When my kids were four years old, they asked me what I thought was the most dangerous of animals. I told them I was pretty sure it was the crocodile. I had a vivid picture in my mind of the long, dagger-toothed snout closing around a thigh, then twisting and drawing one under the murky Nile. Well, I was wrong. Turns out the most dangerous animal, the one that kills more humans than any other (not counting those that kill indirectly by spreading disease), is the hippopotamus. My kids are older now, much less interested in delineating their fears, so I'm glad I don't have to tell them this.
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