Top 10 Scariest Animals on Earth

The Top Ten
1 Human Humans (Homo sapiens) are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and large, complex brains. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, and language. Humans are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions... read more

Without humans, this world would be almost perfect. We only harm this world, and it's already dead. We're just enjoying the fruits of its last breath, and every day life is more likely to become impossible.

Yes, I totally agree that the scariest creatures out there are our own kind, human beings. It's sad, but true. It's like a zombie apocalypse. Everyone is trying to stay alive and keep others safe. Just like in The Walking Dead, more people are afraid of the other humans rather than the zombies everywhere. Then, everyone wants power and to be in charge, just like in The Walking Dead. We kill other animals for fun and other humans as well. People care more about making money than others' health and would rather sell them something they know is bad for them just for money. This entire world has been screwed up by humans, and I wish we just worked together instead of always going against one another.

2 Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha (or Selachii) and are the sister group to the rays. However, the term "shark" has also been (incorrectly) used to refer to extinct members of the subclass Elasmobranchii,... read more

Picture this: You are surfing, and suddenly a shark just decides to take a bite out of your surfboard, biting some of you off with it. How is that not so terrifying?!

I live in California, so I always go to the beach to surf and stuff. But I can never get the thought of getting attacked out of my head. I have anxiety, and sometimes I get really worked up about it. The thought is scary. You're having fun, and at the least expected moment, a shark can suddenly grab your foot, pull you under the water, and wreck your life. Sharks just give me the creeps.

Sharks are scary, but here's the thing: the few species of sharks that attack humans don't really eat us and are not particularly violent towards us. I'm not saying it's okay, but they bite us to determine our taste and what kind of animal we are. Humans kill more sharks than sharks kill us. We kill thousands, while sharks kill less than 80 per year.

3 Spider

I used to not be scared of spiders, but when I was in second grade, I read one of those Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. It had a story about a little girl who was taking a bath, and a spider came down from the ceiling and laid eggs in her forehead. When the eggs hatched, they went into her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, all that stuff. I don't know why I read that book (or why my teacher had it in our classroom… hmmm), but it started it all, and now I'm sure I'll be terrified for, let me see, forever.

I have a fear of spiders but these small or VERY big things (bird eating spider) make you want to never touch grass again. I never do, and Google bird eating spider (that is a joke). Anyway, spiders get rid of flies, and are great.

Sometimes, I imagine what I'd do if millions of spiders the size of dogs suddenly broke through the wall, and wherever I run, they follow. They make me sick to my stomach, because I had a scary encounter with a spider when I was a little girl. I used to sleep without a shirt on, and I woke up to long, thin spider legs radiating out of my belly button. I was so scared I didn't even dare to breathe too much. I tried to figure out what to do but had no idea.

Fortunately, the spider didn't take long before it crawled out. I tried to offer it a corner of my blanket to make it stop crawling around on me, and the second it was on the blanket, I jumped up in disgust. I know spiders can crawl on you while you're asleep, but why in there? I could never sleep without a shirt on, and I had horrible nightmares about spiders crawling inside my belly button and laying eggs. That was so awful.

4 Snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs... read more

It makes me calm down, kind of, when I realize that only 10% of snakes are venomous. But still, these creatures are not to be underestimated. If a venomous snake bites you, you better run to the hospital. And then there are constriction snakes, crushing bones and squeezing you to death. Stay away from both of them. Snakes are not meant to be underestimated.

I have always HATED snakes! Not only do they bite, some are poisonous, but they are also super long with a long tongue. They have fangs, they can hide anywhere, some can choke you to death, they can hang from trees, they can be found in water, they can still bite when they're dead, and they make a creepy "sss" noise. I have always hated snakes, and always will.

Imagine a predator 30 feet long with a brain no bigger than a lemon. What could be scarier? I'm not someone who's normally squeamish about weird-looking animals. As a child, I was always playing with bugs.

5 Crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct... read more

They are very intelligent reptiles. Just like the shark, you go into their territory, or you do something that provokes them. These large reptiles have lived for millions of years. And I'm talking like back when the dinosaurs were alive. They are very powerful and scary-looking, but if you respect their space and let them be, then you learn to admire them more than fear them.

They scare me every time I go to the beach in Florida. With such a powerful bite - the strongest - this thing will never let go of you. It must be painful. Please help me. On the nice side, crocodiles are really caring mothers. Just watching a mother caring for her babies makes all of the scariness of a crocodile go away, except when you stop watching it.

Crocodiles are pretty cool, and are also quite cute. Just to say, the saltwater crocodile is the third most dangerous animal in Asia. If you don't believe me, go to Netflix and watch 72 Dangerous Animals Asia.

6 Lion The lion (Panthera leo) is a large cat of the genus Panthera native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body, short, rounded head, round ears, and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related... read more

How is a spider scarier than an animal that devours animals alive when they're hungry?

Imagine one of these charging at you. Yikes, no thanks.

Scary. Better have quick feet after messing with him.

7 Scorpion

I live in Tasmania and would you believe when I came back to my old apartment, it was completely infested with little scorpions. Tasmania? What? I almost feel like someone planted them there because I have never seen scorpions in Tasmania before.

