It's not really a competition, more like a caveat about the creatures that pose a threat to humans still. We're not including bacteria or viruses here, but there are several on this list that carry those organisms that cause deadly diseases. Stats Panda has conveniently provided us with an infographic summarizing the data from World Atlas.
Mosquitoes are still the deadliest creatures to human beings, with an average of 1 million human deaths caused each year. Of course, with the many diseases that different types of mosquitoes bring, it's no wonder why. Dengue fever is perhaps the most common one where I live, but mosquitoes also bring malaria, which is estimated to cause at least 500,000 deaths each year. There's also Zika, chikungunya, and lymphatic filariasis.
The next on the list, unsurprisingly, are humans. We won't get much into this as we know how humans can be. Then, there are snakes with 50,000 deaths caused per year. Despite the presence of antivenom, snake bits have still caused many fatalities especially in rural areas, whose remote locations prevent them from gaining access to medical facilities.
Number four is quite a surprising one: dogs. Rabies are the main cause. Fifth is a tie between two nasty bugs - the tsetse flies and assassin bugs - and a snail.
Usually, flies don't bite. But the tsetse, which means "fly" in Tswana, a Bantu language of southern Africa, actually bites and causes African trypanosomiasis, or the sleeping sickness disease. And, the assassin bug, which just from the name should send tingles down our spines, causes the Chagas disease or also called American trypanosomiasis. Freshwater snails, on the other hand, carry parasites that cause schistosomiasis.
At the bottom of the list are sharks which kill an average of 10 people per year. -via Digg