Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Are you brave enough to pull back the curtain on the world╒s nastiest
natural born killers?
It╒s time to line up the top 10 most wanted creatures on the planet as we
countdown to find the animal with the highest human hit rate.
Discover the difference between the quick and the dead when dangerous
animals are taken to The Most Extreme.
Earth is a planet of extremes, extreme places, and extreme animals.
But some animals are more extreme than others.
Join us as we countdown to find the most unusual, the most extraordinary,
The Most Extreme.
Some animals really are killers.
Hollywood loves transforming these ordinary creatures into monsters from
our worst nightmares.
But just like the celluloid villains, real creatures sometimes do kill
people.
We╒re going to find out why and reveal which animals are the most deadly to
humans.
So you╒d better watch your back.
Because tonight some might try to kill you.
Our first contender starred in one of the most terrifying motion pictures
ever made.
Steven Spielberg╒s 1975 movie became the first film to make more than
$100,000 at the box office and it changed the way we think about beaches
forever.
Cruising in to number 10 in the countdown is the star of jaws, the
great white shark.
We╒re terrified of these gigantic predators and with good reason.
Around the world sharks led by species like the great white kill an average
of four people every year.
So what makes the shark so deadly?
One reason is hidden in its mouth.
Our mouth has 32 teeth specialized for cutting and grinding.
But a great white shark doesn╒t chew its food.
It has 56 seven centimeter long teeth for cutting flesh and to keep them
sharp, the shark has seven rows of replacements waiting in line giving it
a mouthful of 392 razor sharp teeth.
We need an extreme mouth to fit in all those teeth and even bigger neck
muscles to help power those jaws.
We╒d be able to bite clean through bone with an estimated force that╒s
eight times more than the average human bite, more than 140 kilograms
per square centimeter.
Scientists studying shark attacks off the coast of South Africa have
discovered that great whites need every bit of power just to take out
their favorite food.
The shark launches a surprise attack often from directly below their
target.
They ambush surface swimming seals at speeds in excess of 40 kilometers per
hour.
Great whites may strike their prey up to three times before feeding.
It╒s thought that they╒re tasting their prey.
They╒re looking for a meal rich in fat because it contains so much stored
energy.
A shark can survive for more than a month on just 27 kilograms of seal
fat.
Humans may not have as much fat as the seal, but sometimes we can move like
one.
Sharks have eyes that are 10 times more sensitive to light than our own.
But sometimes they can get confused.
The great white╒s love of fatty food might explain why in 96% of the hits
on humans, the shark only bites once.
Could it be that our skinny bodies leave a bad taste in their mouths?
Are we the shark equivalent of Brussels sprouts?
If you can survive that first bite and a surprising number of victims do, you
may live to surf another day.
So has our fear of sharks been blown out of proportion?
In American, you╒re 200 times more likely to drown in the ocean than
getting killed by any shark.
But despite the risks, some people want to spend as much time in the
water as possible in both life and death and it╒s not just people.
Some pets will spend an eternity in the water.
Just ask Sharon and Bob Benefield.
Maggie was just absolutely awesome in the water.
The things she used to love to do with the children were just -- you couldn╒t
keep her out of the water.
So when Maggie, their pet black Labrador died, the Benefields decided
that her ashes should be made into a permanent memorial.
Eternal reefs make environmentally friendly tombstones by mixing the
remains of a loved one into concrete casts.
After personalizing the mould and curing the concrete in the sun, the
memorial is ready for its final journey.
Maggie╒s cast will become part of an artificial reef which will form a new
marine habitat in one of Maggie╒s favorite places.
There are now over 200 eternal reefs in four states in America and they╒re
designed to last for well over 500 years.
The Benefields have even decided that when their time comes, they╒ll be
joining Maggie to spend eternity with hundreds of other marine species.
As people spend more time under water, we╒re beginning to realize that the
shark╒s reputation is worse than its bite.
