People Share The Local Animals From Their Countries That You Should Watch Out For

Usually, when animals are near humans they tend to shy away. This is especially the case with wild animals, who tend to duck into the shadows or back into the woods if there are humans nearby. Some animals are more social and are just fine greeting humans no matter what the circumstance is. Here is a list of those sort of animals who are unafraid to be social with the locals.

Unsplash

36. Sneaky Taipan

Currently holds the number one and number three positions for most venomous land-based snakes on the planet. One other member of the family may well be even more venomous but no one has worked up the courage to actually find out. Understandable considering the guy who was the first to catch one for scientific study and milking was bitten and later died.

Very aggressive snake, won't slink off if you bother it. It's more likely to try to chase you down instead. One man was bitten on the hand by a Taipan... while he was driving past in his car. It may have been an accident as the snake may have been trying to attack the car.

I have encountered one of these lovely little fellas when I opened a manhole to get to some cables I was working on. The snake was sleeping on said cable and informed me that I should probably leave him to his nap. He did this by standing up and looking me straight in the eye. The guy I was working with at the time took a swing at it with a sickle (we use these to clear long grass around the manholes) and missed which just made the snake off even more.

I learned two important facts that day. The first is you don't mess with taipans. The second is Usain Bolt ain't got nothing on me when it comes to sprinting through long grass with a Taipan in pursuit.

35. These Taipans Don't Stop

I took my dog for a run at the park and out of nowhere, this snake appears on the little dirt path. I had the dogs lead in my hand since the dog was running free. The snake stood his ground and didn't budge. I threw the lead at him and it landed just in front of him, bouncing into his raised chest. He still didn't run. The evil Taipan slides over the lead and starts chasing me! Yes, I'm pretty fast and I was screaming like a little girl - so embarrassing.

So yeah, don't mess with Taipans - no fear at all.

This was a popular park on the Gold Coast of Australia.

Before It

34. Frightening Polar Bears

I have been told by people who know (they live in the Arctic) that if you are out on the ice and you see a bear, it's already too late. He has been stalking you, perhaps for hours. A grizzly might leave you after he feels the threat is gone but a polar bear will just straight up eat you.

I went to Alaska and had a tour guide taking our group on a hiking trip. The guy had a weapon on his hip and I noticed it had the front sight filed off. I thought that was odd, so I asked him why he would grind off the sight and he said, "It's in case of polar bears. This way, when the bear takes it from me and shoves it up my backside, it won't hurt as much."

Polar Bear International

33. Terrifying Bull Sharks

People are saying sharks, but Bull Sharks is the more appropriate answer. I'd rather be swimming in an area with Great Whites if I was out in the water.

The bull shark is the scariest shark. An incredibly hardy shark can survive in fresh water for a good amount of time, and I think can swim as shallow as 4 or 5 feet.

PADI

32. Burly Bison

Bison. I've said this before so I'll just copy the text.

Can't emphasize this enough. They are very calm and relaxed while grazing precisely because they are 1000lb+ beasts that can, and will, mess you up. Both males and females have horns, their skulls are super thick, and their hide is very tough. They are strong as all get out, can run up to 35 miles an hour, and are afraid of nothing. They will charge and gore you in a flash and will ram you the mess out of your car just like that State Farm commercial. Back in the 1800's (before they were hunted nearly to extinction) they were considered more dangerous than even grizzly bears. Always give bison a wide berth and if you happen to encounter them on a road just stop and let them pass. Don't get out of your car and definitely don't approach one. They'll leave you alone so long as they don't see you as a threat.

Bison Entertainment Group

31. Hungry, Hungry Hippos

They sound like Jabba the Hutt laughing. I spent the night in a cabin next to a pond with a dozen or so of them (Kafue National Park, Zambia, 15 years ago), and you could hear that all night. We were also emphatically told not to leave the cabins under any circumstances at night, as they would be up and about — and would hurt us.

