Deadly Encounters (Full Episode) | 10 Animals That Can Kill You | Nat Geo Animals

CYCLIST: Hidden enemy territory here. Where is he? Oh, here we go. Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Dahh! He's having a crack! NARRATOR: There are a lot of ways to die out there. The odds of it being by an animal are very slim. But just in case, here are 10 ways you might die, and perhaps how to avoid it. With Michelle Oakley, Yukon wildlife biologist and vet. MICHELLE: My work can be kind of dangerous, sometimes it's chasing moose around. Bear tracks here. Sometimes it's avoiding bears that are problem animals, and sometimes it's getting bit by a Chihuahua. So it really, I get the whole range of the wild kingdom. Don't let him out! NARRATOR: And Filipe DeAndrade, National Geographic Explorer and wildlife filmmaker. FILIPE: Basically, if it's an animal, I want to point a camera at it. No matter what the conditions, no matter what the environment, no matter what the situation, I am fascinated. NARRATOR: But some of those animals can getcha. MICHELLE: Here are 10 Animals That Will Kill You. FILIPE: 10 Animals That Will Kill You. MICHELLE: Or actually might kill you. FILIPE: Might kill you. (laughter) (screech) NARRATOR: Birds. Some would happily eat you if you're already dead. But can a bird actually kill a human? Number 10, the Australian magpie. MICHELLE: Mean suckers. FILIPE: So there's that famous Hitchcock movie The Birds. MAN: Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god! FILIPE: And those scenes of swarming birds attacking human beings, highly unlikely. However... MICHELLE: Some birds are gonna swoop and getcha. They're just trying to protect their nest and their chicks, but they're gonna come down if they think you're a threat, and they're gonna hit you with everything they got. NARRATOR: Bird attacks on humans are becoming more common. It's all about defending turf and offspring. MICHELLE: They literally just want to get you away from their nest. FILIPE: If you're trying to go after something like its food or its baby, I don't blame that bird for coming after you. NARRATOR: Of all the deadly creatures in Australia, this black and white bird is one of the most feared. CYCLIST: Ahh! I'm gonna get out of here! Oh, (bleep)! Bloody hell, mate! NARRATOR: The Australian magpie knows who you are and will attack you at the same time and in the same place every day. MICHELLE: Magpies are not good neighbors. They want a lot of personal space where no one's allowed, and of course that doesn't always work out in a lot of urban areas. So if you're trying to pass through a magpie area, be prepared, they're gonna come for you from behind. NARRATOR: Australians take magpie swooping very seriously. But it's really just some overprotective dads doing it for a few weeks during nesting season in the spring. MICHELLE: I'm a little nervous about magpies, the Australian magpies are a lot more aggressive than the ones that we deal with in Alaska, and they're certainly a totally different species. They're black and white, but that's kind of where the similarity ends. The Australian magpies will get you. NARRATOR: If they think you're too close to the nest, they will dive bomb you until you move away. But people are adapting. MICHELLE: Some of the Aussies have got smart; they know when they're traveling through a magpie area they're gonna have to protect themselves. So you see bikers wearing helmets that have big eyes on 'em to scare the magpie away. They'll put spikes or little zip ties sticking off their helmet, anything so when that magpie comes in to swoop, it has a second thought. FILIPE: I don't think birds are afraid of us at all. NARRATOR: It can be dangerous if you're not steady on your bike. They've been known to take out an eye or two. And in 2019 a man did die trying to avoid a swooping magpie on his bike. FILIPE: I have no doubt that a bird could really, really mess up your day with some of the damage that they can inflict. MICHELLE: They might not kill you, but you're going to remember that for the next several hours. (yelling) When we start talking about deadly birds, we need to talk about the cassowary. That sucker can get you. NARRATOR: Number 9, the cassowary. Native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, the cassowary is a big bird to watch out for. FILIPE: And according to the book of Guinness World Records, the cassowary was named as the world's most dangerous bird, most likely because of what it's capable of. NARRATOR: This is a creature that reminds us of when the planet was full of animals that could really kill you. FILIPE: It's kind of like a scene out of Jurassic Park. This