What kinds of dangerous/parasite animals are in your area?

[Sophia]

Summer is almost here and people tend to spend more time outdoors. That is very pleasant and most of us enjoy the sun and warm weather. But there may also be some dangerous creatures, especially in some areas. What are the most common dangerous, venomous or parasite animals in your area?
In my area, there are thankfully only a few of them compared to the rest of the world. It is not uncommon to meet a bear in the woods and they sometimes visit villages to eat out of garbage bins. You can meet a boar quite often, too. We only have one type of venomous snake living in the mountains that could kill a young child or an adult with weak immune system or heart disease. But that doesn't happen very often. The most common parasite in my area (with the highest % of contamination in the country) is a tick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick They are very common and spread encephalitis and borreliosis. Two people I know got borreliosis from them. I only got a tick once in my life as far as I know but our cat and dog get many of them each year from running in tall grass. Recently a person I know got one inside his ear. It hurt and his lymphatic node swell and he didn't know what's going on. Than someone looked inside his ear with a flashlight and there was a big tick. They were able to remove it and the swelling disappeared but the person still has to pay attention to symptoms in case it was contaminated.
What about your area?

 

[Borek]

I live way too close to you for any differences

 

[Pepper Mint]

In my area pets should be injected with special meds periodically to help control fleas, ticks and other body bugs or parasites as well as to prevent growth of dangerous bacteria that may harm their owners or other people when they get accidentally bitten. Personally, I am more concerned about intestinal parasitic worms since they are a lot more common in my area when food or vegetables are not well cooked or washed. I do take some antiparasitic drugs once per every 6-9 months though.

 

[Psinter]

In my area, there are thankfully only a few of them compared to the rest of the world. It is not uncommon to meet a bear in the woods and they sometimes visit villages to eat out of garbage bins.

You have also met a bear?! Argh! Why am I the only one who hasn't met one! *throws a tantrum then cries*

I think the most dangerous of my place are mosquitoes. It is true that most people survive them. At my place, death caused by flaviviruses is a rarity compared to the amount of population who gets infected and survives them. And it is also true that some people don't even show symptoms of being infected. No fever no nothing, their bodies take care of the virus without making a ruckus.

But still, even if most people survive, because it is something that has possibilities of killing the host (meaning that it can happen, even if probabilities are low), I'd say it is by far the most dangerous animal of my place.

 

[Sophia]

You have also met a bear?! Argh! Why am I the only one who hasn't met one! *throws a tantrum then cries*

I think the most dangerous of my place are mosquitoes. It is true that most people survive them. At my place, death caused by flaviviruses is a rarity compared to the amount of population who gets infected and survives them. And it is also true that some people don't even show symptoms of being infected. No fever no nothing, their bodies take care of the virus without making a ruckus.

But still, even if most people survive, because it is something that has possibilities of killing the host (meaning that it can happen, even if probabilities are low), I'd say it is by far the most dangerous animal of my place.

Lol luckily I've only seen bears in the zoo because I don't walk in the woods too often. I don't even pick mushrooms as most people here do. Mushroom picking (is picking correct word?) is considered a national sport here with a few reports of poisoning each year. But I've seen deer and does and heard a boar :-)

Mosquitoes must be so annoying! I hope you've got some good repellent!
BTW How's your spider alarm system that you mentioned before?

 

[George Jones]

From my city's website:

"Wildlife in general can be found throughout the city. Bear, moose, deer, songbirds, waterfowl and a host of other animals are frequently spotted in urban and rural settings.

See
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/bear-attack.872318/
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/workplace-hazard.694221/

Also fox. While walking to school, my daughter and I often see fox crossing the street.

 

[Psinter]

Lol luckily I've only seen bears in the zoo because I don't walk in the woods too often. I don't even pick mushrooms as most people here do. Mushroom picking (is picking correct word?) is considered a national sport here with a few reports of poisoning each year. But I've seen deer and does and heard a boar :-)

Mosquitoes must be so annoying! I hope you've got some good repellent!

