(CNN) — For summertime beachgoers, the threat of sharks may loom large, but nature’s deadliest predator is actually much smaller.
The tiny mosquito is not only a warm-weather nuisance but also wears the crown for “No. 1 killer of humanity across our existence,” according to historian Dr. Timothy C. Winegard.
The predatory insect takes more than 1 million lives each year by transmitting lethal diseases. Sharks, meanwhile, are estimated to have a kill streak orders of magnitude smaller, at fewer than 10 people per year.
Where humans go, mosquitoes have followed.
Their itchy bites and the disease-causing pathogens they carry are infamous, and the insects are also responsible for driving many of humanity’s most essential turning points throughout history, said Winegard, author of “The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator.”
“Malaria and yellow fever (have shaped) our historical journey from our hominid ancestral evolution … right to present day,” Winegard told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently on his podcast, Chasing Life …
You can listen to the full episode here.