thing is like a hybrid between a terror bird and a velociraptor. MICHELLE: Birds really are dinosaurs, and there's none that's more dinosaury than the cassowary. It's 6 feet tall, it's got all these bright colors, it's got a big dinosaur casque on its head. No one would enjoy being attacked by a cassowary. NARRATOR: But this massive, flightless bird just wants to eat fruit. FILIPE: They're not meat-eaters, but if they don't want you in their way, they'll let you know. MICHELLE: Cassowaries can be quite aggressive if they're defending their own territory. They have 5-inch daggers on their inner claws, and they will jump up and kick and disembowel you. FILIPE: Imagine that; that's like two butcher knives coming at you with the force of an animal that can almost outrun a horse. You don't want to know that kind of power on a personal level. (dog barking) NARRATOR: In Australia, there's only been one death from a cassowary, but there have been over 150 reported attacks. In places like Florida, some people choose to keep this bird as a pet. MICHELLE: Yeah, that isn't on my top 50 list of what I want to keep as a pet. A cassowary would be 6 foot and I'm 5 1/2, so we wouldn't be looking eye to eye, I'd be looking up at the cassowary. And they're very quiet. It just kind of stares at you, almost like how your chickens will stare at you. They'd be across the yard, and the next thing you know, they'd be right there and you wouldn't really have time to react. Ugh! FILIPE: It's not necessarily out to get you. But if an animal of that size doesn't want you anywhere around it, you should listen to it. NARRATOR: Keeping a cassowary as a pet is not recommended. FILIPE: So the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission actually put this animal in a Class II listing, up there with alligators, in terms of dangerous pets to keep. This is a bird! MICHELLE: These things can kill you, and unfortunately it recently happened. NARRATOR: In April 2019, a man was attacked by his pet cassowary. NEWSCASTER: A bird that killed its 75-year-old owner in Florida, described by experts as attacked a man after he fell near their enclosure. NEWSCASTER: That bird is deadly. Who in the world would want this bird in their home and around them? NEWSCASTER: You got to make sure you take the precautions, don't get too close. MICHELLE: I have worked on cassowaries as a vet, and let me tell you, the cassowary was not awake. That's why we have immobilization drugs. FILIPE: So, in terms of 10 Animals That Will Kill You, the cassowary has been known to take out its owners, and that is enough of a reason to not have this animal in your house. NARRATOR: Tourism and development have taken us deeper into their world, leaving them with no other choice but to fight back. MICHELLE: But fortunately, we don't usually bump into cassowaries. Even in the wild, they're trying to avoid us. It's really these interactions in captivity that can turn deadly. NARRATOR: There's another 6-foot-tall Aussie beast that will surprise you with its ferocity and fighting prowess. Don't underestimate number 8, the kangaroo. MAN: Get in the car, get in the car! Woo! There it is, there it is! Oh, (bleep)! (shouting) NARRATOR: This bouncy marsupial can be surprisingly hostile. MICHELLE: I love how kangaroos have, like, this mousey cute head, they're like, "Hi, I'm a cute mouse," but I will kill you with everything else. FILIPE: Kangaroos are the ultimate Australian athlete. They can reach about 6 feet tall, they have a 9-foot vertical jump, and they can even broad leap about 30 feet. MICHELLE: They're just so different than anything I've worked with in North America. They're upside down and backwards. They're hopping, they've got, you know, size 20s that'll just boot you if you get too close. FILIPE: When you look at the images of some of these big male kangaroos, they kind of look like a muscle-bound body builder, flexing, showing off. Some of these kangaroos are ripped. I would not want to get in a boxing ring with a kangaroo. (bell rings) NARRATOR: The first rule of kangaroo fight club: There are no rules. MICHELLE: They'll literally box with you. I always thought that was a joke, but no, like, every Aussie knows, kangaroos will slap you, they will boot you. NARRATOR: Some Australians don't need to get in a boxing ring to feel that boot. NARRATOR: Kangaroos in Australia have been known to literally jump you. REPORTER: Debbie Urquhart, who's recovering after being mauled by the most unlikely of attackers, a wild kangaroo. The 54-year-old had just begun running when the male roo sprung out from the shrubs. DEBBIE: He had me pinned to the ground and he was jumping