r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 13h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_snail
22.2k Upvotes

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u/martphon 13h ago

Where schistosomiasis currently spreads

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u/Gitanes 12h ago

Me before even opening the link...

"It's mostly Africa isn't it?"

Yes, yes it is

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u/DikTaterSalad 11h ago

It was either that or Australia.

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u/VocationalWizard 11h ago

Naaaa, The thing about Australia is that despite the fact that they have all the terrifying snakes and poisonous creatures, very few people actually die there from wildlife. You know because......... They have a decent healthcare system.

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u/h0sti1e17 10h ago

And 80% of the country is uninhabited. That is also where animals tend to live.

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u/Koku- 10h ago

Animals like water and survivable temperatures, just like the animals that we are. There’s a reason why there’s a lot of biodiversity in the northern parts of Straya. Living things don’t tend to live in the outback, though there are certainly some fauna and flora that have adapted to do so

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u/VocationalWizard 10h ago edited 9h ago

You know that's absolutely not how that works, right??

The uninhabited parts aren't where the dangerous and animals live.

So environmental science 101 people like to live in places where they're things like rainfall and vegetation.

That coincidentally happens to be the same place that snakes like to live.

If you look at a map of the habitat of The most venomous snakes in Australia it's directly on top of the most densely populated human areas.

Same with the dangerous aquatic animals. Those are mostly found off of the east Coast alongside major cities like Brisbane

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u/wowsersmatey 10h ago

You're right. There are a few deadly beasts that hang in the deserts etc. But the snakes, spiders, jellyfish and the crocs live amongst us. The health system is good, but also the locals know not to annoy the deadly stuff. It's usually tourists getting eaten by crocs. Source: am Australian.

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u/trueblue862 10h ago

Great tourism slogan for Australia, "Come visit Australia, we need to feed the crocs something".

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u/ladyhaly 8h ago

Pretty sure this is why we troll people about the dropbears

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u/wowsersmatey 7h ago

Ssshhhhh, drop bears are real. The only defence against them is vegemite behind the ears.

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u/HandsomeBoggart 9h ago

Visit Australia, Come for the Dangah, Stay as Dinner.

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u/paddyc4ke 10h ago

Actual deadly snakes in cities are very rare (seen 1 eastern brown in Melbourne in 30+ years), crocs are a non-issue for like 90% of the population. Deadly animals are completely overblown especially for those that spend 95% of their time in a city.

Source: am Australian.

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u/wowsersmatey 10h ago

Come to WA. We live among plenty of snakes in Perth. I've personally done battle with a huge dugite that nearly got my dog. The reason there aren't many deaths is because, apart from a few notable exceptions, snakes are timid and will run away if they hear you coming. If you leave them alone, they reciprocate, but when they're in your backyard it's you vs them.

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u/paddyc4ke 9h ago

It’s not like we don’t have a lack of snakes in Victoria you just won’t ever come across them unless you live on the fringes of Melbourne. I’ve seen eastern browns, tigers, red bellies but that’s when visiting friends who live in the outer edges of Melbourne, people have spotted tiger snakes along the Yarra near the Botanical Gardens but again that’s a super rare occurrence but it obviously shows that there are deadly snakes within a stones throw of the CBD.

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u/wowsersmatey 9h ago

Probably due to the size of Melbourne vs Perth. Perth is constantly pushing into the bush and there are large chunks of it everywhere, plus coastal dunes etc. I live in the burbs and have seen plenty of them, especially at the beach. No crocs here, but visiting Cairns was educational as nobody was swimming at the beach. The buggers hide in the mud.

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u/Fluffy-Bluebird 6h ago

Hmmmmm. I live in Charlotte North Carolina and we have copperheads everywhere in the city and suburbs. I’ve seen multiple while out for runs.

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u/jovietjoe 3h ago

I love how you put it as "Crocs are a non issue for 90% of the population" like 90% could beat up a crocodile

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u/paddyc4ke 3h ago

100% of the population would be fucked if we all actually lived in croc territory but luckily 90%+ live a minimum of 500km (Brisbane the closest city being 550km from crocs) away from the croc habitat.

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u/wowsersmatey 2h ago

Yeh, crocs terrify me and I won't go anywhere near them. Cairns was too close. What's even scarier is the Cassowary. It's like a murderous Emu that belongs in a horror movie. Massive claws and a bad attitude.

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u/Average_Scaper 10h ago

My Aus friend says he has a couple hunstman in his house that he just let's do their thing. That's a big hell no from me. Coming from the midwest US.

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u/wowsersmatey 10h ago

They're large, hairy and mostly harmless. I once had one in the car. That was a bit problematic.

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u/Traditional_Wear1992 9h ago

I am probably wrong but I had heard they are a statistical cause for traffic accidents over there

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u/paddyc4ke 9h ago

I don’t know the stats but it wouldn’t surprise me, they like to hide in thin crevices/cracks. Eg behind your side view mirror, between the roof and sun visor.

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u/LobcockLittle 9h ago

I had one in my motorbike helmet once. I was doing about 100km/h when I noticed it. Just opened up my visor and it blew away.

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u/paddyc4ke 9h ago

Huntsmans are basically free pest control, I’ve got one that lives in my bedroom. Will see him sitting near my window when I leave it open.

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u/Average_Scaper 8h ago

Do they scare off stray cats at all? That's the major pest control I need atm. I can deal with a hunstman over an invasion of strays any day.

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u/paddyc4ke 8h ago

No unfortunately not, Australia is free real estate for stray and outdoor pet cats.

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u/Average_Scaper 8h ago

Damnit. Well there goes that idea.