It may not be the mindless killer seen in Jaws.
And although our next contender is no movie star, it╒s far more deadly than
the shark, thanks to another truly terrifying bite.
In Africa, people are used to living surrounded by killers.
So it takes an extreme animal to cause 4000 people to flee their villages in
Malawi.
They were scared away because in just seven days during 2003, one animal
killed three people and severely injured another 16.
It was the hyena.
Hyenas sneak into number nine on our countdown because they take an average
of up to 50 human lives every year.
In the cold light of day, hyenas are not the cowardly scavengers we once
thought they were.
A study in the Kalahari found that 70% of their diet was composed of direct
kills.
A single spotted hyena can catch an adult wildebeest after chasing it five
kilometers at speeds of up to 56 kilometers per hour.
The massive jaws of a hyena are probably the strongest in relation to
body size of any mammal.
They need all that power to hunt down and chew up the five kilograms of food
they eat every day.
So what chance would humans have against a clan of animals that can
easily outmuscle
a lion?
Most carnivores' digestive tracts are short, but the hyena has very long
intestines.
This means it can extract nutrients out of everything from bone to rotting
flesh.
Decaying carcasses are full of dangerous bacteria like cholera,
botulism and anthrax.
But they╒re no problem for the hyena╒s cast iron stomach and super strong
digestive juices.
That╒s why hyenas are nature╒s sanitation workers.
Humans have to employ other methods of getting rid of dangerous wastes.
Most people simply flush potentially harmful bacteria away and think no
more about it.
Sewer pipes deep underground remove the waste products out of our lives.
But there╒s s problem.
The arteries of America╒s sanitation system are clogging up.
American restaurants create nearly one and a half billion kilograms of cast
off fats a year.
In cities like New York where waste water and storm water mixes freely,
most of this fat ends up down the drain pipe.
But water and grease don╒t mix.
The fat solidifies in the sewer pipes to create what city authorities called
a municipal heart attack.
Every year in New York╒s 10,000 kilometers of sewage pipes, over 5000
fat based backups have to be chiseled away.
Ironically, the most notorious grease spot is in a section of Queens called
flushing.
Perhaps the department of sanitation should think about employing a pack of
hyenas.
They thrive on a diet of fat and would love a sewer.
In the wild, they regularly feast on dung.
But don╒t be fooled by the hyena╒s disgusting table manners.
This predator is definitely the countdown╒s most underrated killer.
We╒re diving down the countdown of the most extreme killers on the planet to
find a creature that really has a sting of death.
Jellyfish flow into number eight in the countdown because every year they
claim more lives than sharks.
Although most jellyfish are harmless, it╒s estimated that 55 people die
annually from jellyfish stings and the tentacle terror responsible for most
of the carnage is the box jellyfish.
In the warm waters of the tropics, these transparent creatures are almost
impossible to spot.
And although the box like mantle of this jellyfish is safe to touch, it
has weapons of mass destruction attached to its tentacles which are
covered in 4000 million stinging cells.
An adult with 60 tentacles harbors enough venom to kill more than 50
people.
Each stinging cell is like a tiny harpoon that penetrates the skin of
its prey.
It takes just 3000th of a second for a cell to unravel.
Then like a miniature hypodermic needle, it injects a powerful
neurotoxin.
The poison targets the central nervous system causing paralysis of not just
the body, but the heart and lungs.
Death by box jellyfish can come quickly.
There╒s a story of a 38 year old man from Townsville, Australia who died
just 10 minutes after being stung.
If you╒re badly stung by a box jellyfish, you╒re going to need
emergency medical treatment and injections of anti-venom to bring you
back to life.
But have you ever wondered what happens if you have a brush with
death?
When I died, I float through the ceiling and then I went through this
tunnel.
I went into tremendous place of peace, a place of great light.
A sense of complete oneness, peace that I╒ve longed for ever since.
So many people have reported similar experiences when brought back to life
that a team of researchers at the Randstad Hospital in Holland started
an investigation.