at me and scratching me, yeah. REPORTER: She hobbled home and was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. Her injuries needed 35 stitches. Wildlife Victoria says in the past year it's had more than 90 reports of kangaroo sightings in this area, but none of those have actually involved an attack. Authorities say this male kangaroo was most likely acting defensively when he was startled by Debbie running past. NARRATOR: It's often the males that are the problem. FILIPE: When these males fight each other, they can break ribs, absolutely dismantle their opponents. Why? Like any reason males are fighting: all over a female. MICHELLE: Male kangaroos have to fight to be the guy doing the mating, so they're used to that, they fight with the other males, they box them, they kick them, and maybe as humans if we approach them, or we're too close, we are kind of in this upright stance that is definitely aggressive to a kangaroo. So, they'll come right at you and fight you just the same way they'll fight their buddies for mates. NARRATOR: And they use all five of their limbs. MICHELLE: They sit back on their tail, and that frees up both their hands for fighting and their feet for kicking. And all of the sudden, he's back on his tail, and everything's coming at you at once. NARRATOR: A direct kick has enough force to do some serious damage. On top of that, each massive foot hides a long claw, sharp enough to tear an opponent's gut wide open. The big red and gray kangaroos pose the most danger to humans. MICHELLE: And the reds are even bigger, they just have huge pec muscles, they're amazing. But your eastern grays are no slouches, they will also take you to round 10. Oh, look at it hop! Working with kangaroos during the Australian bushfires was amazing. It was important to help them, for sure, but it was a really big learning curve for me to understand how dangerous they can be. I've been kicked by 'em, I've been bit by 'em. They're basically just trying to get away from us, and that's a really good means of defense. We had a really big male named Kenny. He was built very muscular, but he was very meek during his care. All of a sudden, though, he started feeling better, and that's when he attacked one of my techs. He grabbed her and scratched her and hung on, and then he lifted up his feet and started kicking her. He jumped all over her and scratched her back, and it was time for Kenny to go back to the wild. The kick by the kangaroo feels like a punch, I mean, if they get you in the gut, it's gonna be a gut punch. But most of the time I was getting kicked in the legs, and it would leave a mark. It really hurt. FILIPE: So a crazy thing to think about is that kangaroos are actually responsible for more deaths in Australia than snakes, crocs and sharks combined. Why? Because of car strikes. MAN: That's a roo strike, that. NARRATOR: Kangaroos cause thousands of car accidents a year in Australia. Thousands of roos die, and sometimes so do people. MICHELLE: So if you want to avoid being injured by a kangaroo, don't try to go up and pet them, don't try to get too close. They're wild animals and they deserve their space. FILIPE: So for the kangaroo has the strength, has the power to do so, but it's more so a reminder to drive carefully. NARRATOR: Adorable animals with the potential to hurt us are underwater, too. FILIPE: So we like to think of dolphins as, you know, cuddly creatures, because they have that permanent smile. But if you're on their dinner menu, you don't see them that way. For prey species, for the animals that they hunt, they are absolutely formidable predators. NARRATOR: Number 7, the dolphin. Cunning and intelligent. Do they have us fooled? MICHELLE: Most people imagine dolphins to be really smart, really sweet, they're trying to save us all the time. I mean, they look so friendly, they almost look like they're kind of smiling at us, like "Eeee, eee, eeeee." FILIPE: Eeeeh! MICHELLE: Aahhh! FILIPE: It's remarkable to be in the water with a dolphin. When you look at this animal and it looks back at you, you can feel the connection. MICHELLE: However, they can be dangerous, too. Dolphins have a little bit more of a dark side. FILIPE: These animals are highly advanced creatures, and so to take an animal like this and put it in captivity, that's where a lot of the trouble starts to happen. GUIDE: Please, please don't reach out to her head, please. That is Nicky, she will bite you. Trust me. She hasn't bitten anybody since yesterday. MICHELLE: When you have a really intelligent animal with a complex social structure, they also get moods, and so you have to be careful. When we get them into captive