As of April 25, 2017, which member of the animal kingdom was the deadliest to human beings?

Killing an estimated 725,000 people each year, the mosquito was the animal most dangerous to people around the world. While most people in the developed, industrial part of the world consider these buzzing pests to be nothing but a nuisance, they carry deadly diseases, including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile disease, and Zika.

Numbers five through nine on the list are also tiny creatures. Tied for fifth place are the tsetse fly, assassin bug, and freshwater snail, each of which kills around 10,000 people a year. The Arcaris roundworm took eighth place by dispatching 2,500 humans a year, with the tapeworm close behind at number nine, with 2,000 kills.

The rest of the list’s occupants were larger animals. The snake held third spot on the killer list by ending the lives of at least 50,000 people a year; however, many fatal snake bites are not reported. At number 10, the crocodile kills 1,000 people a year, followed by the hippopotamus (#11) at 500, the elephant (tied at 12) with 100 kills, and the wolf and shark (tied at 14) with 10 kills per year apiece.

The dog, at number four, kills 25,000 people a year, but not by direct attack; nearly all of the human deaths caused by “Man’s Best Friend” are due to transmission of the rabies virus. Viruses are not part of the animal kingdom. But, in second place, taking 476,000 people’s lives every year, is a creature that definitely is part of the animal kingdom, the human being.