When I was in Africa one of the guides said: "The hippo, he bite you in two!"

I stayed at a place really close to a lake with lots of hippos. Since they do like to get out wander around the land they had to have some.. defenses. In the form of a 6-8 foot deep trench backed by barbed wire and guards. All because of hippos.

My dad grew up in rural Kenya. He told me the scariest encounter of his life was when he was nearly attacked by a hippo.

One day while swimming with one of his friends in the river near his house he noticed an unusual head coming towards him. Moving ridiculously fast. His friend started screaming and well... He started to swim, incredibly fast. The hippo was gaining on him. Lucky for him he was a strong swimmer at the time and he made it to land.

But Oh no, Mr hippo didn't just call it a day and leave him alone. Oh no, this four-ton freak chased my dad on to land meaning he had to quite literally run for his life. Keep in mind that Hippos can run up to 30 km/hr.

30. Cassowaries, The Murder Turkeys

Cassowaries. Straight up giant murder turkeys. Watching them stalk their keeper on some YouTube video I can't remember really drives home the birds are dinosaurs thing.

Fun fact: only one person has been killed by a cassowary and it was after he and his brother had the genius idea to try and beat the living dinosaur to death with sticks.

The one documented human death was caused by a cassowary on 6 April 1926. 16-year-old Phillip McClean and his brother, aged 13, came across a cassowary on their property and decided to try to kill it by striking it. The bird kicked the younger boy, who fell and ran away as his older brother struck the bird. The older McClean then tripped and fell to the ground. While he was on the ground the cassowary kicked him in the neck. The boy died of his injuries shortly afterward.

Copper Creek

29. The Sydney Funnel Web Spider of Doom

28. Wedge Tailed Eagles

These guys have no natural predators and so not only do they attack hang gliders and drones on the regular but it's an anecdote that if you see a Wedgie sitting on the road (since they tend to eat roadkill) you want to avoid it.

Why?

Because they lack the part of their brain that causes fear since that's where their brain stores more murder, so when you drive at it with your car the Eagle thinks "That guy's gonna run away from me. I'm the top bird." They only realize your Holden Commodore has no fear either at the last second.

At which point they jump into the air, going straight through your windscreen. Leaving you with an angry velociraptor with a 2-meter wingspan in your passenger seat.

The Conversation

27. The Isis of the Sea

26. Watch Out For Moose

MOOSE. THEY WILL MESS YOU UP. Deer will run away, moose will stand and fight. And they will win.

I used to sell Grille Guards for pickup trucks. Actual question on the phone: "Will this stop a moose?"

Answer: "If you can tell me the weight and height of the moose, and the speed and direction you will be traveling, as well as the make model and trim level of your truck or SUV, then I can confidently tell you the answer is - NO.

I was riding my bike through my neighboorhood when I was about ~13 and I started hearing a "clomp clomp clomp clomp" behind me.

Turned my head around and there's a moose chasing me down. I had to bike as fast as I could for a good 15 minutes before it lost interest.

Psychopaths, all of them.

Edit: for the 10th time no, I'm not from Canada. Good try though, all of you.

Maine Moose Tracks

25. The Psychopaths of the Insect World

Wasps. They are the diagnosable psychopaths of the insect world. I might be only saying that because they're the reason why I have to have an EpiPen.

Enviroguard Pest Control

24. Emus: Human's Greatest Enemy

23. Geese

My neighbors kept geese when I was a kid. Those were some vicious animals. They'd square up against my mum's Great Dane no problem.

I had a Doberman when I lived in France. We used to take him to the water all the time. When he was about 7 or 8 months old, he took off after some ducks and there was one goose. The ducks cleared out but the goose didn't. It proceeded to chase him which he took as a game. That goose had no intention of giving up and got him really good on the nose. We moved back to the states shortly thereafter.