situations with tourism and swimming with people, I mean, that's when all bets are off. NARRATOR: Sharks can get a bad rap. But perhaps we should watch our backs more around the dolphin. MICHELLE: Dolphins can bite and slap you with their tail. And they'll ram you. In general, they're not trying to do that in the wild. NARRATOR: But it has happened there, too. FILIPE: I've been in the water when people have grabbed bottlenose dolphins in the wild, and that dolphin will turn around and bite someone. When they don't want to be touched, when they don't want to play, they will let you know. WOMAN: Oh, my god. MICHELLE: Dolphins can be quite big. We forget that they're like 1,000 pounds. I mean, that's the size almost of a horse. NARRATOR: But we can't resist this marine mammal that has a brain about the same size as ours. We feed them the wrong things, tease them, kiss them, and let our children swim with them. The real Flipper is not our friend. ♪ ♪ Even the highly trained aquarium stars are just like us: hormonal. And when harassed, they take it out on us. FILIPE: So, a lot of the aggression from dolphins in captivity comes from pent-up testosterone. MICHELLE: Dolphins are driven by hormones, so, the males are trying to find mates. FILIPE: They can be territorial or even the females when they have a calf. MICHELLE: Hormones are a powerful motivator, and they can definitely have some negative consequences when suddenly they're in a small pool with tourists swimming together. NARRATOR: We stress them out and they sometimes turn on us. But do they want to kill us? FILIPE: A dolphin could absolutely kill you, just as the same as a shark could. Do they want to? Absolutely not. We're not on their menu, and you got to remember predators don't want to work so hard for their food, so dolphins don't see us as prey, or even really as a threat. NARRATOR: Bottlenose dolphins are among the very few wild creatures that will kill for reasons other than hunger. MICHELLE: They've been known to bludgeon porpoises to death by the hundreds. They're not eating these animals. They just have this instinct that isn't to do with eating. NARRATOR: Even some sharks avoid them. Should we, too? MICHELLE: Dolphins aren't trying to kill us. They're serious predators and they can be dangerous, but we just need to give them their space. There've been no documented cases of dolphins causing the death of a human. NARRATOR: But in 10 Animals That Will Kill You... MICHELLE: Dolphins are big, but there is one dolphin that's bigger. The largest dolphin in the world is the orca, the killer whale. NARRATOR: And it can kill you. Number 6, the killer whale. FILIPE: These marine mammals outpower, outsize even the animals that we think of at the top of the food chain. They are highly intelligent creatures working together to take down whales, even other dolphins, even sharks. These things are absolutely capable. MICHELLE: These guys are 6 tons, 25 feet long, and I mean designed for destruction. NARRATOR: Killer whales hunt in all the world's oceans and have learned to hunt almost anything. FILIPE: Orcas can hunt using many different tactics. They can strand feed, rushing the banks to hunt a penguin or a seal; or they can tail-whip schools of herring, completely disassembling them and then picking off the disoriented ones; and they can even rush seals on an iceberg, creating a wake, knocking that seal off, and then feeding on it. They can even drown humpback whale calves just to eat the tongue. We used to think of great white sharks as the ultimate predators in the ocean, but recently we've discovered that orcas are killing them. Putting white sharks on your menu makes you the ultimate predator in the ocean. MICHELLE: If we could see an orca out of the water and look at 6 tons of muscle and all these teeth, I don't think we'd ever think about getting close to them. If there was a 6-ton grizzly bear with tons of teeth and that size, I think we'd be staying clear. NARRATOR: So, are orcas out to get us in the water? FILIPE: I personally don't see a situation where in the wild an orca would target a human being. These animals have been around for millions of years, and we have not been on their menu. We're bony, we don't have the fat structure that they need to survive. We wouldn't even be appetizing to an orca. MICHELLE: There is no doubt that an orca has a capability to kill a human being; fortunately, there are no recorded cases of that happening in the wild. NARRATOR: But it's a different story in captivity. NARRATOR: There are no known cases of an orca killing a person in the ocean. MICHELLE: Which makes me happy, because I spend a lot of time out