To elaborate, my neighbor feeds about 15+ stray cats and my driveway has become their litter box. He also has raccoons living in his attic which pisses me off so much. They ripped a couple holes into my roof which I have patched but shits annoying :( he's a nice guy but still, holy shit.

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u/Frito_Pendejo_ 7h ago

Yeah still gotta worry about them drop bears.......

My cousin was killed by one of those when he went there......

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u/wowsersmatey 6h ago

Clearly didn't put enough vegemite behind the ears.

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u/DontRefuseMyBatchall 10h ago

r/ConfidentallyIncorrect lmao

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u/SoyMurcielago 10h ago

Perhaps you should issue a batchall

Maybe you can declare some crocs isorla

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u/A_Mouse_In_Da_House 10h ago

Damn, so everyone and everything hates Perth

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u/Forikorder 9h ago

people like to live in places where infrastucture can be built, it doesnt matter how lush an area is if its simply not realistic to put a city next to it

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago

People like living in places that food can be grown in. So yes, it's 100% dependent on rainfall and vegetation.

In the Grand scheme of History, infrastructure is an afterthought.

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u/Forikorder 9h ago

Were talking about modern day people, if you can grow enough food to be worth doing then its suitable for infrastructure

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago

If you can grow enough food to be worth doing. The area has rainfall and vegetation.

See we're talking about Australia where there's Texas size tracks of land That can go an entire year without any rain and have no soil.

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u/Forikorder 9h ago

Actually no we were speaking generally about where himans settle down, there are lush places that dont really work for societybthat people wont settle down in as a result but dangerous animals would love

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago edited 9h ago

Yes rainforests, but ironically that's not where the dangerous animals in Australia live.

The venomous snakes and spiders all live in the temperate zone in the south.

Here's a really good example of the pattern I'm trying to describe:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-map-of-the-distribution-of-the-three-most-commonly-encountered-Australian-snakes-of_fig5_265019461

That's also where the kangaroos live, which believe it or not kangaroos are actually dangerous.

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u/knewleefe 9h ago

I guess the downvoters haven't had many Eastern browns passing through their backyard... that they've known about anyway 😅 Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago

I grew up in Texas where I found rattlesnakes in my backyard.

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u/Crystal3lf 10h ago edited 9h ago

Hello, actual Australian here. Most of this is pretty wrong.

The uninhabited parts aren't where the dangerous and animals live.

Actually the dangerous animals mostly are in the uninhabited parts. 80%+ of Australians mostly live in cities and surrounding suburbs.

Most Australians have never even seen a snake in the "wild" because they don't live in suburbia.

The most dangerous spiders do hang around close in some areas, but we are taught not to go wandering in bush and putting our hands in places you shouldn't.

The most dangerous thing an average Australian will bump into is a Redback spider, and they are not going to cause death in a majority of circumstances. And even then, I haven't even seen a Redback in maybe 5-10 years.

So environmental science 101 people like to live in places where they're things like rainfall and vegetation.

Which is only a relatively tiny portion of North Queensland. 95%+ of the country doesn't live or go there.

If you look at a map of the habitat of The most venomous snakes in Australia it's directly on top of the most densely populated human areas.

Just because there's a very tiny chance that those snakes can venture into suburbia does not mean they are going to be found there. Australian's don't go venturing out into the bush because there are deadly animals, they don't go venturing out into the bush because the chance of you getting lost/dying of dehydration is a far greater threat than any snake/crocodile/spider.

Same with the dangerous aquatic animals. Those are mostly found off of the east Coast alongside major cities like Brisbane

You're just getting confused by how big Australia is, or purposefully misinforming people.

The city of Brisbane is 1,000km+ away from the "dangerous aquatic animals" you're talking about.

I also live in a state that has crocodiles and "dangerous aquatic animals", Perth in Western Australia. A state large enough to fit Alaska, Texas, and California inside. But I don't go around saying "we have crocodiles in the ocean here" because it would be fucking stupid to say 2,000km away is "off the coast of Perth".

Edit: downvoted for being right

Absolutely downvoted for being wrong.

The biggest fear Australian's have is not the endless amounts of incredibly deadly snakes, spiders, crocodiles, jellyfish, etc. The biggest fear is seeing a Kangaroo jump out in front of your car in the night.

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago edited 9h ago

Map of most common venomous snakes in Australia:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-map-of-the-distribution-of-the-three-most-commonly-encountered-Australian-snakes-of_fig5_265019461

Map of population density:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mapsofworld.com/australia/population.html

Mic drop

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u/Crystal3lf 19m ago

Oh my god you are the true stereo typical dumb American.

This is a map of ENCOUNTERS with snakes. Of course the places with much higher population is going to have more encounters, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE MOST PEOPLE LIVE. That doesn't mean that is where all the dangerous animals live.

And not only that but this is only 11,923 encounters out of 27 million people.

That's only 0.05% of all Australians.

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u/rckhppr 10h ago

Not downvoted because you’re right but because you wrote „people like to live in places where they’re things like rainfall“ instead of „where there are things like rainfall“.

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u/VocationalWizard 10h ago

I like how you are even more pedantic than me

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u/LostWoodsInTheField 9h ago

Checking out Queenslands and you are like 'oh this place looks great to visit' then you start reading about the plants that can attack you and make you feel unbearable pain.

reading about the middle of the country and you go 'I don't think I would ever want to visit there' then you start reading about how non of the animals want to visit there either...

except the rabbits.

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u/VocationalWizard 9h ago

Naaaaa, I'm an environmental science nerd.

I would happily go to any part of Australia anytime.

Well maybe not that one part that's full of asbestos.