No Teeth, No Venom: The Mosquito Is the Deadliest Animal on Earth

Mosquito feeding on skin — A mosquito feeding. No other animal is responsible for more human deaths. Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim — GFDL 1.2

It weighs about as much as a grain of rice and carries nothing anyone would call a weapon. Yet through the diseases it transmits, the mosquito is named by public-health agencies as the deadliest animal on the planet.

Insecticide-treated bed net over a bed — A treated bed net is still the single most effective defence. Photo: FrogsLegs71 — CC BY-SA 3.0

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Photography credits: Muhammad Mahdi Karim (GFDL 1.2) via Wikimedia Commons