A little poser!

[grumpy_boy]

Which animal has killed - or is responsible for killing - the most human beings?

[rekstout]

Ignoring bacteria, I believe the answer is the mosquito

[Cetti]

If you mean mammal then the hippopotamus is up there somewhere. I believe it's responsible for the most deaths - more than lions or crocs!

[andy hughes]

In Florida - the 'alligator' state, more people die from attacks by the native species of white deer than they do from attacks by alligators! Fore the record - alliggators are quite shy and avoid confrontation - it's crocs you have to watch out for.

[Obo]

What about the rats that carried bubonic plague?

[Obo]

though probably the true answer is other human beings if you think about it!

[grumpy_boy]

the answer is indeed the mosquito, which is, astonishingly, responsible for killing 2/3 of all humans that have ever lived!!

[K!ngy]

I thought the rats answer sounded good!

[Obo]

Grumpy_boy what's your source for this fact?

[Moog]

Surely it has killed 2/3 of humans who have ever died?!

[grumpy_boy]

saw it on the discovery channel, and do you not have to live before you can die?!

[mykola]

stalin, hitler, einstein, harn, the list goes on...

[snaykz]

Tartanwizard, there is no way that humans could wipe out all life on Earth. Do we really have to go though the whole 'We humans are the evil overlords of the planet and will eventually cause its destruction' nonsense once again? A bit of optimism to be alive and to be human wouldn't go amiss from time to time.

[ES_Sandyman]

Saying that humans kill a large number of humans doesn't mean that we can wipe out "all life on earth". We do a pretty good job exterminating large mammals which is what we ourselves are, after all ... I would say that humans have killed the most humans. Mosquitoes are a clever answer but insufficient, because mosquitoes don't kill anyone - they just pass on GERMS that can kill you. (and there is such a variety of germs that none of them should deserve the prize). For that matter, HUMANS can pass on lethal germs. Most of the people killed during the Black Death, for instance, weren't infected by rat fleas, but by inhaling plague bacteria coughed up by other humans. If we don't count humans or disease-carrying creatures, then probably domestic dogs have killed the most.