These and snakes scare me the most. Scorpions can poison you to make you have one of the worst deaths, and big snakes can crush your bones. These animals are some of the deadliest beside mankind.

Scorpion venom can be stronger than cyanide, but it's not very deadly because they only inject it in small doses. Also, all scorpions are venomous, but only 25 species known are able to kill a human.

8 Bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics... read more

Bears are kind of cute. Here is a situation that has happened. You wander through woods, let's say in Canada. You spot the most adorable thing ever. It is a cub. You walk up to it with your phone to take a pic. All of a sudden, a huge 3-meter-tall beast rushes out of the woods and knocks you to the ground. It is a large female grizzly. You grab your bear spray, but the monster knocks it out of your hand and swipes its claw through your chest. You scream for help, but you are killed by the beast. The end.

This animal is THE strongest land animal in the world. It can lift a rock the height and width of a 5-foot human with one paw. Why tourists think this animal is going to be friendly and eat out of their hand just defies all logic.

Do not mess with a male bear or bear cubs. Do not run, make loud noise, and since large animals have poor gag reflexes, stick your hand down their throat. Trust me.

9 Tiger The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panthera. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ungulates such as deer and wild boar. It is territorial and generally a solitary but social predator, requiring large contiguous areas of habitat, which support its requirements... read more

Although they only kill about 70 people a year, who would want to go face to face with one?

Beware when you are going into the forests of Asia!

There is a tiger with a kill count of over 900. I say no more.

10 Worm

Me: (walks into house)
Lil bro: Worm!
Me: Ok?
Lil bro: WORM!
Me: It's not that scary... jeez.
Me: (comes over and sees worm)
Me: (It looks like the worm in the picture)
Lil bro: (cries)
Me: (kills it)
Me: I wonder if we can move to that moon, Titan, anytime soon. I bet they don't have mutant worms.
Lil bro: ?

Worms? Unless talking about tapeworms and leeches, they are perfectly harmless. But like most of you are saying, they are disgusting.

More specific than just worms, I feel this is so intimidating to me that just hearing about it makes me uncomfortable.

The Contenders
11 Jellyfish Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their cube-shaped medusae. Some species of box jellyfish produce extremely potent venom: Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi and Malo kingi.

This is the most venomous animal on the planet. Its venom can kill within minutes and is extremely painful. Not only this, but it is practically invisible in the water and very hard to see.

I swear on the graves of my ancestors that I hope not to cross paths with this violent beauty, for it is well known as the "wasp of the sea."

This animal is worse than a great white shark. In fact, it's the most dangerous sea creature and should be number one or higher.

12 Mosquito Spanish for "small fly," mosquitoes are insects that have been known to cause various diseases. A sample of diseases caused by mosquitoes: malaria, yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, dengue fever, filariasis, Zika virus.

Deadliest animal on the planet. Fact! More people die from mosquitoes than any other animal. They are freaky and annoying and are actually one of the few animals that I just can't stand. At least they don't crunch when you squash them.

Ok. I swear I'm more scared of a mosquito than I am of a June bug. And I have a phobia of June bugs.

These are actually the deadliest animals on the planet! They kill millions, and I mean millions, of people every year with their diseases.

13 Wasp

Ever since one of these snuck into my pajamas overnight and stung my armpit in the morning, I have been TERRIFIED of them!

Wasps are so terrifying! They're like flying spiders. They're so creepy. And they'll attack you too, for no apparent reason! It HURTS.

They're so annoying. They try to harm you for no reason. Luckily, I haven't been stung by one yet.

14 Anglerfish

I've always been afraid of what lurks under the waves. This adds onto my fear.

It's something about the teeth. The teeth are scary.

Scary looking but harmless to humans.

15 Viperfish A viperfish is any species of marine fish in the genus Chauliodus. Viperfish are characterized by long, needle-like teeth and hinged lower jaws. A typical viperfish grows to lengths of 30 to 60 cm.

Up close, they are really scary, same thing with the dragonfish (looks similar), until you see its real size, only a few inches...

It has fangs!

Fun fact:
Their scales are the 2nd blackest material in earth!

God, why did you create something so hideous yet menacing?!

16 Cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known as pests.

The cockroaches are an ancient group, with their ancestors, known as "roachoids", originating during the Carboniferous period, some 320 million... read more

Just trying to sleep, then boom! Three of these bad boys play battle royale and airdrop onto your sleeping self, starting to have a rave. Maybe crawling into your nose and ear, into your brain to lay eggs. Across the room, some of their buddies are breakdancing in a Lay's bag you forgot to pick up a few hours ago, making it so you can't sleep because of the constant scrabble scabble. Not to mention finding them in macaroni boxes or guitar holes, opening a book and one runs out, taking a bite of cereal and finding a roach leg in it, grabbing a pair of underwear and one flies out like goddamn Superman. Who gave them wings? I hate these forsaken devil bugs. They exist to torture me.

Wood roaches are fine, but I have a weird fear that cockroaches give you diseases just by you breathing the same air as them. I don't scream when I see a cockroach, but that just shows how unsanitary they are. They are filthy, little things that are unnatural to nature. Note: I think some roaches are fine. It's just cockroaches that I hate.

