Nine Green Butterflies

I read earlier this month about three rhino poachers who sneaked onto a South African game preserve and were eaten by lions. It made me wonder just how often this sort of thing happens. Are lions the most deadly animal? Not even close. Lions are responsible for about 22 (human) deaths every year. Hippos are cute, but they account for 500 deaths annually. I’m more scared of sharks than of lions and hippos, but sharks only kill five or six people a year. People commit 437,000 homicides a year, but the most deadly animal is the mosquito. Because they transmit diseases like malaria, dengue fever, Zika and West Nile viruses, mosquitoes cause 570,000 deaths every year. We have the technology to make mosquitoes extinct. Lions and hippos aren’t listed as endangered – yet. If someday they or even sharks should disappear, the world would be a sadder place. But a world without mosquitoes? Is there a downside to this?