I'll take Australian dangers over North American every day of the week.
Those megafauna in North America are pretty hard for a human to encounter accidentally. As opposed to these:
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013...
I can't fully agree with their ratings, as someone who has lived in the bush in queensland, I'll re-rank these how I imagine someone native to the area has sees it.
Irukandji (rarer but more painful) is MUCH nastier than the box jellyfish (painful but more common), I wanted to kill myself with a very mild Irukandji sting.
The paralysis tick is much worse than a bull ant, which just hurts quite a bit, but the symptoms/fatality of the tick is worse (which doesn't really hurt, just ends up killing you slowly)
The gympie gympie stinging tree(common, but not listed) is much more painful than the bull ant, and people with grass allergies get even more pain from it.
Oh and stonefish, fuck stonefish. I've seen a tough bastard get stung and bastard was weeping like a baby for hours even after the anti venom. I think the guy almost died from the shock alone.
When you're in the city, a lot of this risk isnt anywhere near you, when you are working on the farm in the country near either the desert or the rainforest , native flora and fauna risks are very real.
Never heard of that tree.
There being North America? Been a handful of times. Enjoy snowboarding and hiking. Thankfully I've never run into anything on the trail.
The guy below me posted about the Gympie Gympie tree. Been stung by one, twice. First time from a dead leaf. Second time from a very much alive and still on the tree leaf. That tree is rather painful. Both times treated with a cold wax strip. Had to ring around to find one on the second occasion as it was at night.
I bet is has a great name in Australia - any Ozzies around who can comment?
Unfortunately plenty of drunk campers have a habit of doing this.
Arguably the most dangerous animal on the planet for a human (I think Nile crocodiles and Hippos kill more but that's more to do with them inhabiting areas with humans in them)
Yes, for 85% of the country, risk is small.
Crocodiles are the only major danger, and they're isolated to the far north of the country.
But they are truly terrifying, in that they are silent and invisible in the water, intelligent, and capable of watching a human for days to learn their routine and plan an ambush.
Although I did go on a kayaking expedition to Dunk Island, where there were only four 2-person kayaks, unusually high waves, and my boat-mate asked, "Are we going to sink?" Obviously we didn't.
Of course this is all for laughs, but some HN'ers are incapable of that.
I grew up in far north Queensland, the risk of crocodials are always one of those real but manageable risks in your life, I was very young and remember a family friend being taken by a large one (Search for Beryl Wruck in Daintree), I am very familiar with the risks, but risks are part of life in that area.
I regularly spend time there and was canooing one of the fresh water creeks which lead into the river to the sea. I had done a few different creeks a few times to the mouth of the daintree river, this time my wife wanted to join, she wasnt keen to paddle.
She took the first half (~18km) of the trip easy, barely paddling, we got to the main river where the water turned from fresh to brackish a smallish (3m) croc was sunning himself in the winter sun (crocs are more active in hotter months, so he was just chilling). Within seconds of pointing it out I no longer had to paddle, "mrs trash" was inspired to help with her part of the paddling.
I know that many people here would be mad about taking risks, but its just part of life living in the country.
Conversely, I've been bitten by red-back spiders, by a bat, many large lizards and goannas, a 4m python, by a wobbygong shark and by a red-bellied black snake. I encounter many more dangerous critters here in Oz than I did in California. I do kind of bring it on myself though, 'cos of my penchant for picking up snakes and spiders.
And don't forget the Cassowary, a confirmed vegan bird that if startled can disembowel you in one strike. Not only apex predators can kill humans. I wasn't aware moose was an apex predator by the way, although they are plainly dangerous.
The lethality of Australia is vastly overstated. I'm guessing North and South America are both much more dangerous than here.