The Deadliest Animals of Africa

What’s the deadliest animal in Africa?  It depends on how you interpret the term “deadly”.  The Big Five - Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard and the Rhinoceros – are certainly the most impressive mammals that most people want to see and those beasts certainly have a deadly beauty, power and elegance.  Some sources will have you believe that the Elephant is the deadliest, especially in mating season when a big bull will charge at almost anything that moves.

But if you define “deadly” as  the most human fatalities caused (directly or indirectly) and you are not too pedantic about what you consider to be  an “animal”,  then the  African “Top of the Terminator  Pops”  is as follows:

1. Mosquito

The Mosquito is, without doubt, the most dangerous animal in Africa. Their bite facilitates the transmission of the deadly virus that causes Malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.  Malaria is responsible for nearly half of the deaths of children under the age of Five in Africa, killing more than 2,800 children a day throughout sub-Saharan Africa where 90% of the infected people live.

2. Hippo

Looking at Hippos you might think they slow and sluggish animals. Don’t be fooled! Hippos can easily outrun you and are considered the second most dangerous animal in Africa. Because of population pressure and erosion of habitat, Hippos invade farmlands at night to feed and destroy the crops and this is when Hippo/Human interaction results in fatalities. There are many tales of Hippos going on the rampage, attacking people and spreading terror in the Niger for example.

3. Buffalo

Part of the “Big Five”, Buffaloes are considered to be very dangerous animals, especially the ones that are wounded. The Buffalo is a very strong animal, a fact known to several predators including lions. Apart from humans, they have very few natural predators and aside from deliberate attacks, cases have been reported of people being killed or injured badly by these creatures when they accidentally cross paths.

4. Elephant

Being the largest land mammals, you’d expect Elephants to be potentially dangerous animals. Their huge size means they are capable of crushing and killing almost any other animal, including human beings.  When the time comes to mate, Adult male Elephants go through something called musth. They become very aggressive, aroused sexually and very territorial. An Elephant in musth is extremely dangerous to humans and should be avoided at all costs.

5. Crocodile

African crocodiles have very strong and powerful jaws that they use to bite their prey with extreme force (in excess of 5,000 pounds per square inch) and have the strongest bite of any animal! The Nile Crocodile and the Saltwater species are the most dangerous to humans. Every year, hundreds of attacks are reported throughout Africa. Most attacks on humans by large Nile Crocodiles and Saltwater Crocodiles take only a few seconds with the Crocodiles killing their victims not through their powerful lacerating bite, but by dragging them under water and drowning them.

6. Lion

You’d expect the “king of the beasts” to be up there at the top, but actually lion attacks on humans are quite rare.  The most notorious case was the so called “Tsavo Man-Eaters”, a pair of big cats responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya – Uganda railway from March through to December in 1898.  Scientists have investigated the man-eating habit of Lions, especially in Tanzania, and one incontrovertible fact is that between 1990 and 2005 at least 563 people in a village in Tanzania were attacked by Lions and many were eaten.

7. Desert Locust

Though they don’t kill humans directly, the devastation the Desert Locust can cause to crops has a direct effect on human food supply and kills through enforcing starvation. They can spread over an enormous area when they swarm.  The last major Locust plague outbreak occurred in the summer of 2004 in West and North Africa. The swarms migrated over the continent causing devastation and in November 2004 they appeared in northern Egypt, Jordan and Israel for the first time in 50 years. One swarm in Morocco was 230 km long and contained an estimated 69 billion locusts!

About the Author: Peter is a travel blog enthusiast and regularly writes about the best African holidays including his experiences on a Botswana Safari when not studying and raising a family. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pgrichards.