10 Most Poisonous Animals in the World
By Village Mayor • Oct 10th, 2008 • Category: Animals, Dangerous, Latest Post, The Best of Village of JoyIt is really hard to tell which animal is the most poisonous in the world. The one that has the most toxic chemicals? The one that kills the biggest amount of people a year? Or maybe the one with the biggest amount of poison?
First of all, I have to admit that the title is a bit incorrect, because there is a difference between poisonous and venomous animals. A poisonous animal carries harmful chemicals called toxins primarily used for self defense. Therefore venomous animals deliver their toxins by stinging, stabbing, or biting. So poisonous animals are passive killers, while venomous animals are active killers.
Nevertheless, theory aside, they are all really dangerous. So look really closely at each photo, cause next time you meet them can be the last thing you ever see.
1. Box Jellyfish
(Image credits: jlambusphotography)
The top prize for “The World Most Venomous Animal,” would go to the Box Jellyfish. It has caused at least 5,567 recorded deaths since 1954. Their venom is among the most deadly in the world. It’s toxins attack the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. And the worst part of it is that jelly box venom is so overpoweringly painful, that human victims go in shock, drown or die of heart failure before even reaching shore. Survivors experience pain weeks after the contact with box jellies.
You have virtually no chance to survive the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. After a sting, vinegar should be applied for a minimum of 30 seconds. Vinegar has acetic acid, which disables the box jelly’s nematocysts that have not yet discharged into the bloodstream (though it will not alleviate the pain). Wearing panty hose while swimming is also a good prevention measure since it can prevent jellies from being able to harm your legs.
Jelly box can be found in the waters around Asia and Australia.
2. King Cobra
(Image credits: Enygmatic-Halycon)
The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world’s longest venomous snake – growing up to 5.6 m (18.5 ft) in length. Ophiophagus, literally means “snake-eater” as it eats other snakes. One single bite of this deadly snake can easily kill a human. This snake is even capable of killing a full-grown Asian Elephant within 3 hours if the larger animal is bitten in a vulnerable area such as the trunk.
It’s venom is not as toxic as other venomous snakes, but King Cobra is capable of injecting 5 times more venom than black mamba and can result in mortality up to 5 times faster than that of the black mamba. It is quite widespread, ranging across South and South-east Asia, living in dense highland forests.
3. Marbled Cone Snail
(Image credits: Wikipedia)
This little beautiful looking Marbled Cone snail can be as deadly as any other animal on this list. One drop of its venom is so powerful that it can kill more than 20 humans. If you ever happen to be in warm salt water environment (where these snails are often found) and see it, don’t even think of picking it up. Of course, the true purpose of its venom is to catch its prey.
Symptoms of a cone snail sting can start immediately or can be delayed in onset for days. It results in intense pain, swelling, numbness and tingling. Severe cases involve muscle paralysis, vision changes and breathing failure. There is no antivenom. However, only about 30 human deaths have been recorded from cone snail envenomation.
4. Blue-Ringed Octopus
(Image credits: Tom Weilenmann)
The Blue-Ringed Octopus is very small, only the size of a golf ball, but its venom is so powerful that can kill a human. Actually it carries enough poison to kill 26 adult humans within minutes, and there is no antidote. They are currently recognized as one of the world’s most venomous animals.
Its painless bite may seem harmless, but the deadly neurotoxins begin working immediately resulting in muscular weakness, numbness, followed by a cessation and breathing and ultimately death.
They can be found in tide pools in the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Australia.
5. Death Stalker Scorpion
(Image credits: furryscaly)
Contrarily to the popular belief most of the scorpions are relatively harmless to humans as stings produce only local effects (pain, numbness or swelling). However, the Death Starker Scorpion is highly dangerous species because its venom is a powerful cocktail of neurotoxins which causes an intense and unbearable pain, then fever, followed by coma, convulsions, paralysis and death. Fortunately, while a sting from this scorpion is extremely painful, it would be unlikely to kill a healthy, adult human. Young children, the old, or infirm (with a heart condition) are at the biggest risk.
Death stalker scorpions are spread in North Africa and Middle East.
6. Stonefish
(Image credits: laszlo-photo)
Maybe Stonefish would never win a beauty contest, but it would definitely win the top prize for being “The World Most Venomous Fish”. Its venom causes such a severe pain that the victims of its sting want the affected limb to be amputated. It is described as the worst pain known to man. It is accompanied with possible shock, paralysis, and tissue death. If not given medical attention within a couple of hours It can be fatal to humans.