Yes, picking is a correct word. It must be cool to pick mushrooms. You know, all this time I've been calling deers not by the name deer (in English), but by Bambi . (In my language I call them by their name, not bambi)

Look! A bambi!
-Me in English

I have a good repellent that says in the package it is natural. I don't believe it is that much natural, but it works.

Bambi's are not dangerous, are they? I mean deers.

BTW How's your spider alarm system that you mentioned before?

It's not even in stage 1. I wanted to make that, but I don't have the money to buy the cameras. So it is just a wishful project (and it will probably stay like that for a long time). As a matter of fact, someone littered in front of my house and it makes me so mad that I can't catch who did it because I don't have for cameras. I'm 100% sure it wasn't a bear because bears don't drink energy drinks and because there are no bears in my country.

 

[Dr Transport]

teen age drivers...

 

[f95toli]

I live in London The only wildlife we get are foxes (LOTS of them, and they like our garden) and deer in the parks.

In the part of Sweden where I grew up there are bears and even some wolves(neither are really dangerous to people)...and lots and lots of mosquitoes

 

[Mondayman]

There was a cougar found inside the city, and a moose wandered into a mall once, but nothing more than that. You have to drive outside the city to find any dangerous wildlife. Inside the city, however, we have Canada's worst drivers. Now that can be dangerous.

 

[ogg]

Ohio: People (obviously) are number one danger. 2 is probably dogs. This is ignoring bacteria and viruses (eg pneumonia is a great killer especially of the old...and there are a couple of food borne bacteria). Supposedly we have a rattlesnake (maybe 1 known fatality ever recorded) and in the south of the state water moccasins. Mosquitoes carry several diseases, as do ticks. I'd guess #3 is white tailed deer. They're so stupid that they hit or get hit by cars leading to traffic deaths. Maybe #4 is bee stings - which are generally only serious if you're allergic. We rarely see black bears, but they're not like the brown/grizzly bears of other places in the USA and almost never a real problem. This is just my guess, we have pretty good statistics, but I'm too lazy to look them up. Actually, I re-read this and think the bee stings might be more dangerous than deer. Malaria used to be a problem 150-200 years ago, but draining the wet-lands all but eliminated the threat long before I was born (which was a long long time ago)

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Right now I live in new jersey, the worst we have is ticks, but I used to live in the woods of Pennsylvania. I've run into bears many times, there territories are quite large and several of them overlapped on my property. Seen some really big ones, but even the big ones are scaredy cats. They're only dangerous if they have cubs.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Reports of bears around San Diego are uncommon and considered anomalous. The most dangerous thing that is still around is probably the rattlesnake. Coyotes are numerous. They often kill and eat people's pets, cats and dogs. The mountain lion or cougar has been seen in San Diego county, and has attacked people elsewhere in California, so it's a rare but real danger.

Also, we're right on the ocean, and the ocean has it's dangerous beasts: sharks, stingrays, jellyfish. Of these, jellyfish stings are the most common injury and shark bites the least common.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I live in London The only wildlife we get are foxes (LOTS of them, and they like our garden) and deer in the parks

Same, I could set my watch by the screeching of foxes at night.

 

[Kevin McHugh]

In SF we have rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and lion fish (venomous), we have boar, sharks, barracuda, alligators, black bear and panthers. Sharks and alligators are probably the most dangerous. I've only killed one 6 foot rattlesnake in 6 years on my property.

 

[aquitaine]

Coyotes. Not really dangerous to people but they are a real threat to pets.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Here's a picture of an urban coyote visiting a Quiznos.

It was a hot day, so the cooler must have been attractive.

 

[nsaspook]

http://www.kptv.com/story/28028812/fourth-person-attacked-by-owl-in-salem-park

 

[Sophia]

In SF we have rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and lion fish (venomous), we have boar, sharks, barracuda, alligators, black bear and panthers. Sharks and alligators are probably the most dangerous. I've only killed one 6 foot rattlesnake in 6 years on my property.