They discovered that 20% of cardiac arrest patients reported experiencing
sensations long after their brain seized showing signs of activity.
One patient in the study displayed a remarkable out of body experience.
The man had collapsed while out walking and arrived at the hospital
with no heart or brain function.
He was brought back to life by a team of emergency doctors.
When he woke in the hospital after a weeklong coma, he identified all the
medical staff who had helped to revive him and even recalled where they had
placed his false teeth.
As yet, science has no answers to explain what happens in these cases
where the brain has clinically stopped functioning.
And not surprisingly, few people are willing to volunteer for research
studies especially if it means being stung by a box jellyfish?
These killers are such a menace that Australia authorities have installed
nets on high risk beaches.
But you╒ll need more than a net to keep out our next cunning contender.
So far we have been stung by deadly jellies and chased by hordes of
hyenas.
But still to come, what animal hunts us down even when we think we╒re safe
indoors?
And what African hunters can kill you in the blink of an eye?
Find out next on The Most Extreme.
Our countdown of the most extreme killers in the natural world continues
on the film set of the 1966 movie Born Free.
The movie was based on a true story of how George and Joy Adamson adopted and
raised three orphaned lion cubs.
It looked like fun and games.
But behind the scenes the crew were constantly breaking up catfights
between the two leading ladies, Virginia McKenna and Elsa, the lion.
Even before filming started, Virginia╒s so called tamed lion broke
her leg.
It just shows how dangerous big cats can be.
Every year around the world, big cats like lions, tigers and leopards kill
at least 80 people.
They╒re specialized predators that have the size and the speed to take
down animals at least three times their body weight.
So killing a human would be easy.
If you were as big and as strong as a lion, you╒d have to bulk up with
enough lean muscle to tip the scales at over 220 kilograms.
You╒d need a set of seven centimeter long razor sharp claws and 10
centimeter fangs.
A lion╒s bite has been measured at 70 kilograms per square centimeter, more
than enough to shear through flesh and sinew.
And you can't outrun the king of the beasts.
It has a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
Perhaps the most famous of all the killer cats lived back in 1898 in
Tsavo, East Africa.
Construction of a railway line was going according to schedule until they
entered the realm of a pride of hungry lions.
29 laborers were killed in three months before work on the line was
finally stopped.
The railway company sent hunters to Tsavo to try to remove the lions, but
the hunters soon became the hunted.
Late one night after the hunters had retired to the railroad cabin, the
lions broke in to claim yet another victim.
But don╒t think you╒re safe just because you╒re not living on the
plains of Africa.
It╒s estimated that some 15,000 exotic big cats are being kept in the United
States alone where tigers have killed at least nine people in the last five
years.
It just goes to show that big cats are great predators, but poor pets.
Our search for the world╒s most extreme killers takes us to mainland
Asia where our next contender regularly raids farmers╒ crops.
And when an invasion is eminent, the safest place to be is up in the trees.
That╒s because stomping in to number six in the countdown is the elephant.
It doesn╒t let anything get in the way of its jumbo sized hunger pangs.
In some parts of India no matter what people throw at them, elephants
raiding crops and stores can cause massive damage.
Some males carry out 50 raids a year and can eat a quarter of a ton of
grain each time.
Trying to stop these massive animals can be bad for your health.
Elephants throwing their weight around kill an average of 300 people every
year.
But it╒s the bulls that are responsible for 80% of all deaths.
To find out why, you just have to take a close look at a gland between their
eye and ear.
Two or three times a year, the bull╒s testosterone levels skyrocket and the
gland dribbles a rancid smelling secretion.
The bull is in musth, a Hindi word that means intoxicated.
That╒s because bull elephants under the influence of extra testosterone
are more than a little disorderly.
As anyone who works with elephants will tell you, it pays to keep your
distance when a bull is in musth because he is armed with tusks that
can grow more than two meters long.
