Asked by: Anonymous
Eating humans is not a great lifestyle choice, at least for vertebrates. Mainly this is because our normal living range doesn’t overlap much with that of wild animals. You’re statistically much more likely to be killed by lightning than a lion, tiger or shark. Bears are a slightly higher risk because people underestimate how aggressive they are but, even so, there have only been about 30 documented deaths from bears in the US since 2000.
There are lots of animals more dangerous to us than this – buffalo, snakes, spiders, dogs and especially bees – but none of these will eat you post attack. Conversely, there are lots of animals that will eat you without killing you. Mosquitoes and head lice probably eat the most volume of blood, but you’re most likely to be eaten by one of the two species of eyelash mites, Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis. These are only about 0.3mm long and feed on dead skin cells and secreted oils. Somewhere between 96 and 98 per cent of all humans are infected with these creatures, quietly eating away.
Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts.
Authors
Luis trained as a zoologist, but now works as a science and technology educator. In his spare time he builds 3D-printed robots, in the hope that he will be spared when the revolution inevitably comes.
