Hey everyone! Dana here and on today's Ask An American, I'm going to be talking about
dangerous animals in the U.S. We might not have as many dangerous animals as in, say,
Australia, where I've heard there are lots and lots of dangerous animals everywhere.
But don't worry, we still have plenty to talk about.
And we have so many dangerous animals in the U.S. that of course I can't cover them all
in this one video, and so I'm mainly going to focus on animals that I have had some sort
of experience with in the U.S., or living somewhere, where I had to make sure that I
stayed away from those animals. So I had to make sure that I did not have an experience
with those animals.
I spent a lot of my life living in South Florida, and really, I could have made this video just
on dangerous animals in South Florida only, because we've got quite a few down there.
A lot of South Florida is actually supposed to be a good bit under water. And the only
reason it's not, is because we have pumped the water out. But that water has to go somewhere,
and so that's why in South Florida, you will see a lot of canals running through communities
and behind people's houses. But, something that the canals of South Florida have that
the canals of Amsterdam and Venice I'm pretty sure don't have living in them: alligators!
Yep, that's right, there are alligators living in a lot of the canals in South Florida, which
is why you don't see people swimming in the canals. Also, a lot of times the water just
looks really gross. But also, alligators! And that's also why you shouldn't let your
dog, especially smaller dogs off the leash to just run around your backyard.
And do you know what the South Florida canals also have living in them? Crocodiles! So yes,
you have alligators and crocodiles. And you know what else? Snakes! Some of which, like
the diamondback and the water moccasin are venomous. So did I ever see any alligators?
Yeah, I saw lots of alligators, actually. They were just sort of a normal part of life
where I lived. I don't know if I ever saw an alligator, I can't remember, sunning, you
know, right in my backyard. I don't think I saw that. But you always did hear stories
about this dog went missing or that person saw an alligator in their backyard. You heard
those stories at school. And for the most part, the alligators really weren't much trouble.
They were usually afraid of humans. The problem came when people started feeding the alligators.
People would buy raw chicken and think it was so much fun to feed the alligators. And
of course, what happens? Well then the alligators stop being afraid of the humans, and they
start associating humans with food. We don't want that. We don't want the alligators associating
humans with food. And just about 30 minutes from where I lived, you had more of a natural
area, and then there, definitely. You did see a lot of alligators. Sometimes you would
just be driving along and, oh look! It's an alligator crossing the road. Or an alligator
mama and her babies. And that's when you really just stay in your car and you did not get
between the alligator mama and her babies.
And I think perhaps I grew up seeing more alligators than most South Floridians because
my mom is a scientist and when we lived in South Florida, she worked on a project trying
to figure out how to restore the Everglades; how to save them. And so, she had a test site.
And where she would do her tests, it was fenced off. And so there was a big fence there to
keep the alligators out, but sometimes baby alligators would go through the fence when
they were small, and then grow bigger, and they couldn't make it back out of the test
site, and so sometimes it was part of my mom's job to catch those alligators and throw them
back over the fence! Uh-huh. Where my parents live now, though, isn't all that much safer,
either. They live in Colorado now, and when I went to go visit them, we went for a walk
on a path right behind a residential neighborhood, and we saw there a sign saying watch out for
rattlesnakes, don't leave the path. I guess you don't want to let your dog off the leash
to run around there, either.
Now let's head on back down to South Florida, where I also lived dealing with scorpions
being, you know, a thing. Scorpions in South Florida, the kinds of scorpions there are
not considered deadly. But their sting really hurts. It's like a wasp. It's not a pleasant
experience. In my home, I didn't really have to watch out for them so much, within the
actual house. But I kept my rollerblades and, you know, old, muddy sneakers in the garage,
and there you did have to watch out for scorpions. So whenever you went to go put on your rollerblades
or those old, muddy shoes that you hadn't worn in a couple weeks, you needed turn them over
and dump them out first to make sure that there wasn't someone who had taken up residence
in there. You wouldn't want to put your foot in there and get stung by a scorpion. And
when I went to summer camp, we lived in cabins that were more open to the elements, and then
you did need to check your, your bedsheets and your towels for scorpions. Florida's also
got fire ants! Which, I think you can hear from the name, these guys are not fun to have
around. The worst part is that they don't attack one ant at a time. So you're walking
across your yard, you step in a fire ant pile and you don't even notice it. The ants crawl
up your leg, you have no idea. And then all of a sudden, all the ants attack at once!
These guys actually aren't native to Florida. They're from Brazil originally. But they're there now!
And while we're talking about non-native species that are causing trouble, South Florida also
has a bit of a Burmese python problem! Yes, that's right. Burmese pythons, originally
from Southeast Asia, are taking over the Everglades after some people had them as pets and I guess
when they got to big, they just thought, oh, it's okay, we'll just release them in the
Everglades. I'm sure it'll be fine. Yeah, these guys have been multiplying and just
loving life there ever since. And sometimes they even get so big, they've even been known
to eat alligators. Then if you go for a day to the beach, you've got a few things to worry
about there. So I think the first thing that comes into people's minds are sharks. And
yes, that's true. But another big one that I don't think a lot of people often think
about is the man-of-wars, the Portuguese man-of-wars. These guys look like jellyfish, but technically
they are not jellyfish. But if you get stung by one of them, I don't think you really care
what they technically are or aren't because, luckily, I have never had to have this experience,
but I've heard that they are really, really painful. If they sting you, it leaves like,
it looks like a whip mark, as though you've been whipped on your body on you, and it's
just, I've read and heard that it's just really painful. Beaches put up flags to let you know
what's going on in the water; is there anything dangerous? High surf or strong currents. And
there was a purple flag to signify dangerous marine life in the water, and from my experience,
most of the time, the dangerous marine life was man-of-wars. And then of course you've
got bears. Not so much in South Florida, but in other parts of the U.S. You've got grizzly
bears, black bears, and these guys don't really cause too many human deaths each year just
because, we really don't come that much in close contact with bears. But if you did,
that could be quite a dangerous situation.
When we explored the different national parks, we went to Yellowstone and Glacier, and there
it was pretty cool, we did see a bear, but it was really, really far away. Which was
good, that's where you want the bear to be: really far away, and you can look at it through
your binoculars. And then, going small again, we've also got the black widow spider and
the brown recluse spider to watch out for. And these guys seem to have some pretty nasty
side effects that come along with their bite, so definitely you wanna stay away from those guys.
So my question for you is: Which one of these animals would you be most terrified to run into?
Which one and why? Please let me know in the comments below.
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on my Twitter and my Facebook page. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
People speculate that it's because people got the burmese pythons...pythons.
Burmese pythons, burmese pythons, burmese pythons.
Tssss. All around the state, ah, the place...
I'm a shark, I'm a shark, I'm a shark. I'm a jellyfish. I'm a spider.