Animals that you are for some reason scared of (Like really scared)

I will start. I have been scared of Asian elephants. The circus elephants going crazy due to the abuse and killing people just scares me. They have those eyes that stare into my soul, waiting for me to fall into the exhibit and crush me to dust. Maybe it’s the circus incidents and the eyes that make me scared? I’m not scared of any species of african elephant though. I somehow got through San diego’s elephant oddessy area.

 

Only eusocial wasps in the nest if they are close.

 

Mainly the Ticks, because of the diseases they carry.
Maggots in the food and/or in animal corpses.
Some large Dogs that have violent behaviour (maybe because of violent trainings they received?). When I was a kid I heard horrible stories about such Dogs that lived in my neighborhood.

One time I felt real fear when a troop of Wild Boars (with cubs) came close to me when I collected mushrooms, in the middle of the hunting season.

 

They certainly can be intimidating. I remember being at Two Tails Ranch and sitting on their large (castrated) bull's arm for a photo op and I knew that he was chill and all, but like you said couldn't get out the images in my head of incidents like what happens in Kerala, Tyke's rampage, other incidents etc.... You always have to be on your A-game around them all the time. Their impressive roars are the cherry on top. It's crazy to think how back in the day elephant handlers at circuses would drink the day away and then (due to drunkenness) do something stupid and then the elephant would react to it and kill someone whether it be out of revenge or just ticked off.... like this guy. I have no idea if he survived or not but his neck looks like it was snapped upon impact with the ground (viewer discretion is advised):



And they can certainly move really fast when they want to:

 

1) Any bee and/or wasp. They're absolutely terrifying and look super creepy. Just seeing them in movies and TV shows I have to close my eyes. I would probably break the land speed record if a swarm was chasing me. I'm not even gonna attach a pic here!

2) Ticks like @Hialeetus said because of the potential for disease. I'm always wary and check to see if any are on me when I go out on treks outdoors. I lived for one of my previous job positions in the Philly region where they have a high percentage of Lyme disease cases and I was hesitant to go outside on treks during the summer to prevent myself from catching Lyme Disease. From the stories I've heard, it's not at all fun.

Pic from Tick Free NH:


3) Jabiru Storks (cool, but super intimidating and really creepy looking). I had a nightmare once about a decade ago where I was in the Pantanal and a pair attacked me, knocking me down. In it, I was their same height. When I was waking up it still felt like they were pecking at me and I had to move to a guest bedroom to feel like I could go back to sleep without any problems. Recently I saw a few study skins of them behind the scenes all laid out at full length in a drawer at a museum's bird collection over the summer while I was doing research measurements for future Zoochat wading bird size charts and I heard a thumping sound. I realized it was my heart!

Pic from WWF Brazil's Twitter:

 

For me jabiru storks aren’t creepy or scary. I haven’t seen one but my fear for asian ele’s isn’t because I saw them at a zoo. Just maybe I have read too much circus elephant stories.

 

Well they can be scary but once you get to their behavior you become in love and looking into an elephants eyes just makes you feel how small you really are and honored to be the presence of the worlds largest land mammal. But make no mistake elephants are incredibly dangerous killing 500 each year but we have caused them to lash out we pushed to the brink and some captative elephants just go mad with rage

 

I had scary records from ancient zoo visits, with animals that lived in small, cramped exhibits, that had aggressive and/or stressed behaviours (I'm not stressed nor scared by the animals themselves).

I remember a Rhesus Macaque (kept alone in a 9 m² cage with a glass in front of the visit path, that used to jump powerfully on the glass when visitors came around in Monaco Zoo (ca. 1990).

I remember also the row of big cat cages in the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes and Zoo de Vincennes in the 1980's : there were a lot of cats in the bleak cages of these buildings (probably 15 to 20 Jaguars, Panthers, Lions, Tigers and Pumas in each zoo), their roars were (purposely?) amplified by the structure of the buildings, it was a scary place for kids.
I hadn't anymore this feeling in my numerous visits of big cats sections of other zoos (and even in the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes, where only 2 or 3 pairs of cats remain), I think that the cats were especially stressed with no place to hide from the visitors (or even from the other felines !).

 

Since you saw the Vincennes Zoo in the 1980's I have to ask (cuz I'm a HUGE fan) what are your memories of Siam the Asian Elephant? I'll make a thread for it in the Vincennes Zoo section for people to respond to.
Memories of Siam the Asian Elephant [Paris Zoological Park]

 

I had very good records of Siam, I saw it a lot of times in the 1980-90's.
He lived in the elephant quarters as a patriarch, with several females and young (I had the chance to see a 15-days old calf in 1992!).
He was one of the most popular animals of the zoo in this time, along with Yen Yen the Giant Panda, until their deaths (1997 for Siam, 2000 for Yen Yen) that have coincided with the real decline of the zoo.
Now both can be seen in the taxidermic collections of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, and Siam has given his name to the restaurant of the new zoo de Vincennes (even if there are no more elephants nor Asian fauna in this place).
Of course their exhibits were much more peaceful and less distressing than the Big Cat House (Fauverie).

 

If you have photos it'd be great if you could post them in the Paris Zoo gallery! They are of such historic value!

 

Sorry I haven't any photos of him.

 

Heavens to Betsy!!! That is a terrifying sound (I didn’t check out the other videos, but I’m sure they’re scary)

 

@Haliaeetus, I was actually talking to my sister, dogs only become dangerous when not taken care of properly. Sure, some dog breeds are more prone to becoming aggressive because of improper care, but really it’s all about the people. Dangerous dog laws are a whole lot of baloney, as dogs are only dangerous because of people. I’m scared of wasps because I was attacked by one (or two, I don’t remember) when I sat down on a chair on our back patio that they had built a nest in. I don’t dislike them, I don’t dislike any animal for that matter, I just get scared by them. Also, I am scared of some humans.

 

Snapping Turtles. On my way back from school in kindergarten, I saw a golf ball inside a log, & I reached in & saw the skeleton of one inside the log. I panicked & ran all of the way home. About a week later, I was walking on the sidewalk, & I saw the decomposing corpse of a Snapping Turtle on the sidewalk. Ever since then, I have been terrified of Snapping Turtles.

 

I think centipedes and millipedes are absolutely disgusting and repulsive. I hate those things with a passion. While it's not a fear, there is something unsettling to me about chimpanzees and baboons as well. Chimps are too humanlike and baboons have such an unsettling appearance with their doglike muzzles and those massive canine teeth. I also think baby songbirds are so creepy looking before their feathers come in. Nothing cute about those things with their mouths wide open. Once they get feathers, no big deal.

 

I’m not scared of foxes at all, but my first impression of one was a rotting corpse with it’s mouth wide open under a building at my old school

 

12 hours in and not a single wise guy has commented “HUMANS!”

Until now...

And to answer your question, cockroaches.

 

Best comment: The elephant folded the teen’s clothes for him, with him in it.

 

I love cockroaches, I would create a refuge for them. I don't understand why some people hate them, they aren't dangerous nor ugly and they even have inspired funny folklore (the song "La Cucaracha"!).

"The biggest cockroach remains smaller than a kitten" (Me)