Stonefish stores its toxins in gruesome-looking spines that are designed to hurt would-be predators.
Stonefish mostly live above the tropic of Capricorn, often found in the shallow tropical marine waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, ranging from the Red Sea to the Queensland Great Barrier Reef.
7. The Brazilian wandering spider
(Image credits: Wikipedia)
The Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria) or banana spider appears in the Guinness Book of World Records 2007 for the most venomous spider and is the spider responsible for most human deaths.
This spider is believed to have the most potent neurotoxic venom of any living spider. Only 0.006mg (0.00000021oz) is sufficient to kill a mouse. They are also so dangerous because of their wandering nature. They often hide during daytime in highly populated areas inside houses, clothes, boots, and cars.
Its venomous bite causes not only intense pain, the venom of the spider can also cause priapism – uncomfortable erections lasting for many hours that lead to impotence.
8. Inland Taipan
(Image credits: kleinmatt66)
The prize for “The World’s Most Venomous Snake” goes to the Inland Taipan of Australia. Just a single bite from this snake contains enough venom to kill 100 human adults or an army of 250,000 mice. Its venom is at least 200 – 400 times more toxic than a common cobra. The Inland Taiwan’s extremely neurotoxic venom can kill an adult human in as little as 45 minutes. Fortunately this snake is very shy and there have been no documented human fatalities (all known bites were treated with antivenin).
9. Poison Dart Frog
(Image credits: ucumari)
If you ever happen to be running through the rain forests somewhere in Central or South America, do not ever pick up beautiful and colorful frogs – it can be the Poison Dart Frog. This frog is probably the most poisonous animal on earth.The 2 inch long (5cm) golden poison dart frog has enough venom to kill 10 adult humans or 20,000 mice. Only 2 micrograms of this lethal toxin (the amount that fits on the head of a pin) is capable of killing a human or other large mammal. They are called “dart frogs” because indigenous Amerindians’ use of their toxic secretions to poison the tips of their blow-darts. Poison dart frogs keep their poison in their skins and will sicken or kill anybody who touches or eats it.
10. Puffer Fish
(Image credits: Wikipedia)
Puffer Fish are the second most poisonous vertebrate on earth (the first one is golden dart Frog). The meat of some species is a delicacy in both Japan (as fugu) and Korea (as bok-uh) but the problem is that the skin and certain organs of many puffer fish are very poisonous to humans.
This puffy fish produce rapid and violent death..Puffer’s poisoning causes deadening of the tongue and lips, dizziness, vomiting, rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing, and muscle paralysis. Victims die from suffocation as diaphragm muscles are paralyzed. Most of the victims die after four to 24 hours. There is no known antidote, Most deaths from fugu happen when untrained people catch and prepare the fish.
Statistics show that there were 20 to 44 incidents of fugu poisoning per year between 1996 and 2006 in all of Japan and up to six incidents per year led to death. Since Fugu’s poison can cause near instantaneous death, only licensed chefs are allowed to prepare it.
Village Mayor is
Email this author | All posts by Village Mayor
November 5th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
i just like to look at the pic. with my kids and they know alot of the animals.thanx always
November 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
actualy ur thought is correct there are most venomous snakes they are called blecher sea snake s its because of their venom its more toxicated and neon toxic than king cobra .but king cobra can inject venom more than any other snake thats y it kills faster.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:50 am
I thought sea snakes were most poisonous?
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 am
I want one of those dart frogs!
October 30th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Hey, genius, it might help if you actually read the page. It can inject around five times the amount of venom, increasing its potency. Not that I verified that elsewhere, but if true, that would make it a strong competitor for its place.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
It should be defined by either potentcy of the vemon, or quantity? Or combination? Or by number of deaths? For shear volume of vemon wouldn’t the gaboon viper win?
October 27th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
This helped with my essay. Thank you !
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:53 am
How is the king cobra the most deadly snake? the black mamba is the most deadly! – proven
October 18th, 2009 at 12:50 am
how could king cobra be more poisonous then taipan as taipan has 1 st rank in most deadliest and toxic full snake and king cobra has 4 th rank
October 17th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
deadly
October 13th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
What about filter feeding organisms eg salt water mussels which have huge concentrations of cynano bacteria in their flesh. Apparently, certain crabs which feed on those mussels are the deadliest organism as the toxins are present in an even greater concentration in their flesh. They don’t produce the toxins themselves though, so probably don’t count!
October 9th, 2009 at 4:11 am
OK, very fine, but where do you place the Black Widow -Latrodectus Mactans- and the Fiddle Spider, i.e., the Loxoceles Reclusa? These two are the worst in all America, from the US down to Argentina and Chile!