kayaking. I see orcas quite frequently. Whenever I see them, I sit quietly with the kayak, and I really hope they're going to approach me, and often they do. MAN: That's awesome. FILIPE: I've swam with orcas in different parts of the world, and when that animal looks at you, turns belly side up, and wags its head up and down like a dog, it is the ultimate experience as a filmmaker. MICHELLE: But just like with a lot of species, when you get that same species in captivity, all bets are off. Orcas in captivity have killed people. They have a different relationship, a much closer relationship, and sometimes it goes bad. MATT LAUER: Last week a trainer at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, had a very scary encounter with a killer whale named Ky. NARRATOR: During one of its regular shows in July 2004, the male orca repeatedly jumped onto his trainer in front of a stunned audience. This is not the first time that this has happened in an aquarium. Four people have been killed by captive orcas. FILIPE: It's unfortunate that somebody that loves an animal, works with them, and then has that animal turn, it looks bad for both people and the animals. MICHELLE: Orcas are the top predators of the ocean. They're not out to get us, and really, they mostly just want to avoid us. So, we just need to respect them and give them their distance. WOMAN: Oh, my gosh, Rich, he's right there! NARRATOR: As humans, we want to connect with intelligent animals, but that's not necessarily what they want. Some of our closest animal relatives can appear friendly, but if we get on their bad side, beware. Number 5, the gorilla. MICHELLE: Smarter animals can be more deadly because they're thinking one step ahead of you sometimes. FILIPE: I think gorillas just kind of see us as a less evolved primate. When we're in the jungles, when we're in their territory, we don't look like we know what we're doing, we clearly shouldn't be there, we're sweating, we're out of shape. So they're looking at us like, what the hell are you doing here? Why are you taking an interest in me? NARRATOR: Meeting an ape in the wild is going to be a little different to meeting other animals. Think of them as equals but many times stronger. FILIPE: The gorilla can stand at about 5 feet, 6 inches and weigh over 300 pounds of pure muscle. That is like the world's greatest rugby player. You do not want to be in that animal's path if it's coming at you. So for the gorilla is MICHELLE: Apparently, there have been deaths in the wild where gorillas have killed poachers, it just hasn't been well documented. NARRATOR: But that's for self-defense. We are definitely not on their menu. FILIPE: This animal is a vegetarian. MICHELLE: They really just want to eat their greens and travel with their families. NARRATOR: Gorillas still like to strut their stuff. Especially the males. They're all about social hierarchy. So, if you encounter one, be on their level and show respect. FILIPE: Gorillas are an absolute mountain of a presence. They are so incredibly strong, so incredibly dominant, and if you ever come across one in the wild, it's best to stay low, to not make eye contact. MICHELLE: You don't look them in the face, you definitely don't want to smile or show any teeth, you really just want to be submissive and quiet. MAN: The silverback is just behind you. FILIPE: The best-case scenario is that they'll allow you within their territory at a safe distance for an hour or two, and then they're bored, and they want to move on. NARRATOR: But sometimes gorillas will cross the line. MICHELLE: To be out on safari and have a gorilla come and push you over, yeah, that would be intimidating. Even if I knew a gorilla is not likely to kill me, I think that would be my number one concern. Gorillas in the wild really don't want to bother people. They generally just want to go about their business. It's gorillas in captivity that you do have to be careful of. MAN: Oh, (bleep). MICHELLE: They can be overwhelmed. They don't have a lot of space to move away, there can be a lot of people banging on the glass, there can be a lot of activity. NARRATOR: In captivity, there have been a few scary examples of aggression. NEWSCASTER: The images are jaw-dropping. MAN: Oh, my god! NEWSCASTER: A 450-pound gorilla dragging around a 3-year-old boy like a rag doll. NEWSCASTER: One of the gorillas known as Cojito here at the zoo charges to the glass and breaks through the first of three layers of protective glass. NARRATOR: Despite the terrifying show, gorillas in captivity haven't killed anyone. Still, the more visitors they see, the more anxious they can get. MICHELLE: Certainly people are a much