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Who Commits More Murders: Animals or Humans?

Humans are not the most murderous creature on this planet. A recent study has laid out the rates of death and found meerkats to be the most lethal.
Meerkat staring at the camera. Photo Credit: NAPARAZZI/Flickr
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The story of Cain and Abel imparts on us the evil of breaking the sacred social contract by murdering another human. Even today, it feels like we’re more likely to end at the hands of our fellow person than by natural causes. But I ask you to consider the meerkat.

Yes, the meerkat, according to a recent study, has a 20 percent chance of dying at the hands of its fellow meerkat. This study looked at over 1,000 mammal species, examining the rate of violence within their own species.

Ed Yong at The Atlantic organized the study’s most violent mammals into a neat little chart, and humans are nowhere to be seen.



Humans are not on this list because we don’t kill each other very much. LIKE IT SAYS IN THE ARTICLE. https://t.co/YgB5tbuQiY

— Ed Yong (@edyong209) September 28, 2016

In this article
AbelCainEd Yonghuman violencehumanslemurlethal violencemeerkatmurdermurder ratesprimatesthe atlanticviolence
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