From that point on he was fearful of any waterbird until he was about a two years old. One day we were at a favorite pond in town and a goose chased him away from the water. I guess he decided that his fear of geese was over. In the span of about a minute, there were 2 dead geese and he swam for about 10 minutes chasing the others. He totally ignored the ducks.

A Lean Journey

22. Killer Orcas

They're remarkably clever too. One hunting technique is to create large waves to knock prey into the water so it becomes easier to catch.

That specific hunting technique is only observed on the Antarctic Peninsula. Even in other icy habitats, they don't use it. This suggests that the pods in this region developed the technique themselves, and have taught it to younger orcas as generations passed.

Similarly, they'll happily beach themselves to access prey, and will use this technique to coincide with the tides to ensure they don't become stuck. Again, this technique is only seen in a certain area, suggesting it's a product of their own ingenuity and has been subsequently passed down.

They're brutally awesome animals.

underwater-photograph-shot-by-freediver-jacques-de-vos-whilst-diving-with-o-1541452517260.jpg Red Bull

21. Honey Badger Don't Care

Forget about backing down, these guys instigate fights with bigger animals! There was a video recently of a honey badger that kept escaping from its man-made enclosure and going to the lions and picking a fight with them.

Youtube

20. Trash Bandits

19. German Shaped Charge Antitank Weapon

Ferrets. A ferret may be backing up hissing when you as an unknown person enter the room, but that's not because it's afraid of you, it's because it's trying to buy time to figure out how to kill you.

I owned a ferret along with 2 dogs and 4 cats. The ferret would go out of its way to try to murder the cats, especially the Norwegian Forest Cat. It couldn't hurt them, the cats would just swat it away and go on with their business knowing that the little dummy was a part of the flock, presumably viewing him as some sort of violent yet adorable crazy little person. But wow, the thing would latch on to their necks trying its best to "choke" them. At best the ginormous Norwegian would lay itself down on it leaving it struggling and hissing like an angry five year old on a sugar rush. It was hilarious.

The dogs had it a lot tougher. They were large dogs, an English Setter and a mix between a Labrador, German Shepard, Border Collie, Lapland-dog and one more I can't remember. Google "Karelian Bear Dog" and that's how it presented itself. The little guy would rush at them and jump towards them and latch on like a badger. Once the "Karelian" got so surprised and jerked so hard the ferret got thrown 10~ feet across the room hitting the wall (he hadn't even reached the theoretical apex of his flight when he hit it). The rampant panzerfaust didn't even flinch, it just ran straight at the dog and attacked again, this time latching on to the dog-collar after parkouring up his front leg. Poor Max didn't know what to do, he just danced backward trying to see what was happening at his throat and my mother had to yank the ferret away before he accidentally hurt himself. The dogs knew not to attack him, they were gentle giants.

New people he hadn't met before got the nip treatment if they sat on our living-room sofa. Ferret-missile would rush across the top of the sofa and attack them, sometimes drawing blood.

Zorro was not afraid of anything or anyone, no Sir.

Youtube

18. Cottonmouth Jerks

17. Miniature Dragons of Doom

Komodo Dragons.

1635265504_5486125183001_1247369377001-vs-1541453988270.jpg Sandiego Zoo

16. Boxing Champions of the Animal Kingdom

Kangaroos. They can beat you up, and they know it.

Unsplash

15. The Nest You Should Never Touch

14. Fearless Pigs

13. Wolfish Wolverines

12. Big Cats

Big cats. Did you see that video of the woman in China get dragged away by a tiger after stepping out of her car? Or the lion that actually opened a car door? Big cats are scary.

Unsplash

11. Chihuahua Devils

I dog-sat one of those little guys once. It came at me after I had just fed it, in my own home!!

It got my hand so I did the "shove your arm in its mouth until it can't bite down" thing, shoved it onto its back and just pinned it down. Figured it would realize I was much, much larger than it was and submit.

