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Top Ten Most Badass Animals Native to the USA
America may seem civilized to you, as you lock your door and hop on the subway or into the car, then hang around indoors all day. When you go to the zoo, there's a disconnect. Ferocious animals seem to be things that exist behind bars. It's easy to forget that this very country is home to some historically human-killing animals that could totally murder you in your sleep. Depending where you sleep. (But they probably won't.)Here's our list of the Top Ten Most Badass Animals Native to the USA, a little about their habits, and where in the great United States you're likely to be ambushed by one of them.
1. Polar bears. These big, beautiful beasts employ a method called "still hunting," in which the bear sniffs out its prey's home, then crouches by the door until the prey emerges. Then it crushes their skull. Normally, this prey is a seal, but polar bears have also hunted hunters and campers -- this guy while he was sleeping in his tent (warning: graphic). Though polar bears are listed as a vulnerable species (likely to become endangered), they are still roaming Alaska. And they don't just want Coca Cola.
2. Rattlesnakes. Normally, rattlesnakes kill small animals, but anyone who's been to the Southwest knows: if you hear that rattle, you'd best be moving along. And by "moving along," I mean "running for your life." Their hemotoxic or neurotoxic (depending on the type) venom can kill you in horrendous ways, including respiratory paralysis. Check out this story from a guy who was bitten by a rattler when he was 13. Word to the wise: if the snake's rattle gets wet, it won't make any sound, so watch out during the rain. Rattlesnakes have been reported in many states, but keep an extra eye out in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. And while you're down there, stay away from fatally poisonous water moccasins (the world's only semi-aquatic viper) and coral snakes, too.
3. Coyotes. Just last month, according to Telegraph.co.uk, woman in Canada was mauled and killed by two coyotes, while "hiking alone on a trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, in Nova Scotia." Coyotes are typically reported in the Southwest, but have also been sighted in Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon, New Jersey, and all over New England. You can find them living in deserts, forests, plains, or even in icy regions like Alaska. Basically, these guys (and ladies) can live almost anywhere. Their diet is 90 percent mammals, which you may have noticed you are. They'll get you on the ground, then bite/break your neck. According to Wikipedia, coyote attacks have been increasing in California since 1998.
4. Bobcats. According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, bobcats who attack humans are typically rabid. That means attacks are less likely, but also all the more deadly. Bobcats, though just 20-24" tall when full grown, will sometimes stalk larger animals which they can kill and repeatedly return to to eat over time. They typically catch them sleeping on the ground and bite into their neck, chest, or the base of the skull. That's not even fair.
5. Alligators. These guys eat mostly fish, worms, and snails and stuff, but if you get to close, they're known to attack humans. Wikipedia reports them living in "all of Florida and Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, Eastern Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma and the southern tip of Arkansas." Alligators have also been found in extreme southern Missouri along the Mississippi River during the summer months.If you're swimming and see one approaching, you'd best get the heck out of the water. Worse still, you might be mistaken -- those alligators approaching could be ...
6. Crocodiles. Crocodiles have pointier-shaped jaws than the alligators' u-shaped jaws. Either way, you should probably run. Crocodiles live mainly in Florida (within the US), and are extremely dangerous to humans. Crocodiles eat mammals like you, fish and birds, and occasionally each other. While these web-footed cannibals probably won't be able to chase you, they are extremely adept swimmers, and normally attack before their prey even sees them.
7. Bears. Kelly Ann Walz in Pennsylvania was killed last month by her own pet black bear -- her Bengal tiger and African lion left her alone. Donna Munson, a 74-year-old who liked to feed bears, was killed last August. Black bears live in 41 US states, and while they're certainly known killers, they are not as dangerous as brown bears; especially grizzlies and Kodiaks. According to Wikipedia, there are about 32,500 brown bears in the United States, mostly in Alaska and along the Rocky Mountains. Brown bears confront you like they'd confront other bears; by growling and huffing. Then, they bite your jaw to keep you from biting back. That's only if they feel like taking their time; they can actually just crush a human head with a single bite. Weirdly, you're more likely to be attacked if you run -- I'd love to meet anyone who stood still after being growled at by a bear.