Wow what an adventurous area :-) must be fun to live there except for the snakes!

 

[mfb]

The most common parasite in my area (with the highest % of contamination in the country) is a tick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick They are very common and spread encephalitis and borreliosis.

We have them here in Germany as well.
Apart from that... there are a few wolves, bears are extremely rare, boars are more frequent but usually avoid contact to humans, too.

Here's a picture of an urban coyote visiting a Quiznos.

It was a hot day, so the cooler must have been attractive.

I wonder if you could make it drop products out of the cooler.

 

[Rubidium_71]

For parasites, mainly just ticks and mosquitoes. For dangerous animals, bears, bobcats and porcupines (porcupines are dangerous to dogs, which is all the same to me.)

 

[Kevin McHugh]

Wow what an adventurous area :-) must be fun to live there except for the snakes!

The wildlife where I live is stunning. I am out in the orange groves, which has the lowest population density in the state. We are home to kites, birds of prey, and this is the only place in the US you will find them. We are home to the crested cara cara, another bird of prey, one of the rarest birds in the US. Check out our swallows!

 

[Kevin McHugh]

How very coincidental, I just found two 3 ft alligators in my pond. I just took a pic of one, I'll post it later. My neighbor had a 6-7 footer in his pond, but it eventually moved on a couple of months ago.

 

[Mark44]

My wife and I live in a small housing development out in the sticks in Western Washington State (US). The lots in our development are not quite 3 acres, much of it in trees. We regularly get deer in the yard, as well as raccoons from time to time. A couple of years ago I saw a young cougar, probably around 60 lb. I haven't seen any bears (black bears), but other people in the development have seen them a few times. There is a stream that flows through our property, and one of our neighbors took a picture of salmon in the stream.
I've seen coyotes a few times, and there are quite a few rabbits. With the stream going through the property and a detention pond that collects rainwater from the street, there are literally thousands of little frogs. This time of year they make quite a racket.

 

[Sophia]

The wildlife where I live is stunning. I am out in the orange groves, which has the lowest population density in the state. We are home to kites, birds of prey, and this is the only place in the US you will find them. We are home to the crested cara cara, another bird of prey, one of the rarest birds in the US. Check out our swallows!View attachment 101273 View attachment 101273

That's amazing! That's place of my dreams. When can I come to visit you? :-)
The same question goes to @Mark44 :-)

 

[Kevin McHugh]

That's amazing! That's place of my dreams. When can I come to visit you? :-)
The same question goes to @Mark44 :-)

Any time you like. Seriously

 

[Kevin McHugh]

Here's one of the little buggers

 

[Pepper Mint]

Centipedes are also good friends in my area. They look horrible at first but I am told they are good to keep my house clean from cockroaches, bedbugs, silverfish etc. Plus, their venom that causes pain in bitten people can also be used to produce similar chemicals in pesticides or ointments that work as pain relievers or killers.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I've seen coyotes a few times, and there are quite a few rabbits.

Once the coyotes get established, you won't see so many rabbits.

 

[Psinter]

Once the coyotes get established, you won't see so many rabbits.

That makes me sad.

On the other hand I question the intelligence of this dog: (It's a gif)

Spoiler: Dog vs baby bears

Source

 

[StatGuy2000]

I live in a large city in Canada (Toronto), so as far as parasites are concerned, the worst are ticks, mosquitoes, and the occasional black flies (out in the country in Ontario, I would expect there would be more black flies and mosquitoes, as well as ticks).

As far as dangerous animals (excluding reckless humans behind a car! ), within Toronto there really aren't any, unless you consider foxes and coyotes to be dangerous (which they really aren't, given that they usually fear humans and won't approach people). Further out in the countryside, (potentially) dangerous animals in Ontario include black bears, rattlesnakes (the Massassauga rattlesnake is native to this area), grey wolves, bobcats, and the Canadian lynx.