October 7th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
SHITTT i picked one of them Marbled Cone Snail up when i was in the red sea just a few weeks back i read that they are poison but i didnt think that poison =[
October 7th, 2009 at 7:14 am
2nd should not be king cobra it’s the poison dart frog. The poison dart frog can have enough venom to kill 1500 people. I shall show you how a list of most poisonous animals to be.
1.) box jellyfish
2.) poison dart frog
3.) hydrophis belcheri (belcher’s sea snake)
4.) inland taipan
5.) poison arrow frog
6.) Brazilian wandering spider
7.) Philippine cobra
8.) king cobra
9.) puffer fish
10.) common krait
10.
October 7th, 2009 at 2:13 am
first of all, poison and venom are 2 different things, poison is inhaled, injected or seeps into your skin, venom is injected into the blood stream, second, the king cobra doesnt even make it on the list of top ten most deadly snakes. the inland taipan is the most venomous land snake, and third, the sydney funnel web spider is more potent than the wandering spider, the wandering spider is however more dangerous because of it’s aggressive nature. in fact, they have been known to chase people to try to bite them. so next time look up your facts a little better, in fact wikipedia might be a good place to start.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Wow! i did not know that the puffer fish was poisonous . And this is also an interesting website . Oh and i can use this for my report in science this website is very wonderful. I should really chat at Yahoo Messenger now and tell my friends and classmates about this and they can do this in their report too but the problem is that when our teacher sees our reports are mostly the same and then my friends and classmates will blame me for telling them and i will totally get in trouble and boom! detention ( LOL)
) . Well i hope that totally does not happen. I hate my lunch food at our canteen it looks like one of these poisonous. Well once when i went to a beach and it was summer i like saw a jelly fish when i was swimming in the beach and it was like chasing me it is a good thing i got out of the water even before that thing could reach me and i totally taught that it was a box jellyfish i was terrified . and then i saw a crab and i am scared of crabs and it was big so i ran super fast as i could out of our beach and went straight in our house . shocking!! OMG!!!!!!
September 25th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
The deadliest animal in the world is the MAN itself.
September 25th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
i had a Death Stalker Sc poisonousorpion , but a friend killed it when it almost entered their house. it is amazing that a gentle snail can be
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Wow! dis is educating…
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
to the other Josh:
The fierce snake is just an alternate name for the inland Taipan.
And the Pufferfish and blue-ringed octopus contain the same Toxin [Tetrodotoxin]
The toxin in the coneshell is extremely similar in that they both block the sodium channels of the nerve membranes and muscles.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Box jellyfish is not accurate since there are many types of them. More accurately, it is the Irukanji that is the most deadly.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
What about the Fierce Snake? I thought that was the most poisonous snake. at least thats what i learned on the crocodile hunter
September 8th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
The Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan or Small Scaled snake (all the same snake) is the most deadliest land snake, but not the most dangerous, that would be the Saw-scaled Viper or Carpet Viper (same snake). However, I would say the Black Mamba is possibly the most feared snake in the world with it’s general unpredictive and aggressive nature. The Taipan from Australia is another aggressive snake and comes in round three or four in the most deadliest snakes. Deadly and dangerous are of course two different things. All beautiful creatures none the less.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:22 am
its good to know all this strange facts about animals which look very innocent
August 31st, 2009 at 3:46 am
The problem with this list, and pretty much all others is that the differences between the venoms are too great. Different toxins, different amounts of toxins, different amounts of toxins released in each bite/touch etc. If you want to do it right you need to have about 100 lists covering all of these fields
August 26th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Hi Guys
I have checked out many lists for poisonous animals and one of my friends is a Biology teacher who has a special interest in these things and he told me the poison arrow frog is the most poisonous animal, in terms of spider he said it is a fight between the Funnel web and the Wandering spider
Take care all
August 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
yeh KIng KOBRA is really dangerous is amazing to heard that he can kill 100 adult human in one bite.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
The box jelllyfish is THE most lethal animal, just making it to the shore after being stung is an achievement, not the inland taipan which is a rather shy animal. Box jellyfish is the winner.
August 24th, 2009 at 1:53 am
10 Most Poisonous Animals in the World…
It is really hard to tell which animal is the most poisonous in the world….
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Just thought I’d let you know that the box Jelly fish, although rumour has it that it will kill you always if your stung…..is a huge myth !! I am a marine biologist and currently work for geographic so you can trust my info.
