized honeybees were observed to swarm more often when compared to their European counterparts.
Different hive habitat – most European honeybees are known to build their hives on tree branches. Africanized honeybees displayed a different preference, going for cavities in the ground, leading to people being more unaware of their presence, which leads to more surprise attacks on people.
Higher security detail – bee colonies are composed of bees with different designations. You have the queen who lays the eggs, the drones who fertilize the queen once and then are killed off, the workers who work to keep the hive productive, then the guards who can be likened to security personnel. The Africanized honeybee has a higher number of security bees in their colony as compared to any of the other honeybees.
Larger defensive perimeter and more aggressive defence – just like most animals, bees have an area that they will guard against intruders. When compared to their European counterparts, Africanized honeybees have a larger area that they use as an alarm zone. This means that they do not just have a hidden hive; they also guard against intruders and attack sooner when compared to other bee types. Their pursuit distance is also longer, reaching as far as 50 meters from the hive. This has resulted in more stings for the poor passerby who has no idea that he or she is walking into a defensive parimeter set up by Africanized honeybee.