 

[Megaquark]

I live in an area with ticks, mosquitoes (which are one of the most disease spreading and therefore deadliest animals to man), mountain lions, badgers, rattlesnakes, and buffalo. I've personally encountered several of these, also the occasional rabid skunk The buffalo are especially scary if they have calves, I like to give those animals lots of space.

 

[Megaquark]

For parasites, mainly just ticks and mosquitoes. For dangerous animals, bears, bobcats and porcupines (porcupines are dangerous to dogs, which is all the same to me.)

I drove a grain cart while harvesting wheat one summer and saw a porcupine in Montana get sucked up by a combine. Talk about traumatic experiences...

 

[ebos]

We have a few million humans around that are starting to scare the pants off me. Otherwise everything is pretty normal: black bears, coyotes, raccoons, eagles, hawks, opossum, turkey vulture, all our insects are cool except for the occasional Black Widow (but Lyme Disease-carrying ticks are appearing due to warming) and cougars who only come to town after a long hot summer to poach our pets. But I have never had a dangerous encounter with any of these animals except the humans.

 

[ebos]

I drove a grain cart while harvesting wheat one summer and saw a porcupine in Montana get sucked up by a combine. Talk about traumatic experiences...

Wanna know a neat thing about combining? While helping a farmer in Alberta harvest his wheat fields one summer, I realized that thousands of grasshoppers get sucked into the combine along with all the wheat stalks they sit on. I also noticed that grasshopper heads are almost exactly the same size as a wheat kernel. Combines are designed to separate out wheat kernels after they're done dismembering the wheat (and the grasshoppers). So guess what also comes rolling out into the wheat bin along with the kernels of wheat? Mmmmm... extra protein.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

In the part of Sweden where I grew up there are ... lots and lots of mosquitoes

Those Swedish mosquitoes are much more vicious than the UK version. I worked in Sweden for a few years. Camped out one night near a lake on a canoe trip, and the mosquitoes attacked my hands during the night. They were like blown-up rubber gloves in the morning, nearly spherical with fat fingers sticking out. Couldn't hold the paddle like that, even after taking antihistamines; had to be a passenger for the rest of the trip.

So after that I carefully avoided any risk of mosquitoes as long as I remained in Sweden (but later capsized a sailing dinghy into a mass of jellyfish, which was even more unpleasant).

 

[1oldman2]

The buffalo are especially scary if they have calves,

You got that right!

 

[Megaquark]

Wanna know a neat thing about combining? While helping a farmer in Alberta harvest his wheat fields one summer, I realized that thousands of grasshoppers get sucked into the combine along with all the wheat stalks they sit on. I also noticed that grasshopper heads are almost exactly the same size as a wheat kernel. Combines are designed to separate out wheat kernels after they're done dismembering the wheat (and the grasshoppers). So guess what also comes rolling out into the wheat bin along with the kernels of wheat? Mmmmm... extra protein.

I saw the exact same thing with grasshoppers and peas! Nobody tell the vegetarians.

 

[davenn]

to name a few

several very poisonous spiders
several very poisonous snakes
great white sharks, stone fish, stingrays, stinging jellyfish

Dave

 

[Psinter]

...and lots and lots of mosquitoes

Mosquitoes carry several diseases, as do ticks.

For parasites, mainly just ticks and mosquitoes.

I live in a large city in Canada (Toronto), so as far as parasites are concerned, the worst are ticks, mosquitoes, and the occasional black flies (out in the country in Ontario, I would expect there would be more black flies and mosquitoes, as well as ticks).

I live in an area with ticks, mosquitoes (which are one of the most disease spreading and therefore deadliest animals to man), mountain lions, badgers, rattlesnakes, and buffalo.

Those Swedish mosquitoes are much more vicious than the UK version. I worked in Sweden for a few years. Camped out one night near a lake on a canoe trip, and the mosquitoes attacked my hands during the night. They were like blown-up rubber gloves in the morning, nearly spherical with fat fingers sticking out. Couldn't hold the paddle like that, even after taking antihistamines; had to be a passenger for the rest of the trip.

