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    16 Tiny Deadly Animals That'll Make You Never Want To Leave Your House Again


    1. The golden poison dart frog may look cute, but it's packing enough toxins to kill 10 grown men.

    Thorsten Spoerlein / Getty Images

    It sweats one of the deadliest substances in the animal kingdom: batrachotoxin. Touch one of these bad boys and the batrachotoxin will interfere with the electrical signals in your body causing arrhythmias, cardiac failure, and death.

    2. With bodies only about 5 centimeters long, blue-ringed octopuses are equipped with venom 1,000 times more powerful than cyanide...and they can bite through a wet suit.

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    What happens if they bite through your wet suit? You'll get muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, as well as loss of your senses, motor skills, and vision. There isn't a known cure for its powerful tetrodotoxin, but if artificial respiration starts immediately, you can make it out alive. The good news is that they won't bother you if you don't bother them, so don't bother them.

    3. The Indian red scorpion's sting is fatal, and they're probably hiding the same place you are.

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    The Indian Red Scorpion is thought to be the most dangerous of the some 1,500 species out there. They seek shelter the same places that humans do, and a sting from the scorpion, if left untreated, can cause death. The venom is said to cause cardiovascular abnormalities and respiratory paralysis.

    4. The Brazilian walking spider, as well as looking intimidating, delivers a bite that can cause vertigo, hypothermia, erratic blood pressure, convulsions, sweating, shock, and a long painful erection in males.

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    It can be found in South America, but has also been known to stow away in shipping crates with bananas. Their venom attacks your neuromuscular system, but the good news is that there is an antivenom. The spider's bite has only taken 10 recorded lives, and its venom is being used in studies for curing erectile dysfunction.

    5. Irukandji Jellyfish will get you without you knowing. They're transparent and the size of your pinkie fingernail, but they could kill you.

    Adam Calaitzis / Getty Images

    Claiming two lives in Australia, an Irukandji jellyfish sting can cause muscle spasms, severe hypertension, and cardiac failure. Caught quickly, this little whippersnapper will put you through severe pain but won't kill you. However, those who get stung don't usually feel pain until 20-30 minutes after the event.

    6. The Lonomia caterpillar looks really pretty, but can cause hemorrhaging and the blood to clot inside your blood vessels upon touch.

    Centro de Informações Toxicológicas de Santa Catarina / Via

    The good news is that there is a serum that has reduced the number of deaths caused by their toxins, but the bad news is that they're sometimes found in clusters and can camouflage really well. So, if you touch more than one, you're going to have a bad time.

    7. Measuring only four inches long, the deathstalker scorpion has one of the most toxic venoms and one of the fastest tail strikes in the animal kingdom.

    Ephotocorp / Getty Images

    While this venom can be detrimental to humans, causing pulmonary edema if they're struck, there is a flip side. Properties of this scorpion's venom is being tested to see if it can help reconstruct brain tissue in humans.

    8. Flamboyant cuttlefish are sea creatures not to mess with, no matter how pretty it is.

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    Research shows that this cuttlefish is about as lethal as a blue-ringed octopus, which, may I remind you, has venom 1,000 times the toxicity of cyanide. Scientists think the reason this cuttlefish is so flashy is to warn predators just how toxic it is.

    9. Harvester ants are small, but they come for you in swarms. Also, they inject poison into you with their bite.

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    An account cited by the University of Florida says, "Several ants stung me on the wrist, and after a few minutes an intense fiery pain began in this area which was about two inches in diameter. It turned deep red in color and immediately a watery, sticky secretion came out of the skin. This area became hot and feverish and the excruciating pain lasted all day and up into the night." However, deaths due to the ant's bite are very rare.

    10. At three centimeters long, blue dragons eat venomous creatures for lunch, then harness the venom to create a powerful sting.

    http://<a href="S.rohrlach&#34; target="_blank">S.rohrlach&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; / Getty Images

    They look pretty, but if you see them floating at the top of the ocean, don't touch them. These sea slugs eat Portuguese man o' wars and store the man o' war venom in their bodies. Then, they're able to deliver these stored toxins to a predator at a much more concentrated level that could make them potentially deadly.

    11. Mishandling the assassin bug can end you up with dead skin tissue, but that's not nearly as bad as the fate of their prey.

    Marcouliana / Getty Images

    Assassin bugs not only look like they come straight out of a horror story, they produce two types of venoms. They inject the primary venom into their prey which stuns them and liquefies their organs so the assassin bug can suck everything out through their proboscis. They use the secondary venom for larger predators, which, when injected, can create intense localized pain and can result in a patch of dead tissue.

    12. Honestly, if you see a freshwater snail, run.

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    These snails carry a parasite called schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis live in freshwater snails, but leave the snail to seek you out through the water. Then, they enter through your skin and lay their eggs inside you. They can live there for decades. Their eggs are barbed and can lodge themselves into tissues and organs, then they exit your body once they're hatched to return to the snail. These parasites are a huge problem and claim over 200,000 lives per year.

    13. Box jellyfish have a chemical cocktail in their venom that it can cause cardiac arrest in just five minutes.

    ~usergi15667539 / Getty Images

    When the barbs of box jellyfish attach to you, they can inject hypodermic-like needles full of venom into your body. These injections can cause cardiac arrest, paralysis, and even death. Some box jellys are also more dangerous than others. The Australian box jellyfish is thought to be the most lethal.

    14. The cone snail has a venom harpoon that it won't hesitate to inject you with. It can pierce a wetsuit and only needs 1/10 the amount of poison of a deathstalker scorpion to get the job done.

    Lauradin / Getty Images

    It's easy to die from the venom if you don't get to the hospital in time, and even then, there is no known antivenom. Though being attacked by the cone snail is bad news, one toxin in the venom could be beneficial as a painkiller for humans. It's about 1,000 times more powerful than morphine and less addictive.

    15. The Africanized honeybee isn't venomous, but it'll swarm you if you get too close (which might honestly be worse).

    Oleksandr_kolos / Getty Images

    If you get too close to a European honeybee nest, they'll send a few of them out to deter you. They'll pester you, you'll swat at them, and that'll be that. The Africanized honeybee will send hundreds to swarm you and potentially kill you. Also, they protect a larger area around their nest and it doesn't take as much to aggravate them, so watch out.

    16. Finally, the Asian giant hornet is truly terrifying, and their stings cause paralysis, multiple organ failure, and death.

    Queserasera99 / Getty Images

    These hornets also swarm, but these creatures are the size of a human thumb, and they tuck their nests into hiding, making it hard for you to see them coming. If they don't kill you, their stings can leave huge black craters in your skin.

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