3 hours later, I'm still on the floor, pinning down this murderous, half-witted, chihuahua. My arm is numb. I need to use the washroom. My own dog is looking at me like I'm as stupid as a chihuahua. For 3 hours this rat that had the guts to impersonate a dog has been struggling, growling, flailing and still trying to bite the air. All while making this god awful "ack, ack, ack" noise.

And no, it wasn't choking. I checked.

Finally. Finally, it gives up and goes limp. I waited for another 10 seconds or so. Praised the dog finally submitting, and released it.

At which point, it used my floor as a washroom.

So, I took the stupid thing on a 5-mile hike until it was too worn out to give me any more attitude, put it in my bathtub with its food, water, and dog bed and left it there until my friend came to get it the next day.

I'm still not sure who won the encounter.

There are many animals that are friendly, however, there are many who will chase after you if you are not careful. The next time you are out in nature, beware of those creatures that aren't afraid to go after humans.

Flickr

10. The Quietly Fierce

Cheetahs are a special case. They are built for speed. And not that big, they weight 50-150 pounds. They have thin light bones, and they refuse to fight because an injury will keep them from running and they will not be able to hunt and will starve. So after they catch an antelope and a little wild dog comes to fight them for it, they just leave.

But Jaguars? They weigh 125-350 pounds, and their preferred method of hunting is to bite through the skull between the ears to destroy you instantly.

There's videos of them on youtube sneaking perfectly silent through the jungle, sneaking up on an alligator, by walking through 2-foot deep water and not making a sound, not splashing at all, and then catching it in one bite, then carrying it off like it weighed 5 pounds.

Flickr

9. Mosquitos: Human Serial Killers

Mosquitos are responsible for more human deaths than even humans are! It's nuts the body count they have racked up in the tropical areas of the world.

Unsplash

8. Mooing Brick Walls

Cows just take a car crash like champions too. They're like hitting a mooing brick wall.

I like to refer to cows as battle tanks. You hit a cow with your car by accident and you are in for a bad day. God help you if it gets on the hood and a hoof goes through the windshield.

Flickr

7. Unafraid Sponges

I can't imagine a sponge would be very scared of me.

Flickr

6. Geckos of Jet-Black Hatred

Tokay geckos.

While large, Komodos are monitors and can be tamed and even friendly.

Tokay geckos, on the other hand, are made of jet-black hatred, birthed from the bowels of hell.

Unsplash

5. Feral Pigs

Unfortunately, feral pigs like to eat rattlesnakes so the ones that don't rattle have been surviving and reproducing...meaning that rattling isn't as common as we'd like it to be for rattlesnakes

Jeremy Cohen Flickr

4. The Stingray That Got Steven Irwin

"I try to intimidate the stingray into being docile."

Clatter

"Darn."

"Alright, the stingray gets even more angry and takes a stab at you."

Clatter...."Oh man." Clatter. "Jesus, so uh, the stingray gets you for 30 damage."

"Oh.."

Unsplash

3. Black Mamba of Death

I see your Taipan and raise you the Black Mamba, the guys grow huge, will chase cars and people and their venom will kill you in minutes.

Flickr

2. Brown Recluses Murderers

Because most spiders are spider bros. Except maybe if you're in Australia. And brown recluses in the US, those bad guys, they will kill on sight.

Flickr

1. Killer Cobras

It's similar behavior to how a lot of humans have historically responded to rewards. In colonial India, the British offered up bounties for every dead cobra you brought them, which they figured would lead to a decline in cobra populations, and everyone would be safe. Instead, people started breeding cobras and then bringing their bodies in, to get more reward, because it's easier than going out and catching wild ones. The British figured this out, abolished the bounty, and then every breeder just released all their now worthless cobras, making the cobra problem worse than ever.

Something similar happened with rats in French-controlled Vietnam. Bounty for dead rats, people started breeding rats, bounty abolished, rats freed, rat problem worse than ever.

Flickr