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Snails? The deadliest animals on Earth might surprise you

Alligators and sharks look terrifying, but they don't rank nearly as high as deer and freshwater snails. And No. 1 on the list is a special buzzkill.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
Watch this: The 24 deadliest animals, ranked

It's like a constant episode of "Game of Thrones" out there on planet Earth. Everything from the tiniest insect to the more ferocious predator is killing everything else, and this CNET video runs through the list of the top 24 murderinos.

Some of the critters on the list aren't as deadly as they look. Why are we so afraid of sharks (which kill 5 humans a year, coming in at No. 23) and not of deer (which somehow kill 130 people a year, landing at a more terrifying No. 16)? And others hide a lot of mayhem inside innocent-looking frames, though someone's really going to need to go into more detail on how freshwater snails landed in a tie for No. 7.

And what's No. 1? A tiny pest whose top spot on the list is both surprising and completely expected, if you've been keeping up on the buzz. Be careful out there. And be sure to especially watch out for No. 2.