So after that I carefully avoided any risk of mosquitoes as long as I remained in Sweden (but later capsized a sailing dinghy into a mass of jellyfish, which was even more unpleasant).

to name a few

several very poisonous spiders
several very poisonous snakes
great white sharks, stone fish, stingrays, stinging jellyfish

View attachment 101463

Dave

With these I guess we can all agree that mosquitoes are not only dangerous, but very annoying as well. Very annoying. I'm glad I'm not alone in the mosquito subject and how annoying they are... and dangerous to certain degree.

 

[1oldman2]

I'm assured there aren't any dangerous animals here.

 

[zoobyshoe]

to name a few

several very poisonous spiders
several very poisonous snakes
great white sharks, stone fish, stingrays, stinging jellyfish

Yes, according to Jeremy Wade, the northern coast of Australia is the most dangerous coast in the world, with more people getting killed and injured by critters than anywhere else.

 

[ebos]

Avon's Skin So Soft works well for mosquitoes. Plus it makes your skin so soft...

 

[ebos]

You know what I discovered about mosquitoes? When I was young I played outside a lot. I was also bitten by many many mosquitoes. Nowadays, at 62, I find that although they still bite me once in awhile I rarely get a red mark anymore. So I am not that tasty anymore plus I think my body finally developed enough resistance to their venom. So if they are still bugging you, go out and get swarmed a few times and see if you get the same results as I did (that last sentence wasn't meant to be taken seriously though).

 

[rootone]

Known around here in summertime are 'midges', sort of a mosquito but not dangerous, just irritating.
Best also to avoid fields in springtime when somebody has their prize bull out for some rest and relaxation.

 

[Hoophy]

Not a plug I promise. Does anybody remember this? :)

 

[ebos]

Not a plug I promise. Does anybody remember this? :)

Whoa... that's got to suck. You win...

 

[Lonnie Klein]

My area is much infected with the ticks and the bugs. And I am suffering from the bed bugs bite from a week, really afraid of the spread of the infection in my body. Next weekend will be going to consult the http://pinnaclepest.com/elk-grove-pest-control-service-center/http://pinnaclepest.com/elk-grove-pest-control-service-center/ team, suggested by my friend, for exterminating these creepy insects. I can't tolerate them now.

 

[256bits]

That bed bug thing is spreading all over NA.

http://static.bedbugregistry.com/img/usbugs.png
And they aren't discriminatory.

 

[Ken Fabos]

I live in Eastern Australia and yes, we have venomous snakes - yet bites aren't that common, mostly of people attempting to kill or catch them, and deaths are even less common. We hear of dogs being attacked, but these are almost always snakes defending themselves against attacks by dogs. I suspect the "porcupines are dangerous to dogs" claim earlier in the discussion is similar; ie dogs attacking them can and do get injured but porcupines do not attack dogs.

Mosquitoes probably do the most harm - carrying Ross River Fever and Barmah Forest Virus. Debilitating but not usually fatal, they affect a few thousand people each year.

Australian Paralysis Ticks are one I'm very familiar with - not nice. About 20 deaths attributed to toxicity, others to allergic reaction, but more rarely with greater awareness; the tick has to stay attached for several days for paralysis to develop. Some tick borne diseases like tick typhus and Ricksettia and a peculiar immune response that makes some people allergic to red meat have been attributed to them. (Ticks were one of the triggers for an ongoing interest in the sensory function of body hair; often considered functionless, it is in fact very significant; they provide the means to feel the presence of biting bugs and I've managed to pick off many paralysis ticks before they dug in because I felt them disturbing tiny hairs during their travels across my skin. Just missing out on one of those bites makes me appreciate the presence of hairs on my body).

We get biting flies, leeches etc. We get some of the globally significant parasites plus some local ones - Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasmodosis, Trichinosis - but mostly not widespread. Animals, domestic and native, are subject to various parasites.