I used to think the King Cobra was the deadliest snake but was jolted when I stumbled on some articles on snakes. I got to realize that the Inland Taipan was far more deadly. The snake can release about 100-200 mg of venom from one bite and that was enough to kill one hundred six foot tall humans.
I also found out that the Black Mamba slithers at speeds of up to 12.5mph and that without antivenin within 20 minutes, the fatality rate is almost 100 percent. This is rather scary. This information on snakes really got me thinking and I had to go all the way to find out which animal is the most dangerous. What I found out was a bit funny but frightening.
Man, that is you and I are the most dangerous animals. Since I couldn’t contain it, I decided to share my frightful discovery with you. Let’s look at our activities one by one, I’m sure you will agree with me at the end.
Construction works
Humans in our bid to be comfortable end up in destroying the well-established nature. Trees are fell at random, the environment with all the organisms that abound are thrown into confusion, many are destroyed, while others are dislodged.
We are able to accomplish this with our toys – the earth-moving equipment, like bulldozers, excavators, and tractors. After the construction works have been finished, another form of destruction by man sets in. Roads which are one of the results of man’s construction effort is another agent of destruction.
An estimated 1 million vertebrates die on roads in the United States every day, as a result of road mortality. This is one of the major causes of the decline in wildlife population and the extinction, we are experiencing in some certain species.
Wars
One very serious activity of humans that kills in millions, is war. The essence of war could be annexation, expansion, and show of power, all of which are just flimsy excuses to satisfy our urge to destroy and kill.
When Germany invaded Poland, the second world war was started. Over 60 million people were killed in that war, which translates to 3 percent of the world population. About 420,000 souls were lost by the United States despite the fact that it was not a war front.
The Gulf war took its own casualties having been started with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in this war, the United States had 383 fatalities.
Some others that we initiated include; the Mongol Conquests with about 60 to 70 million lives lost, World War 1 leading to 17 million deaths, Manchu Conquests of China with 25 million deaths and the Napoleonic Wars killing 6.5 million people. I have all along been talking about the killing of people, I’m sure you do, however, realize that being conservative, millions of trees and other living, as well as non-living things, must have been destroyed as well.
This was culled from a witness on the bombing raid by Luftwaffe on town of Guernica in Spain, “slowly and mechanically, heavy Junker 52s unloaded 100-pound bombs on the train station, a church, the marketplace. Then the swifter Heinkel 51s swooped over, strafing the fleeing villagers, machine-gunning donkeys and sheep, spilling incendiary bombs on rooftops and streets.”
Amassment of weapons
Man’s quest to destroy leads to reckless amassment of weapons. North Korea just recently launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the entire country went into a celebration. The Newsweek reported that “There is so much joy, in fact, that even the wife of leader Kim Jong Un has come out of hiding.”
If you have not actually given a serious thought to what Kim Jong Un is going to hunt with his missiles, I shall help you. You, I, our cattle, sheep, the trees surrounding us, our roads, crops, buildings, streams, and rivers; these and a lot more are what the hunter Kim Jong Un, is targeting. Possibly, you didn’t see the situation this way, then I just let the cat out of the bag. The true scenario is that there are thousands of Kim Jong Un out there.
The U.S Department of Defense was said to have observed that, while Iranian missiles( nuclear weapons) may not be able to reach America, Iran having a nuclear weapon capability is a direct threat to the United States and its inhabitants.
Other forms of man’s brutality
Here, I will take you to other hideous activities initiated and executed by us. Take a look at terrorism, armed robbery, kidnapping, assassinations, and poaching. It may be true that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, but that is neither here nor there. The important thing here is the number of people this man and his ISIS have succeeded in killing. At least, more than 33,000 people were killed between 2002 and 2015.
I don’t need to remind you of Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What do you think Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader is doing in the North Eastern part of Nigeria?
Killing and maiming people of course. All these and more are terrorist acts initiated by man to annihilate and wipe humans off the surface of the earth. A lot of people regard the mosquito as the most dangerous animal on earth and that they are responsible for the death of between 2 and 3 million people every year.
I’m sure if the small creature can talk, it will say something like “Hi bro, I only take a squirt of your blood out of that great pool and for reproductive purposes only. By the way, where do you place my friends like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Mohammed Omar, Ayatollah Khomeini, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, Mao Zedong, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the HAMAS and of course Osama bin Laden?”
It may go on to say ”the parasites I accidentally inject into you can be treated, but the arsenals unleashed on you by these my friends destroy both you and our beautiful environment.”
Poaching is where man displays a renewed form of brutality. Animals that should ordinarily be wandering about are isolated, only for the man to pick them off as a game from time to time. Man will kill the elephant not because he is hungry but because he wants to use the tusks for ornaments. Snakes and crocodiles are killed because we want to use their skins for shoes, bags, and belts.
Environmental pollution
One other very dangerous aspect of humans is the wastes we discharge into the environment. We have virtually in our quest for riches subjected the earth into one bundle of unhabitable mass for both animals and plants.
Our industries continually release greenhouse gases and effluents into the atmosphere. We are feeling the impact of the global warming today, plants are feeling it, animals are feeling it, our rivers, streams, lakes, seas, and oceans are also feeling the impact. That is how bad it is.
I know you will be tempted to say I’m not one of the guys doing this thing, then what have you done to help out the situation? It is true that people like Warren Buffet, Sir Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Pierre, and Pam Omidyar, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Azim Premji among others are doing their utmost best to leave the world a better place than they met it. The battle here concerns everybody.
You must play your part and I mine. We can’t just leave it to a handful few. That is the only solution to the problem. The earth can do without you or I, but we can’t do without it.
Photo Credit: Berlin NewZealand Flickr via Compfight cc
