What are the most dangerous/feared mammals?

Well, rats were pretty dangerous, because they spread fleas carrying plague…And many people are still scared of them.
Also, what about big cats?

Tigers and lions, cheetahs, bears.

Here’s one most people won’t think of. Older male dairy breeds. Bulls are so dangerous. They will try to kill you just for the fun of it. And they are strong.
Edit. I guess you could also say humans. Some of us do a lot of damage to others in one way or the other.

Hippos, responsible for most human fatalities in Africa…as far as animal attacks go.

Other humans.

I just checked on a site reporting on dangerous mammals & high on the list is dolphins.
No great surprise there, however adorable they look they have been known to attack & kill humans.
One line did stand out though, apparently if male dolphins can’t find a female to mate, they attempt to hump female humans…!?!

#7 – Dolphins

No way! We are talking about Flipper! Dolphins have saved people floundering in water and helped them to shore and seamen say that they lead them to fish. These intelligent mammals know when storms are approaching and have lead sailors to safety.

Yet dolphins have a darker side to them. They are animals attempting to survive in a hostile environment. They have pulled people into the water, bitting them and drowning them. Male dolphins prefer female humans to mate with when they can’t find a female dolphin. People have been rammed and tail slapped by these creatures of the sea.

37 people a year are killed by dolphins.

They are wild animals and must be respected as such.

^^Copied & pasted from the site in question.

I’m with @redheaded1 , other humans for sure.

Deer

I love animals and think we invade their territory causing most problems, but here’s my list:

Bears
All big cats
Ostrich’s
Monkeys/ Apes/ Baboons (can drag you through the bars anytime they want or rip off your arm.)
Bulls (I’m with @Adirondack on that one, they’re mean, and rodeo’ers tie up their balls, so you’d be mad, too.)

Taxonomic correction: ostriches.

@Brian1946 Sorry about that…lol, but they’re SCARY!

@KNOWITALL

I agree. Just thinking about them is enough to make me bury my head in the sand! ;-o

I hear a lot about the cape buffalo being the most dangerous.

The platypus.

I think as far as most feared, it would be large cats and bears. As far as dangerous, any animal, large or small, can be dangerous if it feels it is cornered or threatened.

Have you ever seen the teeth on an armadillo!?

I think other humans is the correct answer.

@Yetanotheruser Man, armadillo’s and possums both scare the crap out of me, all those teeth!! Grandpa told me skunks will tear you apart while they’re nesting, too, and some get to be pretty huge around here.

@KNOWITALL I thought I knew what a raccoon looked like until I saw a giant one in my front yard a few months after I moved into this area!

@ucme Next time you’re scared by a hippo, just imagine it wearing a pink tutu.

Tigers kill people in India every year and are to be feared. Beware of bears. But I agree with @bookish1. Rats are the most common and harmful.

but rats are so cute…

^^ As in the movie, Ratatouille, yes. But in a trash can? No, thank you.

They call him Iron Lung.

@Sunny2 well a disease ridden/dirty version of any animal looks pretty narsty but like c’mon one can not deny the cuteness going on there :P

Pitbulls (whether you agree or not).

Crocodiles.

@Bellatrix I agree on the pitbulls. I was visiting a client and I got out of the car and the dog was waiting for me. I could tell he was sizing me up for an attack. I’m good with animals and I can read them well. He was measuring me up. That was a bit scary.

Congresscritters

Jackalopes.

I was thinking mammals… I can swear much better than that :D

Otters! They bite.

A beaver killed a man recently too. :-|

A beaver? Jeez that’s a mean guy. I gave my hand to a porcupine a bit ago. He climbed up it and studied me. It was fun.

I’m in Alaska and the moose and grizzly bear would probably top our list. Black bears, too, tho’ they don’t seem to generate the same level of fear in humans that the grizzly does. Moose sound like an odd inclusion but they can and do kill people, especially cow moose if they feel their calves are endangered or, heck, you just catch a cranky one on the wrong day.

Hippopotamus are probably the mammal most likely to successfully attempt to kill a human (in the unlikely event that you are in a position to approach a hippo, don’t.)

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Humans are by far the most dangerous mammals to each other and many other animals and the environment in which they all must live.

Elephants, see

http://voices.yahoo.com/most-dangerous-animals-which-animal-responsible-1914816.html

Humans for sure.
I’m shocked to see dolphins on the list! lol I’ve always heard that dolphins are fun and friendly.

I understand why some people would say Pitbulls, my thoughts on Pitbulls and all “bully breeds” is that it’s all in how they are raised. I’ve never met an unfriendly Pitbull in my life. I used to own a Rottweiler….. She’s the sweetest, funniest dog you could ever meet.
I think that any dog has the ability to turn on you. Chances are if the dog is mean then it wasn’t given the love and respect that it deserves. But then again, I’m just a big dog lover. When people leave their dogs in their cars I’m really bad for walking up to the car and petting the dog. It drives my son and my fiancé crazy.

FWIW Dachshunds (wiener dogs) are actually the most aggressive breed

@FWIW

Really? That’s very interesting. They seem like such a laid back breed!

A couple of years ago I was watching the news and they had this group of people on talking about Pitbulls. They were trying to ban that breed in Detroit, so they had a couple people that were all for it, a couple people that were against it, and a dog expert. The dog expert stated that a poodle is far more aggressive than a Pitbull.
They had a lady on that rescued Pitbulls, she brought one with her. These people were jumping up and down and screaming at each other. This dog just sat there watching these people with a look on his face that said what a bunch of morons.
It was so damn funny!

@uberbatman I read that cocker spaniels were the most reported bites in the US.

@uberbatman re:rats. I guess it’s a matter of personal taste. Beady glow-in-the-dark eyes, big front teeth and a naked tail do not attract me.

At sea, orca (killer whale) larger of sharks and quite dangerous. Leopard perhaps attack most often of large felines. Honey badger is most dangerous animal of its size, love torture its victims. One often kill farmers’ chickens at Africa, he await it one night have shotgun. He shoot and miss. His wife hear him scream over an hour when it torture him before he die at last. Are tales 40 lbs. honey badger attack and kill 2000 lbs. Cape buffalo. One attack elephant, elephant kill it however. At North America, wolverine is dangerous small animal.

I was going to say shark, but then I looked it up and found out they are fish, not mammals.

When you look at the harm humans to to each other, other animals ans the environment, the total harm done by all other mammals combined hardly compares!

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I really hadn’t thought much on beavers and rats.
Rodents and such have never really come to me as scary.
And @Shinimegami, Thanks for the info on the honey badger, I’d forgotten about it.
I love honey badgers. There must be something wrong with me.
Also, I realize that humans are pretty dangerous, but I was asking mainly for animals. I should have specified this earlier, my apologies.

@Mitsukuni Humans are animals.

@uberbatman, Yes, I know that. But I was asking more for the wildlife, or domesticated animals, as some of those can be pretty vicious.

@YARNLADY Mammal or not, sharks are straight up terrifying!