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Post by schnautzr on Sept 1, 2009 21:50:52 GMT
I found a list of the top 10 deadliest killers...here it is:
1. Asian cobra 2. Funnel-web spider 3. Africanized bee 4. Crocodile 5. Box jellyfish 6. Great white shark 7. Lion 8. Cape buffalo 9. Elephant 10. Polar bear
So...what would be the top 10 deadliest creatures of all time?
Surely Velociraptor would rank higher than the crocodile...that would knock the polar bear off the list.
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mantooth02
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Dieter the Saurornitholestes [F4:ManTooth02]
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Post by mantooth02 on Sept 2, 2009 12:40:20 GMT
If Elephants and Cape buffalo are on the list than I guess this list isn't restricted to predators. I would venture to guess in dinosaurs some of the herbivores might be worse to come across than the carnivores, a disgruntled ceratopsian isn't something I would want to come across. The velociraptor was likely a perfectly capable predator but so are golden eagles and they aren't much of a threat towards humans. I notice the list neglects to mention hippos and they're commonly cited as the the most dangerous animals in Africa. I would also replace the lion with the Bengal tiger, a known man eater. The list almost seems like a random assortment of dangerous animals, doesn't seem like much thought was put into it.
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Post by schnautzr on Sept 2, 2009 15:30:25 GMT
The list is mostly animals that attack people without even being intimidated by them.
The cape buffalo actually attacks people seemingly just for fun. If it spots you, it chases you down to stab you to death with its horns. Sort of weird for an herbivore, in my opinion. They say that if a hunter shoots one, the buffalo will chase them anyway until either the hunter or buffalo is dead.
I definitely agree with you on the hippo. In fact, the lion probably should be kicked off the list for being so lethargic.
However, I might add that the last five creatures were tacked on by a second source, so I'd imagine some improvement could be made here and there.
Wow...just read about the Sydney funnel-web spider on Wikipedia since I've never heard of them...those things sound dangerous!
Checking an Africa-specific list...
Mosquitoes, hippos, cape buffaloes, elephants, crocodiles, lions, and desert locusts, in that order. Locusts barely make the list at all, though, since all they do is starve people. I wouldn't list the mosquito, either, since all it does is transmit communicable diseases that would take much longer to kill you, and since the mosquito has such a high chance of not affecting you at all.
So here's our updated list so far:
1. Asian cobra 2. Funnel-web spider 3. Africanized bee 4. Hippo 5. Velociraptor 6. Cape buffalo 7. Crocodile (Nile and saltwater) 8. Ceratopsian 9. Elephant 10. Bengal tiger
Just guessing on placement of the dinosaurs...
It would be appropriate to mention the box jellyfish mentioned in the first list probably refer to Carukia, the best-known of the two Irukandji jellyfish.
I'm tempted to say Haast's Eagle would make the list...
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mantooth02
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Dieter the Saurornitholestes [F4:ManTooth02]
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Post by mantooth02 on Sept 2, 2009 16:07:01 GMT
I don't know if the jellyfish should be on the list. Encounters between them and us is usually accidental, the jellyfish doesn't really make a conscious decision to attack. If they're included then perhaps we should add deer to the list, after all our automotive collisions with them outnumber attacks by any other animals. Or mosquitoes and rats, who spread disease. One animal that probably deserves a place on that list is the domestic dog (unless you want to restrict it to wild animals) who's deliberate attacks on us surely outnumber the rest of the animals on that list combined. As for extinct animals perhaps velociraptor would be better replaced by a larger dromaeosaur like deinonychus. A 100 lb deinonychus is probably more inclined to take human prey than a 30 lb velociraptor. Also we should consider non-dinosaurs as well. Smilodon, cave bears, liopleurodon etc. You could easily make a top 10 of extinct animals alone. When it come to birds the cassowary is usually cited as the most dangerous.
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Post by schnautzr on Sept 2, 2009 20:17:00 GMT
Agreed with the jellyfish, that's why I was hesitant to leave it on our list. Lol about the deer... I think it's safe to say that domestic dogs aren't as dangerous as these other animals. They may account for more injuries, but that's because contact with them is so frequent. Throw a tiger or elephant in every home and see how many pet owners manage to live through it; then we'll talk about dogs being intentionally deadly without provocation. The cassowary did cross my mind; I recall reading about them kicking humans and killing them in a single strike. I'm sure the dromaeosaur would be very dangerous. Especially if they also could spit venom, like in Jurassic Park. It's held by most laymen (and I'm guessing scientists, too) that Velociraptor hunted in packs and took down large dinosaurs, like the Africanized bee does. They're actually less harmful than an ordinary bee...until the whole swarm of thousands of them chases you for up to 10 hours, which happens in most cases. After reading the latest news item on Tyrannosaurus which doubted its courage against larger animals, I'd say it probably would be even higher on this list than otherwise. Humans are just the right size for them to gobble up quickly on the run. That is, assuming it was capable of running. I read a study once that suggested it was a walker and only preyed upon the slower beasts. Oh...definitely the cave bears. didn't even think of that. Smilodon...I'd have to do some research, but it was probably about the same as the tiger.
