Human
A human bite is actually one of the more potentially troublesome types. As the NIH advise, “human bites may be more dangerous than most animal bites. There are germs in some human mouths that can cause infections that are hard to treat.” Bites that get infected by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are particularly dangerous, potentially even leading to toxic shock syndrome and other nasty effects.
Cat
Many cat owners have probably experienced a bite from their pet at some stage, but like any bite they can get infected easily – especially since a cat’s mouth tends to be a playground for bacteria. Their long, sharp teeth also make it more likely that the skin will break and transfer unwanted germs. Given the popularity of household cats, dangerous or damaging bites are quite common, with some estimates suggesting almost half of all cat bites lead to some sort of infection. In extreme cases, hospitalisation is a possibility. Molly Oswaks of Gizmodo wrote an enlightening article about the after effects of a seemingly light bite from her feline companion – be warned, the pictures are not pretty.
Komodo dragon
You don’t want to mess with one of these giant lizards. Getting punctured by well over fifty sharp teeth is bad enough – but the huge amount of bacteria that breeds in a dragon’s mouth makes a bite particularly dangerous. A dragon’s diet consists largely of rotting animal corpses, which play a large part in initiating bacterial transfer. The Indonesian environment and the dragons’ mouths are also extremely favourable habitats for bacterial growth. Add these and other various other factors together and you can easily see why a Komodo dragon bite runs a high risk of becoming a veritable Petri dish for pathogens.
Viper
Snake bites in general are naturally best avoided due to their venom, but take particular care when it comes to the various breeds of viper (including the infamous rattlesnake). While they can be deadly in a worst case scenario, survivors will face an extremely unpleasant ordeal. As Van Wallach of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology describes it, a bite from an African bush viper “felt like somebody had a blowtorch and was burning you inside your arm. … It went on for three straight days before I had any relief.”
Crocodiles
Most people will naturally keep away from crocodiles wherever possible. Best to keep that up – various breeds of crocodile can deliver bites of almost 5,000 pounds per square inch. They are truly the clamps of the animal kingdom.
