The Deadliest Animal in Australia

The deadliest animal in Australia is probably not one you’d guess. After all, there are plenty of deadly creatures in Australia that you could argue are trying to kill you. Or maybe Australia is one of the deadliest places in the world. The thing is, they only disguise the real threat to life down under. Horses.

As it turns out, horses have killed more people in Australia than all of the venomous critters combined. The data taken from between 2000 to 2013 shows horses are the deadliest animal in Australia, but I suspect that might not have been the case before widespread access to antivenom was a thing.

Despite Australia being known as the home of some extremely venomous creatures, I find it quite surprising that they aren’t the culprit for most injuries and deaths. If you give it some thought, the more time spent around an animal the more likely it is to kill you – equestrian friend or otherwise. In that case, it makes sense that horses would be the deadliest animal in Australia.

Australia’s deadliest animal in figures

Between 2000 and 2013, there were a reported 74 deaths caused by horses. I’ve no idea if this is people getting trampled, falling off, being kicked or any other gruesome way that death-by-horse can occur.

The second deadliest animals in Australia were stinging bees and insects which, equalling snakes, caused 27 deaths. That’s not even a third of the deaths caused by horses.

Surprisingly, our arachnid houseguests weren’t responsible for a single death in this period. I’m guessing that trapdoor spiders living in your sun visor and scaring you as they drop onto your lap and cause you to crash your car aren’t counted here. That’s probably classed as a road traffic accident.

Other deaths were attributed to ticks and ants (5), marine animals (3 – and all box jellyfish) and then the final 2 to “Unknown animals and plants”.

If you work that out you get a total of 64 deaths to animals and plants in Australia that weren’t horses. Let that sink in. Horses alone were the cause of more deaths than all the other plants and animals combined.

That’s not to say that those venomous creatures didn’t hospitalise people or cause serious injuries – it just means that they didn’t cause any deaths. To put that into perspective, although spiders weren’t responsible for deaths, they were responsible for 11,994 hospital visits. That’s almost double the 6,123 visits that were caused by snakes, who, as mentioned were responsible for 27 deaths.

Healthcare 1 – 0 Deadly Australian Wildlife

So before you decide to put off that trek through the outback because you might get bitten by creepie crawlies – remember that they’ve not managed to kill anyone for a while and I’m sure the flying doctors will do their utmost to keep you in the land of the living. Equally, don’t avoid a ride on a jet ski for fear of being stung by a box jellyfish.

Do, however, avoid swimming anywhere that warns you about saltwater crocodiles. They kill people.

If you want to take a look at the stats yourself, you can find more information in the Internal Medicine Journal, or check the write up over on the BBC.