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Home to monstrous crocodiles and the highest population of most venomous snakes in the world, it might seem like everything in Australia is trying to kill you, but a new report is squashing such stereotypes. Hold your horses: the continent's most deadly animals may come as a shock.
Okay, bad joke. But you get the picture. Horses and cows actually caused more deaths than sharks, snakes, and bee stings combined, reports ABC News.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the seemingly farm-friendly animals were responsible for 77 deaths between 2008 and 2017.
Mammals were the second deadliest in the animal category, accounting for 60 human deaths, followed by 27 deaths caused by hornets, wasps, and bees. Sharks and other marine animals killed 26, snakes and lizards 23, dogs 22, and only then did crocodiles make the list at 17.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, really. Earlier this year a study revealed the most deadly animals in the US – home to snakes, wolves, and bears – are also farm animals and domestic mammals.
Statistically speaking, Australians are pretty unlikely to be killed by animals in general. When looking at leading causes of death in 2017, the report found that more than one-in-10 recorded deaths were due to coronary heart disease, even though that number has decreased by more than 20 percent.
Dementia-related deaths, including Alzheimer’s disease, remains the second leading cause of death after having increased by 68 percent over the past decade accounting for more than 13,000 deaths in 2017. Cerebrovascular diseases, chronic lower respiratory disease, and cancer of the trachea, bronchus, and lung rounded out the top five leading causes of death.
With more than 3,000 deaths, intentional self-harm rates increased by more than 9 percent since the year before ranking as the 13th leading cause of death in 2017.
[H/T: ABC News]