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alexm1225
Junior Member
Carnotaurus- favorite dino [F4:AlexM1225]
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Post by alexm1225 on Sept 2, 2009 22:43:02 GMT
A hippo would be a good addition to the list
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Dadltondmd
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[F4:Dadltondmd]
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Post by Dadltondmd on Sept 3, 2009 0:36:17 GMT
Elephant and Cape buffalo? I bet you could replace them with Sauropod and Stegosaurus...
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mantooth02
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Dieter the Saurornitholestes [F4:ManTooth02]
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Post by mantooth02 on Sept 3, 2009 0:41:28 GMT
According to the Wikipedia article on the subject there are about 17 fatalities per year due to dog attacks with 4.7 million people bitten per year. This is not just from pets but also feral dogs which might as well be wild animals themselves. 77% of the attacks are from family pets.
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Post by orion1989 on Sept 3, 2009 2:05:23 GMT
Deinosuchus totally would rock and probably replace any kind of modern day crocodile on the list, not sure where
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Post by schnautzr on Sept 3, 2009 4:47:29 GMT
I'm sure the dromaeosaur would be very dangerous. Especially if they also could spit venom, like in Jurassic Park. I think you're confusing "raptors" with dilophosaurus again. Dromaeosaurs is the family in which "raptors" belong. Animals such as velociraptor, Deinonychus and Utahraptor belong to this family. Dilophosaurus belongs to the Dilophosauridae family. Whoops...dromaeosaur, not Dilophosaurus. Both start with D. My bad. I knew what I thought I was talking about, lol. Time for another refresher on that list reflecting what we've discussed... 1. Asian cobra 2. Funnel-web spider 3. Africanized bee 4. Deinonychus5. Ceratopsian 6. Deinosuchus7. Allosaurus8. Hippo 9. Cave bear 10. StegosaurusI'm moving the hippos further down the list considering that the newly added beasts seem to pose a more urgent threat, largely due to their size, strength, and speed.
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Post by jadeelf on Oct 14, 2009 15:58:56 GMT
The salt water crocodile should be considered. it grows up to 30 feet long weighs a ton or more and will pretty much kill anything it can get it's teeth around. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_CrocodileAs an apex predator, it usually waits for its prey to get close to the water's edge before striking, using its great strength to drag the animal back into the water. Most prey animals are killed by the great jaw pressure of the crocodile, although some animals may be incidentally drowned. It is an immensely powerful animal, having the strength to drag a fully grown water buffalo into a river, or crush a full-grown bovid's skull between its jaws. Its typical hunting technique is known as the "death roll," it grabs onto the animal and rolls powerfully. This throws any struggling large animal off balance making it easier to drag it into the water. The "death roll" is also used for tearing apart large animals once they are dead. One researcher, Dr. Adam Britton, has been studying crocodilian intelligence. In so doing, he has compiled a collection of Australian saltwater crocodile calls, and associated them with behaviors. His position is that while crocodilian brains are much smaller than those of mammals (as low as 0.05% of body weight in the saltwater crocodile), they are capable of learning difficult tasks with very little conditioning. He also infers that the crocodile calls hint at a deeper language ability than currently accepted. He suggests that saltwater crocodiles are clever animals that can possibly learn faster than lab rats. They have also learned to track the migratory route of their prey as the climate changes.
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Post by schnautzr on Oct 14, 2009 20:34:55 GMT
Actually...I think crocodiles got pushed off the list already. However, I'm thinking they would probably eat me before Stegosaurus would beat me...does anyone have evidence of Stegosaurus's behavior toward passive man-sized creatures? Perhaps brain size could be a pointer here?
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hermes888
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Pterafrax the Quetzalcoatlus [F4:Hermes888]
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Post by hermes888 on Nov 12, 2009 21:38:08 GMT
Rhinos charge at butterflies. Perhaps Steg would be the same? What about things like Blue-Ringed Octopi and others. They're very venomous and would flat-out cream Velociraptor on that list.
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Dracilust
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Zehark the Albertosaurus
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Post by Dracilust on Nov 14, 2009 6:41:56 GMT
Whatsup everyone? ;D Joined,but I won't be on here as much as the Sporum though... Anyways,on topic.I think that an Ankylosaurus would pose more of a threat than a Stegosaurus due to it's massive armored coating and giant club.Not to mention the spikes...
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Post by schnautzr on Nov 15, 2009 19:34:28 GMT
Actually, I'm not sure about the physics and all, but if Ankylosaurus is anything like Glyptodon, it was slow and had a really bad aim, so its tail would have served no purpose except battling others of it own kind, or possibly banging on the ground. I'd imagine Stegosaurus would have a similar aiming problem.
Stegosaurus had spikes, too...
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