bigger threat to gorillas, either from poaching or expansion and loss of their habitat. There's been a few pushes and bumps and, you know, when people get too close to them, but there have been plenty of cases of people killing gorillas. Gorillas are big and they can be scary, but the other ape that's terrifying is the chimpanzee. NARRATOR: In 10 Animals That Will Kill You, the closest thing you'll get to a human is number 4, the chimpanzee. MICHELLE: Chimps can be dangerous and violent in the wild. When you bring them into captivity, they can be really difficult to manage, and they can get frustrated, because they're not living a normal life. NARRATOR: Rare, violent attacks from pet chimpanzees are a reminder that these animals hold one thing over us: brute strength. FILIPE: My first experience with a chimpanzee was actually in captivity. It was while volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary. They're always the animal that you want to be careful with, more than a lion, more than a leopard, even more than a tiger, because they're so incredibly smart. You want to make sure that you're not going to slip up, because they're opportunistic animals, so if you give them a chance to get an upper hand on you, they will absolutely take it. MICHELLE: So, you really have to treat them with serious respect when you're working closely with them. FILIPE: They are stronger than human beings. MICHELLE: Their canines are twice as long as ours. So, there's a lot of power and a lot of biting force behind a chimpanzee. FILIPE: So, it's not like a golden retriever or a like hamster. If you have a regular pet and that acts out and it decides to turn on you, you can pretty much still hold your own. But when a chimpanzee decides that it doesn't want to live under your control, there's almost nothing you can do about it. NEWSCASTER: A woman's desperate pleas for help as a chimpanzee unleashes a savage attack on her friend. NEWSCASTER: They do shoot, finally killing Travis. Sandra's lifelong companion and pet was dead, and her friend lay lifeless. NARRATOR: Stamford, Connecticut, 2009. Sandra's 200-pound pet chimpanzee left her friend in a critical condition. She survived but lost her face and hands. Such aggression replicates that of chimps in the wild. MICHELLE: Chimpanzees in the wild have really complex social groups, and there's a lot of violence in those groups at different times. (shrieking) FILIPE: Whenever you see troops of chimpanzees battling it out, the winners will dismantle their fallen victims, and they do that by biting off fingers, by biting off body parts. And when you think about it, the fingers, the hands of a primate, are its greatest tools, so, doing this is the ultimate sign of disrespect. MICHELLE: They are so scary. They are. Oof! NARRATOR: Apart from humans, chimpanzees are the only primates known to gang up on their neighbors with lethal results. Killing competitors improves a male chimp's access to resources like food and territory. Even competitors like us. MICHELLE: There have been cases of wild chimpanzees killing people, and just recently there's more instances of chimpanzees coming into villages and actually stealing babies and killing them, and that all goes back to our encroachment on chimpanzees' habitat. FILIPE: Sometimes chimpanzees will steal the offspring of opposing troops, and it's believable that they would even do that with human beings if they see us as a threat. MICHELLE: They're just so scary, and maybe it's because they're a little like us. FILIPE: From a highly intelligent primate to a six-legged avian ninja. NARRATOR: What would be the worst way to die? Number 3, the Asian giant hornet. Also known as the Japanese hornet, and recently dubbed the murder hornet. MICHELLE: Ohh, I mean, of all the death by animal scenarios, I think being stung by murder hornets is at the top. And they do kill about 50 people a year in Japan on average. FILIPE: To be attacked by a swarm of Japanese hornets, I couldn't imagine the pain. NARRATOR: One Japanese couple didn't have to imagine it. On a warm morning in September, Teru and Koichi were gardening when they disturbed a giant hornet nest. Within seconds, Koichi had a dozen massive insects attacking him, each stinging repeatedly. Teru was stung, too, as she ran for help. TERU (translated): My symptoms came quickly. My throat tightened up, and I couldn't speak. NARRATOR: Her husband was completely engulfed by the hornets and stung all over his face and neck. He blacked out, and the venom started to break down the tissues on his face. He died within 15 minutes. FILIPE: These things can grow to around two inches. That's about this