This man was lucky to escape with his life when a bull in musth skewered him
through his abdomen.
Too much testosterone might make elephants a little bit edgy, but
there╒s also a period in every man╒s life when hormones can be a killer.
Recent analysis by researchers at the University of Michigan showed that
three men die for every woman during the years between adolescence and
adulthood.
Testosterone is apparently directly responsible for a rise in reckless
behavior.
Like all other primates, young males are just trying to convince females to
mate with them and sometimes this may mean doing things that are not great
for personal survival, but will certainly catch a female╒s attention.
Increased testosterone levels are also vital for love struck elephants.
It╒s the boost they need to fight against other sex crazed males for the
right to mate.
Unfortunately an elephant in musth has been described as smelling like a 1000
goats in a pan.
Female elephants on the other hand find the awful odor a real turn on.
They interpret the pungent smell as a sign of a healthy, virile bull.
It╒s just humans that would be well advice to keep their distance.
So far we╒ve seen bull elephants in musth and wildebeest eat the dust.
But still to come, we╒ll go swimming with a killer than can hold its breath
for an hour.
And what eight legged monster kills with more than just its claws?
Find out next on The Most Extreme.
We╒re on the run from our next most extreme killer because the scorpion
really is a giant cause of death.
It╒s number five in the countdown because it kills up to 1000 people
every year.
But strangely enough it╒s not the really big scorpions you have to worry
about.
At the natural history Museum of Los Angeles County, educator Robert
Spellman lets kids loose with the largest scorpion on the planet.
This is the world famous emperor scorpion from Africa and like most
scorpions, this animal has a stinger on its tail.
Look at the size of that thing.
Here is the rule in scorpions; the larger the claws, the less powerful
the venom.
To find really deadly scorpions, just travel to the Palm Desert in
California, wait for night to fall and shine an ultraviolet flashlight.
No one is sure why scorpions glow under ultraviolet light, but we do
know that these fat tailed scorpions kill with their venomous stings.
Usually they use their venom on other scorpions.
Today in America, if you╒re stung, your chances of dying are remote
thanks to good medical care.
Your chances also improve if the scorpion has set its sting on stun,
not kill.
Instead of wasting venom on self defense, the scorpion can inject a
special pre-venom that causes extreme pain.
It╒s a great deterrent and easier to manufacture than the complex cocktail
of chemicals that make up the deadly true venom.
Strangely enough scientists have discovered that one of the chemicals
in scorpion venom maybe able to help people diagnosed with glioma, a
debilitating form of brain cancer.
A team of researchers from the University of Alabama have discovered
a chemical compound in scorpion venom called chlorotoxin that actually hunts
down cancer cells.
The team are attempting to manufacture these chlorotoxins in the lab, so that
one day we╒ll have a treatment for lethal gliomas.
Scorpion venom may soon help to save as many lives as it takes.
But there╒s no cure for the bite of our next contender.
You need to keep a close eye on this extreme predator.
Stepping into number four in the countdown is an ancient reptile that╒s
changed very little in the last 60 million years.
Of the 21 different species of crocodile that cruise the world╒s
tropical rivers, only two, the Nile and the salt water crocodile will
attack humans with enough regularity to be called man-eaters.
Killer crocs take an average of over 1000 lives annually in the world╒s
tropical waters.
Most attacks on humans have been when they╒re swimming, washing or fording
rivers where the crocs are attracted by the disturbance.
The attacks are so brutal, they regularly make headlines.
Crocodiles have no trouble killing a human.
They can grow up to seven meters long and weigh over 900 kilograms and
they╒re armed with incredible jaws.
Imagine if we had jaws like a crocodile.
A study in 2002 found that a saltwater crocodile nearly five meters long
slammed its jaws shut with more than 1700 kilograms of force, the strongest
bite yet measured.
This would be like being hit by jaws that slams shut with the force of a
small truck behind them.
