Who wouldn’t want to cuddle a cute wild animal if they had the opportunity? Especially when they’re small and defenseless.
My advice is not to judge a book by its cover because you can be in for the surprise of your life. Find out as we count down 15 adorable animals that are actually deadly.
PLATYPUS
The platypus is a duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying aquatic creature native to Australia.
If its appearance alone somehow fails to impress, the male of the species is also one of the world’s few venomous mammals! Equipped with sharp stingers on the heels of its hind feet, the male platypus can deliver a strong toxic blow to any approaching foe.
While the platypus generally inhabits freshwater rivers, wetlands, and billabongs Down Under, it is also known to venture into brackish estuaries.
The platypus is a bottom-feeder that uses its beaver-like tail to steer and its webbed feet to propel itself through the water while hunting for insects, shellfish, and worms.
The watertight nostrils on its bill remain sealed so that the animal can stay submerged for up to two minutes as it forages for food.
The bill also comes equipped with specialized nerve endings, called electroreceptors, which detect tiny electrical currents generated by the muscular contractions of prey.
It has no teeth, so the platypus stores its “catch” in its cheek pouches, returns to the surface, mashes up its meal with the help of gravel bits hoovered up en route, then swallows it all down.
BEAVER
With their oversized front teeth, beady little eyes, and funny flat tails, beavers look less like crazed killers and more like the goofballs of the woods.
Yet with their distinctive orange-colored incisors, these furry wonders can slash through a finger-sized tree branch with just a single chomp. So that begs the question: Are beavers dangerous to humans? It turns out that yes, in certain circumstances, beavers might harm people and pets.
In 2013, a man in Belarus approached a beaver hoping to capture a picture of it.
But he apparently got too close and the beaver managed to inflict a bite that severed an artery in his leg. He promptly bled to death.
In 2018, a Pennsylvania man ventured out onto a kayak when a beaver attacked his watercraft and attempted to climb aboard.
He smacked the beaver multiple times with a paddle to no avail — the beaver merely switched targets, instead of attacking the man’s young daughter. He was finally able to beat the beaver to death with a stick. Sometimes, beavers attack because they’re deliriously sick with rabies.
That’s happened multiple times in the past few years, including a 2012 incident in which two Virginia girls were ambushed by a rabid beaver.
Both girls survived but received rabies treatments. But the truth is that beaver attacks make great headlines for one reason — they are incredibly rare.
