There’s always an additional frisson when out in the wild at night, even in countries lacking deadly creatures. What else is out there? Who is watching you?
That frisson is magnified into fear and even frights where there are beasts that either want to actively do you harm or may do so as a result of a chance encounter. Most deadly nocturnal species fall into the latter category. The solution? Don’t go poking your hands or feet under rocks or logs or anywhere else you can’t see what might be hiding there.
Deadliest nightlife
Brazilian wandering spider
Don’t get bitten by a Brazilian wandering spider. Initial symptoms include a severe burning pain, sweating and goosebumps which can progress to everything from nausea and abdominal cramping to vertigo, blurred vision and convulsions.
For men only, there is the added concern that a bite can trigger painful and long-lasting erections – scientists have investigated the venom as the source of a potential alternative drug to Viagra. All nine species are nocturnal and found throughout South and Central America. They’re big spiders, too, with bodies up 5cm across and a leg span up to 18cm. Oh, and they can jump.
Giant centipede
Growing to more than a foot long, giant centipedes are truly the stuff of nightmares. Scolopendra gigantea has even evolved the frankly disturbing trick of predating bats that live in Venezuelan caves, hanging from the ceiling and catching them in mid-flight.
These centipedes are able to subdue much larger prey than them through their powerful venom and the modified claws, known as forcipules, with which they inject it. A bite to a human would be painful, but nothing like as bad as the wandering spider’s.
Russell’s viper
Said to be responsible for a greater number of mortalities than any other snake across the Indian subcontinent, Russell’s viper is worth avoiding. But for many, that is easier said than done because this snake thrives even on the outskirts of towns and cities.
They are naturally active at night when they hunt rodents and small reptiles, but they may pose the greatest risk to rice farmers. As scientists say, “The paddy farmer and the Russell’s viper coexist in fragile symbiosis – the snake controls rodent pests but inevitably interacts with man, often with mutually disastrous results.”
Leopard
Leopards are not only the world’s most widespread big cat, being found across much of Africa and South-east Asia, they are also able to live in human-dominated landscapes. Famously, they inhabit the Indian megacity of Mumbai, hanging out during the day in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, then moving into surrounding urban areas at night to hunt.
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Photographer Nayan Khanolkar has documented their nocturnal activities and says cities create perfect conditions for them. “People throw food outside and it attracts pigs and dogs, which leopards can hunt much more easily than running after deer in the park.”
Nile crocodile
There will never be a consensus about what the most dangerous large animal in Africa is – lions, hippopotami and buffalos are all mentioned – but many hardened safari guides point the finger at the Nile crocodile.
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One study carried out on human-crocodile interactions in and around Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe found half of all attacks occurred at night or the very early morning, with most victims men aged 26-40 who are out fishing. All crocodiles are essentially ambush hunters, willing to wait patiently for days and even months on end for something to come close enough to grab. Once it does, whether human or not, they seize hold and simply don’t let go until the hapless victim drowns.
Vampire bat
On the whole, it is harsh to label vampire bats – of which there are three species, all found in Central and South America – as deadly just because they take their name from the legendary blood-sucking Count from Transylvania.
However, they do survive on a diet of the blood of other living animals, including, from time to time, humans. None of this is fatal unless the vampire bat in question happens to be carrying the rabies virus. There was a spate of rabies infections in the Brazilian state of Bahia in 2017 after vampire bats targeted humans, and one man died as a result of exposure to the deadly virus.
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Cookiecutter shark
Cookiecutter sharks are such bizarre predators – or parasites since they probably rarely kill their victims – that they send a chill down the spine.
The most famous interaction between a cookiecutter and a person was an underwater photographer who reported being attacked by schools of “blunt-nosed and extremely ferocious foot-long ‘fish’ that neatly sliced out circular plugs of flesh about an inch in diameter” in the open ocean.
This certainly sounds like the cookiecutter’s modus operandi. They spend their days in the depths of the ocean, only rising up through the water column at night to feed, so a nocturnal dive should be treated with caution.
Camel spider
Camel spider, wind scorpion, solifuge or solpugid (pronounced sahl-pyoo-jid) – call them what you like, they’re still pretty scary, even though they pose no real threat to humans. Though arachnids, they are not spiders and they’re not even venomous and cannot run as fast as a human, as was reported during the Iraq war in 2003.
Media reported in 2008 that one found its way into a soldier’s home in Colchester, Essex, and the family was driven out of their house and blamed the creature for killing their pet dog. They can grow up to 6 inches (15cm) long and are said to be able to run at 16kmh.
Goonch catfish
Between 1998 and 2007, five young men either vanished or were killed while bathing in the Kali River near the India-Nepal border, and local gossip blamed a goonch catfish which they estimated to have weighed 90kg.
This has never been verified, with some sources suggesting it could just as easily have been a mugger crocodile. Still, the goonch catfish can grow to a reported length of 2.3 metres and possesses a predatory nature and a powerful suction-feeding mechanism. But they are also nocturnal, solitary hunters and lie in wait in deep pools to feed, usually, on much smaller prey.
Sun bear
Native to South-east Asia, the sun bear is probably the least well-known and understood of all the eight ursids. Despite being the smallest bear, with adults weighing as little as 25kg (that’s only the size of a medium-sized dog), one piece of research carried out in the north-eastern Indian state of Mizoram recorded 33 human casualties over a ten-year period.
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Attacks occurred at night or in the crepuscular hours and either when people were foraging in the forest or tending to crops. Should you ever encounter a sun bear in the wild, the advice is to withdraw slowly while talking in a soft voice. As with other bears, a sudden reaction or running could provoke an attack.
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