And since crocodile teeth are meant for holding, not chewing, crocs rip
their prey apart by spinning at up to 100 revolutions per minute.
They don╒t call this the death roll for nothing.
Sometimes, the crocodile will store its victim underwater.
Once prey start decomposing, it gets a little easier to rip apart.
A watery grave may not be everyone╒s ideal burial ground, but there are
some people who have even stranger final resting places.
Manufacturers in Nottinghamshire, England decided to put some flare into
dead end designs as David Crampton explains.
I'd have never thought few years ago that we would be making crazy coffins.
David and his team make coffins that help celebrate an individual╒s life.
Some coffins can take a few weeks to build, so it pays to plan ahead just
like Kevin and Gwen Newpegs.
It may look like it╒s a narrow boat, but it is actually a coffin.
I do fit here.
It╒s a tight squeeze, but I can fit in.
Let╒s just hope that I don╒t grow anymore.
I can't see no weirdness in it.
Perhaps you prefer a dumpster or skip coffin.
John Graton Fisher certainly doesn╒t think it╒s weird.
Spend my life with skips.
( speaking in foreign language )
Most people find it hard to imagine ever being swallowed by a dumpster or
a crocodile.
But not all the killers in the countdown live in such far out places.
Our countdown of the world╒s deadliest animals gets a little closer to home
when we meet a monstrous insect with a reputation that╒s been blown
completely out of proportion.
And what poisonous reptile has struck down this doggy dummy?
Find out next on The Most Extreme.
Look out, a swarm of killers is invading America.
Flying in to number three in the countdown are the bees, Africanized
bees to be precise.
The legendary killer bees swept in to the United States in 1990.
With them came hysteria and fear because everybody had heard that this
strain of bees from Africa was ferocious.
Since their accidental release in Brazil, they have killed 1000 people.
It can be difficult to distinguish between African bees and their
European cousins unless you happen to stumble across a hive according to
Africanized bee removal specialist, Derek Taylor.
A European queen when you upset her will send between 20 or 30 attack
bees, will happen no matter how big the colony is in.
They╒ll sting for shorter distance.
The Africanized queen will usually send around half of the colony.
So with these mammoth colonies like this, we can get anywhere between 10,
20 even 30,000 bees in the air at a time.
There╒s enough venom in 1000 stings to kill a human being which is why people
are keen to remove Africanized nests from their backyard.
These bees are far more aggressive than their European cousins because
back in Africa there are far more animals hunting their honey.
That╒s why they had to develop such extreme defense mechanisms to survive.
But European bees can be just as deadly.
More than two million Americans are allergic to bee venom.
A single sting can kill in just five minutes.
Bees are number three in the countdown because it╒s been estimated that their
stings kill about 1500 people around the world every year and some victims
are blissfully unaware that they╒re allergic to bee venom until it╒s too
late.
Often the cause of death is misdiagnosed as a heart attack or
stroke.
Sometimes determining the exact cause of death can be difficult which is why
a growing number of law enforcement agencies are hiring a new breed of
investigators.
Noreen Renier is a psychic detective.
She claims to be able to reconstruct crime scenes using a technique called
psychometry.
I╒m going to start by just touching the bridle.
Psychometry is touching an item and getting impressions from that item.
I see images in my head.
If we╒re doing a homicide, I╒m usually seeing images of the bad guy, what he
looks like.
I see a face, I see an oval, oval face.
Noreen translates her information to a police illustrator who draws an
identikit picture based on her description.
Glasses, the hair is a little bit back, it╒s going back.
Noreen also claims to feel the pain associated with each crime.
I would put him in my 40s, in his 40s.
Psychic evidence may not be admissible in court, but it can give police and
private investigators a new lead to follow when other parts of the
investigation have drawn a blank.
While one bee sting may be hard to detect, it╒s easy to see what happens
when it calls for reinforcements.
But not even the terror associated with killer bees can compare to the
fear and loathing we have for the next deadly animal in the countdown.
