Sunday, May 6, 2012

5 Truly Awful Ways To Be Killed By An Animal

5. Electrocution
Electric eel
Electric eels are elongated, fresh water fish, native to the Amazon and Orinoco rivers in South America. They are not really eels, but a kind of knifefish (and related to catfish). They are among the deadliest denizens of the South American rivers. It has not one, but three specialized organs to produce electric currents strong enough (600 volts, sometimes more) to stun or kill an adult human. It is believed that many “unexplained” disappearances of people while swimming in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, could be due to them being stunned by an electric eel and drowning, or even, dying because of the eel’s discharge itself. Many of these deaths are often blamed on attacks by predatory animals such as piranha or caiman. The electric eel doesn’t eat human beings; it feeds on smaller fish, crabs and small mammals. It only attacks in self defense, and handling an electric eel or even entering the water wherever these fish are common should be avoided at all costs.

4. Constriction
Python, anaconda
Pythons and boas (anacondas being a kind of boa) are not venomous. They have very sharp teeth to hold on to their prey, but they rely on constriction for the actual kill. This means, they coil around the victim (once they have secured it with their teeth) and squeeze so that the unfortunate animal doesn’t have any space to breathe. Every time the victim tries to inhale, the snake squeezes harder. This deadly “hug” is so powerful that even blood can’t flow. As a matter of fact, death comes usually because of cardiac arrest/stroke, and not asphyxia as was once believed. Although some smaller snakes (such as king snakes and gopher snakes) use constriction to kill prey, pythons and anacondas are the best known constrictors, and the scariest, too, since these cold-blooded predators have been known to kill and eat humans once in a while.

3. Drowning and Dismembering
Crocodile
Among large predatory animals, crocodiles are the ones that kill the greatest number of people every year. They are often said to be among the few animals that still see humans as perfectly suitable prey. To deal with large prey, crocodiles use the “death roll”. Called by some “the most powerful killing mechanism” of any animal, it consists of the crocodile holding its prey with its jaws (usually by the neck or a limb), dragging it to the water and spinning its entire body; this is usually enough to dismember the unfortunate victim. They can do this on dry land as well. The scariest part is that the crocodile really doesn’t care if the prey is alive or dead when it starts feeding; by doing a death-roll, it is really trying to tear the prey into smaller, easier to swallow pieces. Many humans lucky enough to escape a crocodile attack, have lost entire limbs to this devastating feeding method. But most victims die of blood loss, shock or simply drown before they have a chance to escape.

2. Bitten through the Brain
Jaguar
Most big cats kill prey by strangulation. From the house cat to the tiger and lion, they all go for the neck/throat in most cases, biting so hard and holding so tight that the victim either chokes or has a stroke. In some cases, the bite is deep enough to pierce the windpipe, the jugular vein, or even to snap the neck vertebrae. It often takes a few minutes for a big cat to strangle a large prey to death. But the jaguar is a completely different story. This formidable cat, found in Mexico and Central and South America, has been known to strangle some prey once in a while, but it usually goes for a faster, deadlier method; it simply bites through the skull and pierces the brain, causing instant death. It has particularly long and thick fangs, and incredibly powerful jaws to do this (actually, its bite is much stronger than a lion’s or a tiger’s, relative to the cat’s size). The skull bite allows the jaguar to kill armored prey such as caimans, as well as the, now extinct, glyptodonts (giant relatives to armadillos), and they have also been known to use this killing method successfully against feral bulls weighing almost half a ton. You could ask, if the jaguar kills its prey so quickly and efficiently, why is it in the list? Shouldn’t the other cats be worse, since it takes minutes for them to strangle prey? Maybe, but it seems that for some not so big, or not so armored prey, the jaguar doesn’t bite through the top of the skull, but rather sinks its fangs into the victims ears! Can you imagine the fangs of a giant cat stabbing through your ears and going into your brain? That’s the stuff of nightmares.

1. Gutted by Giant Bird
Cassowary
The Cassowary is the only bird that made it to this list. Sure, protective parent owls clawing your eyes out and causing you to fall down a tree to your death (it has happened) are scary, but these birds are usually harmless unless you do something really stupid. While the vegetarian Cassowary (found in the rainforests of Australia and New Guinea) is usually a shy animal, and will try to avoid confrontations, males can be extremely aggressive at times, and zookeepers agree that cassowaries are among the most dangerous creatures to keep in a zoo. Listed by the Guinness World Records as the world’s most dangerous bird, the Cassowary has an enormous, dagger-like claw on the second toe of each foot. When confronted, it will leap into the air and kick its enemy, kung fu-style, using the deadly claws to cause serious injury. It can, literally, claw your guts out. And even if it doesn’t, the kick is mighty enough to rupture your internal organs and cause massive internal bleeding and death. Needless to say, you should never approach one of these birds, particularly if they are captive or protecting their chicks.

Source : http://top5s.net

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