Hang on a minute. Just because more people die from humans, dogs and horses, doesn't mean that snakes, spiders and jellyfish (in Australia) are not dangerous.
For instance, if you throw me in the sea next to a great white in a feeding frenzy, my chances of dying will have nothing to do with the probability of dying from a dog bite.
The statistics for the probability of dying from specific causes can help predict what one is most likely to die from- but not to how likely one is to die from encountering a spider or a snake.
In other words, people are afraid of, say, black widow spiders, because the probability of dying given one is attacked by a black widow is extremely high. And that is perfectly reasonable and a very good statistic to keep in mind if one is in any situation where encountering a black widow is a possibility (even one with a small probability).
True, but I wasn't advocating doing silly things with dangerous animals. I was replying to a comment suggesting that their presence indicates that ..
> Inhabiting Australia is a testament to man's arrogance
.. whereas the stats indicate that the dangers in practice are minimal, and the measures to obviate them are largely obvious, easy to implement and almost universally observed.
Rare's the week I won't come across a brown snake or redback. Never's the week that either is the most significant danger I face.
Well, excellent though our ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) is, I can't claim to peruse their data that often! But from what I remember from news reports that come out on slow news days, my weekend ladder-foray onto the roof in bush fire season to remove leaves & branches is far more dangerous than any animal. Then although I don't have pets, there's a dog on the shared property I see most days - she's more likely to kill me than a snake is.
But far and away my most dangerous daily encounter will be with other road users. If I drove a car, that would be my highest risk of death. And that's multiplied by about 30 (IIRC) because instead I ride a motorbike. It's Japanese, not Australian, and poisonous to nothing but the atmosphere.
Thanks for satisfying my curiousity. I don't know the statistics about motorcycles but I always did think riding one was more dangerous than driving a car.
For instance, if you throw me in the sea next to a great white in a feeding frenzy, my chances of dying will have nothing to do with the probability of dying from a dog bite.
The statistics for the probability of dying from specific causes can help predict what one is most likely to die from- but not to how likely one is to die from encountering a spider or a snake.
In other words, people are afraid of, say, black widow spiders, because the probability of dying given one is attacked by a black widow is extremely high. And that is perfectly reasonable and a very good statistic to keep in mind if one is in any situation where encountering a black widow is a possibility (even one with a small probability).