Our next extreme killer could be sliding in to a neighborhood near you.
Snakes are number two in the countdown because according to the World Health
Organization they kill an average of 40,000 people every year.
And yet recent research suggests that snakes could be far more deadly if
they wanted to.
Researchers have discovered that snakes can consciously decide whether
to inject venom or not because 25% of the bites tested were dry.
Since venom is physiologically expensive to produce, non-toxic bites
coupled with good medical care may explain why in the United States less
than one in every 1000 venomous snake bites is fatal.
But people are not the only things that are stuck if they get bitten by a
snake.
Every year in America, thousands of pets are treated for snake bites and
now you can give them a fighting chance by attending a Red Cross pet
first aid course.
To turn your head on the side like this, you can see the chest rise right
here and you place your hand right here.
It╒s estimated that around 20% of cats and dogs bitten by snakes will die.
But by learning the basics of CPR and mouth to snout resuscitation, you
increase your pet╒s chances of survival.
The sad fact is that snakes needn╒t be such extreme killers.
They╒re most lethal in countries where shoes are rare and medical care is
poor.
But still to come is an animal that puts the bite on people all around the
world and kills not in the thousands, but millions.
We╒ve seen the nine contenders.
They╒re the deadliest creatures in the world.
Only one animal is a more extreme killing machine.
It╒s number one and it╒s coming up next on The Most Extreme.
The most extreme killer on the planet is a serial slayer that murders
millions of people every year.
It╒s definitely public enemy number one with a most unusual criminal
profile.
Criminologists agree that if we were looking for a human serial killer,
it╒s likely to be male, unmarried and aged between 20 and 30 years old.
The profile for our most extreme killer couldn╒t be more different.
We╒re looking for an adult female.
She is pregnant and her appetite for blood will double her body size.
Her weapons are like some kind of lethal Swiss army knife.
There are blades for cutting, a hypodermic needle for injecting saliva
and a vacuum hose for sucking up blood.
She╒d be one scary fem fatale if only she was more than a few millimeters
long.
Flying in to number one in the countdown is the female mosquito.
According to the World Health Organization, every year she╒ll kill
about 2.7 million people.
But it╒s not premeditated ***.
The female mosquito is just looking for a meal of blood to nourish her
unborn children.
When a mosquito bites, she is using two sharp blades to cut into the flesh
and pierce a blood vessel.
Then, one hollow tube sucks up blood while the other injects saliva which
contains an anticoagulant to stop the blood from clotting.
And this is where the problems start.
Unfortunately the saliva may also carry passengers, parasites that feed
on the hemoglobin in our red blood cells.
And the worst of them all is malaria.
The first symptoms of malaria occur 10 days to four weeks after infection.
They include fever, headaches and nausea.
Malaria is the biggest killer in human history, more deadly than all the
world wars and famines combined.
In World War II and the Vietnam War, more soldiers were put out of action
by malaria than by bullets.
Imagine who terrifying the disease must have been in the days before
modern medicine.
Ancient Rome was particularly hard hit by malaria.
The Romans thought the disease was associated with a terrible goddess, a
less than attractive old hag with a protuberant stomach and swollen spleen
of a chronic malaria sufferer.
Although the Romans didn╒t link mosquitoes to malaria, they did
connect the disease to swamps and marshy ground where the mosquitoes
breed.
They thought it was stagnant air that caused malaria.
In fact, the Roman words for mad air were mal and area.
Today we know malaria is carried by mosquitoes, but it hasn╒t made getting
rid of the disease any easier.
And malaria is just one of more than 100 diseases carried by the mosquito.
Two and a half billion people live in areas where mosquito transmitted
disease are endemic.
They have good reason to be afraid of this tiny killer especially since
numbers of pesticide resistant mosquitoes are steadily increasing.
No wonder then that of all the deadly animals in the world, the mosquito
really is The Most Extreme.