big. Imagine something like this, an avian ninja flying around with a sword on its backside coming after you. That is the stuff of nightmares. NARRATOR: In one year, 30 to 50 people in Asia die from these hornets. In the US, 60 to 80 people die from allergic reactions to various wasps and bees. But somehow these giant hornets still scare us more. MICHELLE: When you get stung by a Japanese hornet, that's a heck of a lot of venom that's being injected, and your body can go into full anaphylaxis. And what happens is your blood pressure drops, your throat can swell, it can be hard to breathe, and you can go into a full cardiac arrest. NARRATOR: But the hornets aren't after us. They want bees for dinner. And these insect predators are not staying in Asia. NEWSCASTER: So this may sound like something out of a Hollywood horror movie, we wish it was, but murder hornets are a real thing, and for the first time they have been spotted here in the US. MICHELLE: Unfortunately, Japanese hornets were recently released into Washington state and British Columbia. And that is a very high risk, not only to the European honeybee that they like to attack, but also to people who might happen upon a Japanese hornet's nest. FILIPE: So, the hornets will actually decapitate the honeybees and fly back to their nest with the bodies. Why? So that they can feed their babies. NEWSCASTER: Beekeepers reporting piles of dead bees, I mean, what's happening here? MAN: This Asian giant hornet that has a mandible that can just rip the head off a honeybee and go through dozens of them in seconds. They feed the thorax to their offspring and then can take over that hive. Honeybees are our pollinators, and to have an invasive species like this come along at this time when they're reeling from colony collapse is really troubling. They describe the sting like being poked with a red-hot thumbtack through your flesh, they can sting through a beekeeper's suit. MICHELLE: Honeybees have had a tough go for a while with their Braula mites, with fungal infections, and now murder hornets are coming to get them? These guys can't get a break. And worst-case scenario? MICHELLE: If had a swarm of Japanese hornets coming at me, I think I'd, like, drop and roll. I think I'd really be trying to completely cover myself, so that they couldn't get me. You know, if there was a lake nearby, I'd be in it. Death by swarm of murder hornets, not the way I want to go. NARRATOR: On land you can run away, but underwater, you're at a distinct disadvantage. FILIPE: Any animal that keeps a machete at the end of its tail, you should be a little bit wary of. NARRATOR: Number 2, the stingray. MICHELLE: At first glance, stingrays are just pure beauty. They're peaceful, they're just kind of floating along. But one wrong step, and you can get the dangerous end of a stingray. NARRATOR: In October 2016, an aquarium worker in Singapore died after being stung in the chest by a stingray. This reminded the world of the freak, tragic death of Steve Irwin. CHARLES GIBSON: He was swimming with a stingray off Australia when its poison barb apparently pierced his heart. NARRATOR: In 2006, the world's most famous stingray fatality made headlines around the world. GIBSON: The exuberant conservationist known as the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin died today, killed by one of the dangerous animals that he spent his life protecting. He was swimming with a stingray off Australia Why would someone like Irwin... MICHELLE: I just remember hearing that story and being so sad. I learned so much about wildlife from him, and to hear that that happened, and from a stingray, was so shocking, but it's just another example of how when you get too close to certain wildlife, it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen. FILIPE: He took the barb in the chest. I could not imagine going through that kind of pain. I just got a pelagic southern stingray in the foot, and it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. The barb of a stingray is reserved for a would-be predator, like a shark. It's not meant for something like us, land mammals. NARRATOR: Unless they feel threatened or alarmed. Then up goes the barb. MICHELLE: And then that can go right through your foot. And they do have venom. FILIPE: When you feel the puncture and the toxins of a stingray, take it from somebody who has, it's not a pain that I would recommend. NARRATOR: Stingray encounters have been increasing in some areas including in the United States. NEWSCASTER: Stung by stingrays, more people are having encounters with the sea creatures in Huntington Beach, walking away in pain. REPORTER: These bright-yellow