No matter how well-armed people are, they can’t protect themselves against the dangers of the wild life which hides lots of hungry predators. The fear of such creatures as violent sharks or mammoth whales have led to the creation of various myths about these animals. Undeniably, it is sensible to know which species can actually cause people harm and is there any way of avoiding this. If you want to expand your knowledge on this topic, check this article.
Sharks attack people by mistake
Everyone knows how dangerous it is to swim near sharks and definitely, no one wants to get attacked by this blood-thirsty fish. Yet, some people assume sharks do not really attack human beings intentionally and do it exclusively mistaking them for other animals, for seals in the first place. Supposedly, when a shark understands it is not a seal, the fish leaves the human.
The experts exploring the behaviour of sharks claim this opinion can’t be proved by real facts. They have noticed that sharks behave in a different way when attacking people while comparing to the way they are attacking seals. In the case of seals, they swim up to the mammals rapidly, jump out of the water and literally tear an animal into pieces. If sharks mistake people for seals, in all likelihood, they will attack them in the same way. Still, sharks attack people in a very calm and confident way, swimming up to them slowly.
Some scientists believe this behaviour can be caused by the general curiosity of sharks. It turns out that this fish enjoys tasting different kinds of food and can even try objects which are not edible at all. That is why they might bite a person and leave it alive which is actually happens almost all the time. According to the statistics for XX, out of all the 108 registered shark attacks, 100 people were able to withstand the attack.
A blue whale can swallow a person with just one gulp
If you are familiar with the biblical mythology, you might remember the story about the Jonah prophet who was swallowed by a whale and spent three days and three nights inside the body of this gigantic mammal. Sounds scary, doesn’t it?
Taking into consideration the colossal size of whales which can weight up to 150 000 kg, it is easy to imagine them eating dozens of people. Fortunately, this is impossible in the real life and whales can hardly swallow a human being even if they are rather hungry.
As far as you might know, whales actually eat rather small marine creatures, such as plankton, small fish, octopuses, squids and krill. For that reason, they have a rather narrow throat which is suitable only for consuming this type of food. Some scientists are sure that even such a large species as a blue whale will be hardly able to swallow a grapefruit.
Still, there is another species of whales which is a real predator capable of eating a human. This is a cachalot. Fortunately, cachalots are living in the lower layers of the water where people rarely get. For that reason, it is rather easy for people to avoid a meeting with this creature.
The only species of this kind that can actually attack people are killer whales. These mammals do it only in rather rare cases and they actually do not eat humans, however, they can kill them.
Candiru – a nasty fish getting into the genitals of swimmers
In all probability, you have already come across some particularly unpleasant stories about very small fish living in the Amazon River in South America. According to a popular belief which comes from 1855 year, when the local residents told a lot about the peculiar behaviour of this fish.
The thing is, this fish leads a parasitic lifestyle getting into the gills of large fish. There, they drink the blood of their host. It is quite possible that people were rather scared by such a behaviour of the fish and as a result developed real horror stories about candiru. According to them, this fish is attracted by urine and feeling it in the water, it is approaching the human genitals. The fish then gets inside just like it is doing with the gills of other fish.
No matter how dangerous candiru is for other fish, fortunately, it is doesn’t have a habit of getting inside the human bodies through the urethra. Multiple experiments showed that the fish is totally uninterested in the urine and is absolutely not attracted by the private parts of people.
Taking into consideration the results of these experiments, you can feel safe around candiru, unless you have gills.
Porcupine can shoot with their quills
If you enjoy reading comics or playing videogames, you might have come across a very brave assumption about porcupines. According to some people, these rodents have a unique ability to shoot with their quills.
In the reality, you do not have to be afraid of porcupines. No matter how much they are eager to attack you for any reason, you won’t be able to be quilled unless you directly touch this weapon. Then, the quills can get inside your skin and cause some inflammation of the tissue.