17 Piranha A piranha or piraña, a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, is a freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs.

These things can kill you! They have sharp teeth and could bite you to death!

They are very dangerous. Watch out for these piranhas!

We are NOT the top of the food chain. This guy is proof.

18 Alligator An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. The two living species are the American alligator and the Chinese alligator. Additionally, several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains. Alligators have long existed since the Oligocene epoch 37 million years ago.

If an alligator is ever chasing you, run as fast as you can in zigzags because it'll get confused and not know which way you are going.

I like these animals. But they can be scary to others.

19 Centipede Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are mainly carnivorous and they prey upon insects, spiders, small birds and rodents, and even other centipedes.

Am I the only one who has a serious phobia of these things? I mean, they've got so many legs... (shudder). If the scary animal actually has a face, then it's easy to deal with. I mean, yeah, sharks are scary, but not in retrospect when you're only looking at it on the internet. Centipedes, however, make you cringe everywhere, whether it be just a thought, a picture, a video, or a real one.

When you think of a shark, though, it's just like, "Oh, sharks. Cool." And who put humans on the list? Sure, we are doing lots of cruel things, but there are good humans out there, too. Humans that devote their lives to the well-being of animals. We can't just label our whole species as cruel because of a few cruel people who spread all of the inhumane activity in the first place. Not all humans want to hurt the environment!

When I was little, I had a terrifying dream about centipedes. These things are scarier than roaches and spiders combined. I hate these demons. Can we all agree that centipedes are gross and terrifying? I mean, just look at the picture!

20 Leech Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like the oligochaetes, such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites.

I've always hated leeches, awfully spooky. Plus, I honestly hate the sucking feeling on your skin. (I tend to bite myself for the sake of it, so yeah.)

I got stuck by one and felt too dizzy to walk. I had to go to the doctor. I remember my dad cleaning my blood about a year ago, and there was too much blood!

Leeches are vampire worms that suck blood. They're so scary that you will never pick a worm up again.

21 Maggot

This should be in the top 20 because they can go inside your body and lay eggs, finally eating you alive! So be very careful when you take out the trash because they are small and keep maggots away.

Maggots can eat your food, flesh, body, and skin.

The most disgusting animal ever.

22 Wolf The wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the gray or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. Over thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, with gray wolves comprising the wild subspecies. As the largest extant member of the Canidae family, the wolf is distinguished from other Canis species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, a shorter torso, and a longer tail... read more

Wolves are very cute, but savage. Sharks only kill when they are hungry and often mistake humans for seals, turtles, and other shark food. Wolves, on the other hand, don't kill just because they are hungry. They attack anyone who sets foot on their territory. Also, they attack other wolves in the pack just for fun, including pups, and kill the older, weaker wolves of higher rank so the killer wolves can have a higher rank in the pack. So, if a wolf or a pack of them are approaching you, I suggest you get out a weapon (such as a gun) and kill them all.

Actually, wolves can be pretty dangerous. If they contract rabies, they become extremely aggressive. Just imagine a pack of wolves attacking you, which can exceed 15 in number. They can weigh up to 200 lbs, so being tackled by a 200-pound animal is not ideal. And yes, they can kill your dog.

Oh, so majestic, please. Sure, wolves may be pretty, but under that facade, they are vicious killing machines. First off, wolfaboos, you think that wolves are so beautiful and majestic, huh? Well, how does that hold up after seeing them rip a deer's guts out while it's still alive? Not bad enough, huh? Well, how about when they mauled Miss Candice Berner without being provoked? Look, I'm not saying that I want the species extinct, I'm just saying that we need to stop treating them like the gods of the animal kingdom. On a final note, without wolf hunting, gray wolves would breed like rats and kill off all the carrion.

23 Squid The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size due to deep-sea gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 m for females and 10 m for males from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 m.)

These are definitely scary, don't get me wrong. Yeah, they can grow to 13 meters long, yeah, their eyes are the size of a beach ball, yeah, their tentacles are covered in sharp ridges, yeah, they literally battle whales - the largest animals on the planet. But the thing you need to remember is that they live in the very deep oceans and don't normally go after humans.

At the aquarium, I saw jellyfish. I was super scared. I closed my eyes at the last tank, thinking it was a giant squid... it turned out to be the seal and sea lion exhibit, thank God.

I have nothing against these, unless they actually WANT to kill you.

24 Hornet Hornets are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to 5.5 cm in length.

Hornets are pretty scary and mean, but maybe some people aren't scared of them! But I am!

This should not be 26. I'm afraid of wasps and hornets.

Just run and don't look back, and hope you'll live.

25 Bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 millimetres in length,... read more

Vampire bats are really scary because they can drink blood. But they do not suck blood like actual vampires do in myths. They lap the blood with their tongues. They're also scary because they can carry diseases of many types, like rabies. Luckily, they don't live in the United States, even in California, where me and my family live.

Bats can kill by spreading disease and are terrifying in the night.

Annoying flying rabies Petri dishes.

8Load More
PSearch List