If not just google it…
most stings require only first aid but more serious ones however will need between 6 to 10 ampules of undiluted anti-venom.
I have been stung 4 times on dives off the whitsunday islands whilst observing the beautiful behaviour of the christmas tree corals and black tip reef sharks.
Yes it hurts like high heaven and you will wish you were dead but it’s very rarely life threatening.
hope this clears that up.
PS The Tai-pan to my knowledge is the most poisonous land snake in the world but there are species of sea snake that are far, far deadlier, such as the elusive belchers sea snake!
The overall winner of most poisonous species in the world is…..The golden poison dart frog.
Just 2/10 of a mere microgram is more than enough to kill a human in seconds!
I have observed these creatures in a natural habitat , they are beautiful yet truly the most dangerous creature in the world.
H
August 15th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
well for ya informationn the inland taipan snake should be the number 1 in here cause in can with 1 bite in can kill 100 humans adult
August 15th, 2009 at 9:03 am
puffer fish looks innocent,but its dangeriuos.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
This kind of awareness is very important for us but in India here in the north east state of mizoram. We have a controversy about ‘king cobra’ and ‘viper’ in which we named a kind of a deadly snake called ‘rulngan’….ha,ha.. we are very curious about the answer can you check out
August 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
The Belcher’s snake, as mentioned, is the most toxic snake in the world, and, coincidentally, also one the most docile ones ^_^
August 7th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Black mamba uses VENOM! not poison for your information.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
all you people about the black mamba it isn’t about the most dangerous animal its the most poisonous im not saying that the black mamba isnt poisonous im just saying stop complaning about how it should be on there because its fast and strikes mautible times. That is not wht this list is about.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
PROOF READ!!!!!! and also revise this list because you sacrificed its accuracy to incorporate a wide variety of animals, i wanted the top ten most poisonous animals in the world! not only did you get the wrong ones but you also got them in the wrong order!!!!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
HEY GUY’s there is a snake that is 5 times more poisinous than king cobra it is called blecher sea snake.its also faster than king cobra if i tell you guy’s sumthin you won’t belive i have a king cobra my self but i took he’s teeth out.king cobra is 1 hell of a snake!
July 27th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Well Black Mamba is the fastest snake in the world, even faster than human. T_T you have no choice but to have 1-1 fight with him. First strike would be the last strike >.<
July 26th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Sorry just one last thing about the Black Mamba! We have a saying in South Africa ” If a Black Mamba bites you in the velt just find a nice shady tree to lie under because corpses smell in the sun” . It’s aggression, speed, size , venom and the fact that it will keep on striking more than ten times in a row makes this snake very dangerous!! Thank you. I will like to know what you guys think?
July 26th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I think the black mamba is defnitely one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. This snake is highly venemous and one of if not the fastest moving snake and exremely aggresive. It is allso known to keep biting until it’s prey or enemy falls to the ground. I watched a documentry where one black mamba in a tree killed more than ten cattle that passed under him. Everytime a cattle passes by the mamba strikes with the same aggression and amount of poison again and again and again!!! When attacking a human or any large animal the black mamba can lift two thirds of its body in the air, making it stand on one third of it’s body.This is something as the snake can reach length’s of 4,5 meters, so you can basically stare death in the face, the only other snake that can compare maybe is the king cobra, but it is not as fast or as aggressive.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:24 am
http://z.hubpages.com/u/242836_f520.jpg —-> Image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mamba —-> Definition
July 24th, 2009 at 2:33 am
May be but still am not sure, bacause i do not know Black Mamba. May i have photo for black mamba?
Mhongera
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
You mean Black Mamba?
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:46 am
Thanks,
Actually, i real appreciate this kind of knowlegde as a teacher i think it will be good for me to pass this message to others. Sometimes people are dying or suffering without knowing the cause, but i want to know ”In Africa there are snakes it is said they are capable to stand with their tails and normally they bite to the head ’skull’ and they kill in few minutes-am not sure in which group those snakes can be?.
Keep it up, The World, we need people like you
Mhongera
July 12th, 2009 at 5:40 am
oh man i wish i woudt see a spider………………………………………….
July 12th, 2009 at 5:21 am
the puffer fish is so cute but poisenes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 12th, 2009 at 5:20 am
oh i went to the rainforest and……..by the way…………..wat corlours does piosen frog have???????
July 10th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
what about irukandji its the box jellyfish’s cousin or something and its the size of a tumb nail
July 1st, 2009 at 5:21 pm
how can the puffer fish be poissons when it looks cool?