50. The southern short-tailed shrew

Whos's afraid of a shrew? No one, typically. But this species, which is native to the southeast of the United States is not your common mole. What makes the short-tailed shrew special is its venomous saliva, which seeps into the victim's tissue following a bite.

While the venom isn't powerful enough to kill humans, it causes intense pain.

 

49. Conenose bugs (or 'kissing bugs')

These bugs, which are native to the Americas, feed mainly on vertebrate blood -- which means you, my lovelies. Their 'bite' is not harmful or especially painful in itself; the real danger comes from the disease they spread.

From the southern U.S. into Central and South America, kissing bugs are known to spread Chagas disease, a strange but potentially fatal illness that's difficult to detect. In 60% of cases, it never goes beyond headaches, slight swelling, and lymph node inflammation.

But in a minority of cases, Chagas can cause swelling of the colon, heart ventricle damage, and even cardiac arrest decades after the bite that transmitted it.

 

48. Alligators

Alligators get a bad rap, probably because people confuse them with their much deadlier cousins (more on those guys later). But in fact, more people are killed by lightning strikes than alligators in any given year.

Unlike certain other large, carnivorous reptiles, alligators are mostly shy of human attention and generally only attack people when severely provoked or startled.

 

47. Leopard seals

Leopard seals are more likely to elicit an "aww" than a shriek of terror, lolling around on icebergs and barking to one another in their peculiar tongues. But these are big boys, longer and more muscular than other seal species, and with more powerful jaws to boot. Fully grown, they can weigh anywhere from 440 to 1,320 lbs.

Leopard seals would probably rank higher on this list if they lived nearer humans; fortunately, they're only found in Antarctica. But they certainly can (and have) killed humans if the mood strikes them.