According to Randy Krum of Cool Infographics, this was posted by Bill Gates on his blog as part of Mosquito Week:
What would you say is the most dangerous animal on Earth? Sharks? Snakes? Humans?
Of course the answer depends on how you define dangerous. Personally I’ve had a thing about sharks since the first time I saw Jaws. But if you’re judging by how many people are killed by an animal every year, then the answer isn’t any of the above. It’s mosquitoes.
When it comes to killing humans, no other animal even comes close. Take a look:
Considering their impact, you might expect mosquitoes to get more attention than they do. Sharks kill fewer than a dozen people every year and in the U.S. they get a week dedicated to them on TV every year. Mosquitoes kill 50,000 times as many people, but if there’s a TV channel that features Mosquito Week, I haven’t heard about it.
Infographic via The Deadliest Animal in the World on The Blog Of Bill Gates
Reblogged from The Deadliest Animal in the World on Cool Infographics
Those of you who’ve read my The Clash Of Titanic Phobias post will know that a very profound fear of insects (Entomophobia) hovers near the very top of the long list of things that ail me. The horrible things creep me out so bad that it doesn’t surprise me at all to learn that one of them actually kills more of us than we ourselves do. But mosquitoes? As annoying as they are, I must that I am surprised by that! Hell, mosquitoes aren’t even on any of these… 
I want ice water.
More from the Visual Treats volume
I Want Ice Water! 
Thank God we have none of the ones in the photos 🙂
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I hear that Harry! 🙂
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Go the mosquito…I personally think they need to wipe a few more off the map.
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You know Jo, I almost made a joke about the mosquito being one of few things (other than murder and war and such) that’s keeping our population in check!
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So why did you not ????
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I guess I thought it might be offensive in the areas where they do the most damage… 😕
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True…sadly they can’t be pointed in the direction of the people they need to get.
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Well my insect phobia is telling me they’ll get us all in the end!
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Sadly…a part of me hopes they do. Then this world might actually stand a chance of surviving.
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Wouldn’t that just be the greatest irony, the meek inheriting the Earth? Just not the “meek” the Christians were thinking about! 😉
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And just as I predicted… TaDa!!!
http://thegreatone22.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/newly-arrived-virus-gains-foothold-in-caribbean/
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I knew that ! “How ?”, you ask; and I say, smugly, “Stephen Fry’s extraordinarily difficult to categorise program called “QI”, that’s how !” 🙂
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Now that’s a show I want to see M-R. I love Stephen Fry! 🙂
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Gosh. Still, I s’pose ‘QI’ isn’t really American at all. It’s very British, and full of VERY British humour. Can you get it online ? – nup, I doubt it. Hafta be DVDs (or illegal downloads, but you’d never do that…)
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There is a BBC America channel listed on my cable guide, but it’s hard to look ahead for more than a day or so…
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Wonderful illustration, we are terrible.
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Thanks Val. We are terrible, aren’t we.
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I hadn’t thought about it before but it makes sense.
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It really does PT. After all, what better way to infect people with a deadly disease than a critter that makes a living at it!
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So Discovery Channel should quit “Shark Week” — that mosquito photo on gatesnotes in horrifying. Photos like that and some dramatic music would scare the bejeezus out of people.
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Frankly, I’m thinking “Shark Week” should be discontinued if it feeds into the irrational fear that’s driving humans to kill so many. Even Peter Benchley, the guy who wrote “Jaws,” came to regret his part in driving that fear. It would be nice if that kind of fervor could be directed towards this little monster!
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Yup!
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🙂
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OMG….how can I unsee this?????LOL….although I did like the alien ones. I think I will have Dave make a Martin box…to battle the mosquitoes this summer.
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I hear ya my friend. The ground around my apartment building has terrible drainage, making it the perfect breeding area for those little monsters after it rains!
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