The World's Deadliest and most dangerous…
Whilst man has proved very effective at killing himself there is still some healthy competition from Mother Nature. The natural world contain any number of potentially deadly animals but the effects of all these put together are almost insignificant when planet Earth itself turns against us. With the exception of war and epidemics nothing kills in numbers … Read more
It seems that our fears of animals are based around two main themes; there are those with the big pointy teeth that are just looking for an excuse to eat us alive and there are those that, whilst seemingly innocuous, pack a secret weapon so deadly that half the world seem to have a phobia … Read more
Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) affects around 5% of the population including celebrities as diverse as Justin Timberlake and JK Rowling. Whilst both statistically and factually there is very little to fear from most spiders these little eight-legged critters do seem to have reserved a special place in the human psyche. It is true that all … Read more
Since time began humans have looked for more and more effective ways of killing and maiming each other. For this end poison has always been a popular, if not a little sophisticated, choice. Even back in ancient times the rich, powerful and unpopular would employ a food taster to check whether their goat’s head soup … Read more
Few animals instill quite the same fear as sharks. As apex predators many types of sharks are well equipped to inflict serious injury; large, fast, powerful and armed with row upon row of razor sharp teeth these fish are finely honed killing machines. Yet with around 400 shark species it is only a tiny minority that … Read more
For an animal (just) that is 95% water, has no brain and eats / defecates out of the same opening the jellyfish have a surprisingly complex and effective weapon at their disposal. Most species have tentacles loaded with stinging cells called nematocysts. When these stinger cells are triggered the internal pressure builds up to a … Read more
There have been any number of studies on what might be the world’s most dangerous drugs over the years. A problem many of these have is they focus on only one aspect of what makes any particular drug harmful. For example, how much damage to society does it cause, is it dangerous in the long term … Read more
Dogs have lived alongside man for thousands of years since the first wolves were domesticated. There is little doubt this relationship has been hugely beneficial to both, leading to dogs being commonly referred to as “man’s best friend”. But over recent years there there have been a steady stream of stories in the media cataloging what … Read more
There are somewhere in the region of 118 elements that are known of. The reason for being vague is that some are thought to exist but have never been observed. Of these 98 occur naturally. Very few of these elements are completely harmless and most present some risk in sufficient doses. There are no hard,fast … Read more
When dangerous wild animals are mentioned most people don’t think of the UK. And for good reason. Generally speaking there isn’t much in the way of animals that presents any danger to humans. That was made sure of in Medieval times when all the wolves, bears, wild boars and man-eating hedgehogs were hunted to extinction. … Read more
Every year somewhere between 20,000 and 125,000 people die from snake bites. This makes them by far the most dangerous group of vertebrates on Earth. Like all lists on Planet Deadly there is some balancing here of what criteria actually define the world’s deadliest snakes. Other lists on various websites should probably be more accurately titled as … Read more
Everybody knows that for most of us going into the woods to pick and eat a random selection of toadstools and mushrooms is pretty much like playing Russian roulette – it’s been drummed into us since we were reading fairy tales. The point is unless you are an absolute expert on gathering mushrooms you should … Read more