Looking at danger, data, and a surprising lack of spiders.
What “most dangerous animal” really means
I recently fell down a very specific rabbit hole: a state-by-state list of the most dangerous animal in each U.S. state, based on which creature is statistically responsible for the most human deaths.
It’s not a ranking of the scariest, meanest, or most cinematic animals. It’s much simpler: which animal is most likely to kill you in that state—whether by venom, disease, or a very bad day on the highway.
That’s how you end up with a map where:
