15 Tiny Animals That Can End You

Looks can be deceiving.

1. The Harvester Ant

Flickr: jurvetson / Creative Commons

Location: Southwest United States

Size: 1/4", about the size of a tic tac

What Gives? Each of these guys pack a powerful punch: they have the most toxic venom in the insect world. Now you're thinking, "They are small, they can't possibly do much harm." Wrong. They attack in packs. Good luck.

2. The Irukandji Jellyfish

AdStock RF / Shutterstock.com

Location: Australia

Size: Less than 1”, about the size of a quarter

What Gives? After being stung, symptoms such as vomiting, headaches, increased heart rate, and high blood pressure can set in within a matter of hours, or even minutes. Its venom is 100 times more powerful than a cobra's, and 1,000 times more powerful than that a tarantula's.

3. The Death Stalker Scorpion

Flickr: furryscalyman / Creative Commons

Location: Africa

Size: 2", about the length of a bobby pin

What Gives? Because of its six different, fast-acting neurotoxins, this little guy kills several people annually. Check your shoes!

4. The Blue-Ringed Octopus

Teguh Tirtaputra / shutterstock.com

Location: Australia

Size: 4", about the size of an average prescription bottle

What Gives? It turns blue when it's ready to attack. Its beak is strong enough to pierce through wetsuit gloves and give the handler a fatal dose of venom. One dose of venom from these bad boys can kill 26 people.

5. The Boomslang

Flickr: equinoxe-photostudio / Creative Commons

Location: Southern Africa

Size: 36", or about the size of a 3-year-old child

What Gives? Boomslangs contain a hemotoxin venom that, when injected, can kill within hours. This venom causes a victim to bleed out of every orifice. And yes, every orifice.

6. The Brazilian Walking Spider

Luciano Queiroz / shutterstock.com

Location: Brazil, duh

Size: 4"

What Gives? Not only does this nightmare have venom that is twice as potent as a black widow's, it packs a special punch. Coupled with a neurotoxin, their bites also deliver high levels of serotonin. So while this neurotoxin is busy shutting down your primary functions, the serotonin causes intense tremors from your brain. Talk about multi-tasking!

7. The Geographic Cone Snail

Auscape/Contributor / Getty Images

Location: Australia

Size: 6", or about the length of a dollar bill

What Gives? This pretty snails have a lance with a cocktail of toxins. Your body will do anything to get the venom out, which will happen out of any and every hole in your body.

8. The Tarantula Hawk

Flickr: trekman / Creative Commons

Location: North America

Size: 2", about the length of a AA battery

What Gives? Aside from having the creepiest name ever, this giant hornet's venomous sting is the second-most painful sting in the animal kingdom.

9. The Golden Poison Dart Frog

Flickr: gordon2208 / Creative Commons

Location: Colombia

Size: 2", about the length of a paperclip

What Gives? Let's just put it this way: Currently no effective antidote exists for the treatment of this type of batrachotoxin poisoning. This type of poison causes the nervous system to fail so quickly and effectively that tribesmen have been known to wipe their arrows with it.

10. The Hooded Pitohui

Flickr: 16420772@N07 / Creative Commons

Location: New Guinea

Size: 9"

What Gives? This bird's feathers are coated in the same stuff as the poison dart frog. It takes only a few minutes for this poison to seep through the skin and kill its victim.

11. The Lonomia Caterpillar

Flickr: ronai / Creative Commons

Location: Brazil

Size: 2", about the length of a pink eraser

What Gives? This little guy's venom penetrates the body and prevents your blood from clotting, which will eventually cause your body to swell up due to pooled blood. The poison will also attack protein cells, causing them to leak and preventing them from clotting as well. No wonder people call it the "Assassin Caterpillar."

12. The Puffer Fish

Flickr: saspotato / Creative Commons

Location: In the oceans, around the equator

Size: Can be as small as 1", about the size of a guitar pick

What Gives? Its poisons are types of saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin, both of which can be lethal. The two can cause rapid heart rate, muscle paralysis, a decrease in blood pressure, numbness, and tingling. Oh yeah, and death.

13. The Yellow Bellied Sea Snake

Flickr: gregthebusker / Creative Commons

Location: Warm waters in the Pacific and Indian oceans

Size: 28", about the size of the stem of an umbrella

What Gives? The venom is similar to that of cobras, except that this snake's is three times as potent. One drop of their venom can kill three grown men.

14. The Giant Japanese Hornet

Andrzej Wilusz / shutterstock.com

Location: Japan (and its relatives are all over east Asia)

Size: 2", about the size of a lighter

What Gives? Included in the Asian Giant Hornet species, these guys are the world's largest hornets. One hornet alone can kill an adult, and anaphylactic shock is a very common side effect of being stung. They can also fly at 25 mph, so running probably isn't your best option.

15. The Mosquito

Flickr: jingleslenobel / Creative Commons

Location: Everywhere

Size: 0.3 to 2 cm, about the width of a pencil

What Gives? Mosquitoes like to carry and transfer the world's deadliest illnesses, making them Public Enemy No. 1.