Most Cruelest Animals in the World

Cats Domestic cats kill in huge numbers, upwards of 4 billion birds and 22 billion mammals around the world each year. While they certainly eat some of these creatures, they just catch and kill many of them. Those are the ones that your cat will leave on your kitchen floor in the morning.

Dolphins Dolphins kill each other’s young so the females can become pregnant sooner. Several males will coerce a single female into reproducing, too. Their intelligence also apparently breeds boredom as they’ll torture and play with their prey before consuming it. That may be a defense mechanism, but other times they’re just having fun.

Wild Dogs Wild dogs can’t snap the neck of a zebra or wildebeest with a bite. So, when they hunt other animals, they essentially wear them down and start eating them alive. They don’t have time to go for the kill because a lion or another one of the big cats that live in the same area could swoop in and take their prey.

Tarantula Hawks The tarantula hawk will hunt large spiders, like tarantulas, and then use its powerful sting to paralyze them. Sounds bad, right? Well, it gets a lot worse because the female wasp will then lay an egg in the creature’s body and then take it back to a burrow.

Crocodiles Crocodiles are large creatures with small, poorly developed brains. They tend to lash out at whatever comes into their area, including humans. It’s estimated that over 1,000 humans meet their end at the jaws of crocodiles every year.

American Nursery Web Spiders The Pisaurina mira is called the American nursery web spider, and they engage in rather cruel behaviors toward one another. This behavior is sexual cannibalism. That means the female will eat the male after copulating. While this is somewhat beneficial to the next generation, it’s a cruel act because males must risk their lives to take part in something that they are biologically inclined towards.

Chimpanzees Chimpanzees are incredible creatures. They’re intelligent and powerful. Like humans, they apparently have an innate sense of fairness and exhibit altruism. That combination of intelligence and a desire for fairness also makes them one of the cruelest animals in the world.

Lions Lions are just as cruel and unforgiving as the world around them. They often kill young, weak, or pregnant animals to obtain a meal. They’ll even turn on another, too. Males will commit infanticide when they take over new territory, making way for their young to be born.

Meerkat They may look like cute furry critters, but meerkats have a violent streak. In fact, a study from 2016 tried to unlock the phylogenetic roots of human violence. While studying violence in mammals, the researchers found that meerkats often kill one another.

Humans Was there really any question about this one? Humans have a great capacity for kindness and empathy. However, when you look at some of the things that people have done in the name of hurting others, it’d be foolish not to include us on this list.