8. Wolves. Unprovoked attacks by non-rabid wolves are rare, but do you know where they tend to attack? The crotch. According to Answers.com, "Wolves will typically attempt to disable large prey by tearing at the haunches and perineum, causing massive bleeding and loss of coordination." They drag small prey (including children!) to a secluded spot and feast on the abdominal cavity -- sometimes before they prey is even dead. Be extra wary in Northern Minnesota, the Rockies, and New Mexico.
9. Cougars. While older women in search of younger men can certainly be dangerous, I'm referring to the North American Puma concolor couguar, also known as pumas, mountain lions, or panthers. Check out a list of fatal cougar attacks in North America here. While they are mostly found in the western United States, cougars have been reportedly expanding eastward, and in 2008, a cougar migrated from South Dakota to Wisconsin, and then right down into Chicago, where it was killed by a cop in an alley. When cougars attack humans, they attempt to get their teeth between your vertabrae and into your spinal cord. I shudder just thinking about it.
10. Brown recluse spiders. Perhaps they're not "animals," but no list of wild things in the United States would be complete without this silent killer. Also known as violin spiders, brown recluses live mostly in the southern states -- check out a map here -- in terribly familiar places: anywhere dark and normally undisturbed, like a woodshed, a basement, garages, closets and even under beds. Bites are rare, but if one accidentally gets into your clothes or bedding and is pressed against your skin, you're in trouble. The bites can lead to necrosis, which is essentially your flesh rotting right off of your body.
If you're heading on a camping or hiking trip, keep what these animals can do to you in mind, and don't go provoking any of the fauna. By behaving respectfully towards nature, you can greatly lessen your chances of being attacked by an animal -- but if you see a brown recluse spider, call pest control.
Filed under: Hiking, United States, Camping
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Luciana Nov 14th 2009 10:09AM
My husband and I, cattle ranchers in the southern Rockies, have encountered five (black bears, rattlesnakes, cougars, bobcats and coyotes) of the ten "dangerous animals" on our property which includes about 2,000 forested acres. Rattlesnakes are not uncommon though neither of us has been bitten. We see coyotes every day and do not consider them in the least bit aggressive though they occasionally try to get into the henhouse at night. Though one of our yearlings was killed by a mountain lion a few years ago, we rarely see them. A few years ago, our state wildlife service killed 25 of them in the mountains about 50 miles southwest of here as they were becoming too numerous and severely depleting the local deer population. I have only seen a bear on two occasions while riding in the foothills and sightings of bobcats are infrequent.
Since the brown recluse was included in the list above, I will mention the only "animal" that frightens me: the black widow which can be quite aggressive if disturbed. They are common in this part of world and most of us who have lived here for a while are aware of their favorite haunts (garages seem to be a favorite) and can readily recognize their scraggly webs.
All of the above said, the only animal-caused injury I have ever suffered was a broken leg when I was thrown from a horse a few years ago.
flakca Nov 15th 2009 2:08PM
Wolverine will turn a grizzly around. I'd rather meet a bear than one of those devils in close quarters.
Will Nott Nov 14th 2009 2:14PM
Hoo boy - Really weird article that mis-casts most of the characters. For example, I have personally endured more than a handful of Brown Recluse bites, and NONE of them were anywhere close to "life threatening".... A bit inconvenient, due to the time it takes for the bite to "run its course", and they leave scars about 1 to 2 inches in diameter, but really now, my flesh did not "rot off the bones".... And, if you do some googling on the other critters, you'll find that they may be "badass" in terms of not refusing to meddle with Humans, but really now, very few are lethal in nature. Rattle snakes and "Cottonmouths" for example have so few documented cases of causing death in Humans, it's hard to even find the data. Coral snakes, OTOH are definitely to be avoided since they use a neuro-toxin against which there is no "anti-venom".
I suggest the author has a strong bend toward sensationalism, and a very WEAK bend toward journalistic truth.... So please consider that when perusing the article again....
john Nov 14th 2009 2:19PM
I believe the title mentioned "native to the USA" ............humans are not native to the part of this world now known as the USA. Humans seem to have left the Asian
continent to arrive here a dozen or so millinia ago not the millions of years the other animals in the article have spent here evolving.