bags are really becoming a fixture on the beach. What happens when someone gets stung, that very sharp, painful barb in their foot usually, the lifeguards come to them with this bag, they then pour out of a jug of scalding hot water, pour it into the bag, the foot goes inside, and that's immediate treatment. FILIPE: The pain rushes up your leg. It is a venom that takes over, and you have to stick your leg inside of something warm, and then you can literally feel the venom rushing back down your foot. NARRATOR: These are accidental encounters, but sometimes swimming with stingrays becomes a thing people will even pay to do. FILIPE: A lot of times we want to interact with these animals, but we don't think about what the animal's experiencing. When you see a lot of people around a lot of stingrays in a controlled environment, it's just a matter of time before something bad happens. (woman screams) MAN: The suction! WOMAN: Oh, my god! NARRATOR: Stingrays have killed around 20 to 30 people worldwide. FILIPE: Whenever I get to see one of these animals in the wild, I fall in love all over again, and then I feel that barb in my foot, and I'm reminded to keep my distance. NARRATOR: Same advice goes for this giant animal on land. Number 1, the moose. MICHELLE: Moose are one of my favorite creatures, but they're also one of the animals I'm most afraid of in the north. FILIPE: My first moose was almost the last animal encounter I ever had. That is not the path of an animal you want to be in front of when it doesn't want you there. MICHELLE: I would much rather bump into an 800-pound grizzly bear than I would bump into a mama moose with a calf at her heel. There is no doubt that that mama moose is going to charge you. Recently I walked out to film a cow and a calf moose that was just outside of our cabin. So I just stood there filming her, and as I was watching her walk away, I saw in horror that my daughter Willow was coming down the hill and didn't realize she was right there on our path. (gasps) Oh, my god! Mama moose, Willow, just stay there, I'll distract her. Mama moose, you need to go! So, I said, "Willow, stop," and before I could even hardly get the words out, the cow moose turned, and it was ready to charge her. Willow, just start backing up. So, Willow did the right thing. She froze, she didn't move, she slowly tried to back up to get herself between a tree and the moose. You need to get something between you, because she's gonna come at you, and it's going to be really hard to get away. Okay. Okay. You alright? NARRATOR: Because if you don't, you're in trouble. MICHELLE: The cow moose will come at you. Well, first she'll give you about a two second warning where her ears drop straight down and she'll look and, like, lick. And then she will charge you and she'll be coming at you with her front feet, like with all these ninja moves. Hoh-hoh-hoh! It's super dangerous. It's basically like hammers coming at you. Moose in rut can also be dangerous. And those are the bulls that grow the great, big antlers that are then using them in the fall to fight other moose. But they'll fight people. They'll fight vehicles. They can be really aggressive in the fall. NARRATOR: Moose can be a big issue in parts of Alaska. FILIPE: Most of the deaths from moose are actually from car collisions. If you run into an animal going 50, 60 miles an hour with that size rack... (crash) ...that is deadly. MICHELLE: In one little stretch of road just north of Anchorage, there are 350 moose killed every year by vehicle accidents. We're talking about 1,200 to 1,600 pounds, the largest deer And that's what you're hitting with your vehicle going 65 miles an hour. It's deadly. FILIPE: Moose actually outnumber grizzly bears 3 to 1 in Alaska. They injure around 10 people in the States annually, but when it comes to those injuries on people, I bet you that a lot of the times it's people stalking moose or trying to hunt them or get too close. They shouldn't be anywhere near those moose. An animal that size, you should give it the respect that it deserves. MICHELLE: In Alaska and the northwest, moose are one of the most dangerous wild species out there, and they will kill you. If you come across a moose in the wild, you're lucky. Enjoy the view. Just try to keep a few big trees between you and that moose. (grunt) NARRATOR: 10 Animals That Will Kill You? FILIPE: 10 animals that have the capability of killing you, but really no interest in coming into contact with you. MICHELLE: I mean, let's face it, these animals aren't out to get us. In most cases they're just trying to live their lives and get away from us. Captioned by Side Door Media Services