The deadliest animal in Australia has been identified - and it's not what you think

The University of Melbourne set out to answer a very specific question.

What is the most dangerous animal in Australia? Or, more specifically, which animal has caused the most human deaths?

To answer their query, researchers from the University looked at hospital admissions and coroner records that related specifically to animal incidents.

They discovered that bees and hornets were responsible for 27 deaths and a whopping 12,351 hospital visits. Snake-related incidents caused 27 deaths, and 6,123 hospital visits.

But there was one animal species, however, that killed far more people than all the animals surveyed, put together:

Snakes?

Spiders?

Jellyfish?

No. The animal responsible for the most deaths - 74 to be exact - between 2000 and 2013, was the humble horse.

Picture: AFP/Getty

Tieing in second place came snakes, bees wasps and hornets with their 27 deaths, and deaths by ticks and ants took third place - as this chart from Statista shows.

Picture: Statista / indy100

Is nothing safe in Australia?

HT BBC

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