Ken Nov 14th 2009 5:55PM
This e-mail didn't appear to send, so here it is, again:
Hi, Annie.
Your article was enjoyable and serves well to remind us to remain alert when in the wild, and to try to respect the rights of our fellow inhabitants. It was instantly recognizable as intended for light-reading entertainment, and it succeeded nicely.
It is interesting that many of those who object most strenuously to your article tend to misspell their words; a yogi said some people make themselves taller by cutting off the heads of others.
Regarding the absence of documented proof of attacks by some animals, none of the meals the animals had enjoyed to the very end had lived to tell anyone.
A rattlesnake bit me while I was showering outside and shampooing so I hadn't seen it when it struck: I only felt a horrifying sensation in my foot and quickly rinsed the shampoo from my eyes. Tall grass under the table holding my shampoo obscured anything in it. The fang-shaped puncture under one toe was 3/8" from the path of a razor-thin slice along the side of the adjacent toe. That fang had re-emerged from the skin, probably saving me.
This snake was one of the new L.A. sub-species that doesn't rattle, resulting from individual variation when those that do rattle tend to die and the silent ones procreate. Fortunately, only one fang made full contact. My entire body flushed and my leg swelled. I remained calm as the American Native Nations supposedly do for snake-bite to keep the probable toxins from racing to my heart and, when offered, accepted a ride to the VA hospital where I could only tell them I seemed to be experiencing an allergic reaction. I sat in the waiting room until my leg's swelling began subsiding.
This one didn't taste like chicken a couple of days later when I had again sat by a rock at the showering area and my girlfriend yelled "RUN!" I launched myself. It was coiled up a couple of feet from where I had sat and it was five feet long, with 5 rattles.
There are three taxonomic Kingdoms: animal, mineral, and plant. The classification of spiders is probably pretty obvious.
Very well done on your article, Annie, thanks.
Ken
Ken Nov 14th 2009 7:10PM
Hi, Annie.
Your article was enjoyable and serves well to remind us to remain alert when in the wild, and to try to respect the rights of our fellow inhabitants. It was instantly recognizable as intended for light-reading entertainment, and it succeeded nicely.
It is interesting that many of those who object most strenuously to your article tend to misspell their words; a yogi said some people make themselves taller by cutting off the heads of others.
Regarding the absence of documented proof of attacks by some animals, none of the meals the animals had enjoyed to the very end had lived to tell anyone.
A rattlesnake bit me while I was showering outside and shampooing so I hadn't seen it when it struck: I only felt a horrifying sensation in my foot and quickly rinsed the shampoo from my eyes. Tall grass under the table holding my shampoo obscured anything in it. The fang-shaped puncture under one toe was 3/8" from the path of a razor-thin slice along the side of the adjacent toe. That fang had re-emerged from the skin, probably saving me.
This snake was one of the new L.A. sub-species that doesn't rattle, resulting from individual variation when those that do rattle tend to die and the silent ones procreate. Fortunately, only one fang made full contact. My entire body flushed and my leg swelled. I remained calm (as I had read the American Native Nations do for snake-bite) to keep the probable toxins from racing to my heart and, when offered, accepted a ride to the VA hospital where I could only tell them I seemed to be experiencing an allergic reaction. I sat in the waiting room until my leg's swelling began subsiding.
This one didn't taste like chicken a couple of days later when I had sat by a rock at the showering area and my girlfriend yelled "RUN!" I launched myself. It was coiled up a couple of feet from where I had sat and it was five feet long, with 5 rattles.
There are three taxonomic Kingdoms: animal, mineral, and plant. The classification of spiders is probably pretty obvious.
Very well done on your article, Annie, thanks.
Ken
Halsy Nov 14th 2009 6:34PM
So many Americans wonder why the rest of the world sees them as self-centered and ignorant. These animals are native to North America, not just America. With the exception of the crocs and gators in Canada and polar bears in Mexico, all these animals exist in Canada and/or Mexico as well, so it's not like you have dibs on them in the U.S.. Nor all the animals you've mentioned even exclusive to North America.
In future try doing some actual research before opening you start writing and come off as a hack rube. This says nothing of your grammar, which is atrocious as well.