If you list the most dangerous animals on Earth, sharks and lions might come to mind first. The real winner is much, much smaller. Mosquitoes are linked to more human deaths than any other animal, because they carry germs that cause diseases like malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever.
Only the female mosquito bites. She needs the protein from a blood meal to make her eggs. When she lands and pokes her needle-shaped mouth into your skin, she sometimes leaves behind tiny parasites or viruses she picked up from her last meal. Most people recover, but for many it can be very serious.
Scientists fight back in lots of ways. Bed nets dipped in safe insect-repellent protect millions of children at night. New vaccines for malaria are saving lives in Africa. Researchers are even releasing modified mosquitoes that can’t spread disease, hoping that one day, the world’s deadliest animal will be just a regular annoying insect.
