Welcome back to yet another episode of 72 Dangerous Animals Africa and here's a look of our third group of animals:
1. Black-backed Jackal (
Lupulella mesomelas)
A cunning predator in Africa, Black-Backed Jackals is known to be widespread across Africa and is seen as a common lifestock predator. The slender body and the jaws of it makes it a perfect predator for small animals and livestocks. Jackals tends to avoid human population, however, due to constant livestock predation, and sometimes a disease vector for diseases like Rabies, humans constantly hunt them, albeit with not much succession due to rapid breeding rate.
2. African Crested Porcupine (
Hystrix cristata)
As you can see, this rodent is covered with long giant quills that runs along its back. Although African Crested Porcupine is a passive and nocturnal animal, which means human conflicts are very rare, the quills along the back are obviously nothing to be messed with, as it is known to have killed hyenas, leopards, lions, and even humans in some cases.
3. Black-necked Spitting Cobra (
Naja nigricollis)
This snake, like every other spitting cobras on this list, is capable of spitting venoms that if unwashed, will cause permanent blindness and irritation to the eyes. The bite of Black-necked Spitting Cobra can also cause a lot of hemorrhaging and tissue necrosis, albeit the mortality rate caused by this snake is extremely rare (within 5-10%), and the habitat it covers prefers to stay away from human populations.
4. Secretary Bird (
Sagittarius serpentarius)
This bird is very much well known with its beautiful crown-like feathers, but also armed with sharp talons and beak, which made them predatorial towards small animals. Secretary Bird is also well known to hunt venomous snakes like cobras and adders, which added infamy to this bird. However, human conflicts are very much rare, and fatalities from this bird are either none or unheard of.
5. Tiger Shark (
Galeocerdo cuvier)
Second to only Great White Shark for the most recorded known human fatalities, the jaws of the Tiger Shark is fit for an apex predator like them. It's not very picky in terms of determining what kind of food it would snack on, as it would eat anything from crustaceans, fishes, sea turtles, smaller sharks, and even inedible human garbages, which earned them a reputation of the garbage can of the sea. Even though most of the human-related attacks are related to curiosity/mistaken for a prey, it is still very much deadly due to the strong jaws and aggresion and is a predator to be feared by many.
6. Deathstalker Scorpion (
Leiurus quinquestriatus)
The name of this scorpion is very much intimidating to many. But the venom of Deathstalkers, while very painful, won't usually kill normal human adults. However, it can still be deadly for children, elderly, and sickly that is unfortunate enough to be stung by this scorpion, especially to those who are allergic to stings.
Here's the full rank of the third group:
1. Tiger Shark
2. Black-necked Spitting Cobra
3. Deathstalker Scorpion
4. African Crested Porcupine
5. Black-backed Jackal
6. Secretary Bird
Reasoning: It's very much obvious that Tiger Shark would win the top of the list due to the fact that its aggresion is unmatched and many humans have unfortunately suffered from the jaws of it. Black-necked Spitting Cobra comes second, because it is clearly not as deadly as Tiger Shark but is very much dangerous. While Deathstalkers comes in third because human adult fatalities are very much rare while still is a dangerous predator. African Crested Porcupine comes fourth due to not preferring to fight with humans, but is still very defensive when it wanted to. Black-backed Jackal comes in fifth due to the fact that they prefer not to have conflict with humans, and lastly Secretary Bird comes in sixth due to the fact that while it is armed with sharp beak and talons, human conflicts are very much unheard of.
Top 10:
1. Nile Crocodile
2. Bull Shark
3. Tiger Shark
4. Mozambique Spitting Cobra
5. Spotted Hyena
6. Green Mamba
7. Rinkhal
8. Black-necked Spitting Cobra
9. Deathstalker Scorpion
10. Cape Coral Snake
Tiger Shark climbs into the number three spot of the list, pushing everybody besides Nile Crocodile and Bull Shark down a spot, while Black-necked Spitting Cobra and Deathstalker Scorpion climbs into 8th and 9th spot respectively, throwing out Weeverfish, Lionfish, and European Wasp off the list. But who will be the next contender that will most likely overthrow these animals off the list? Stay tuned and find out on the next episode of 72 Dangerous Animals: Africa!
