原文: Top 10 Worst Things In Nature

[WARNING: arachnophobes beware; this list contains an image of a spider.] Nature provides for almost all of our needs and it is as diverse as the stars in the sky. But there is a dark side too. Nature also contains some of the most awful things you can imagine - worse than anything conjured up by Stephen King! This list looks at ten of those things.

The honey badger is usually found in Africa and Western and Southern Asia. For a number of years the Guinness Book of Records has named it the “most fearless creature”. This animal (which looks deceptively cute) will attack virtually anything and it is smart enough to know its opponents weak spots. For example, when confronted by a human male, it will attack the testicles. This is also one of the few animals that uses tools - for example making use of logs as ladders. The honey badger loves honey and will dive right into a beehive with no regard to its own safety - which unfortunately often leads to its death. Honey Badgers can kill crocodiles, and are very efficient snake killers. It takes only 15 minutes for the animal to eat a 5 foot snake. The ferocity of these creatures is well known in nature and not even a leopard or lion will attempt to kill one.

There is no doubt that the mosquito has to be the worst insect in the world. Just as summer starts, the mosquitos come out in force ready to feast upon the pasty white legs of humans that have been locked inside for winter. At night as you lie in bed you can hear them buzzing but you can’t see them - and then next morning a huge welt appears on the tip of your nose because the mosquito chowed down on it. Oh - and it also happens to be the most deadly insect in the world because it spreads malaria - in fact, it is believed that half the human population that has died through history, died because of the female mosquito bite. God must have been pre-occupied the day he was creating the animals, because he didn’t notice Satan making the mosquito.

Fatal Familial Insomnia is a terrible disease found in only 28 families around the world. The disease prevents you from sleeping and no medication available can help you. When the disease begins, you generally have from 7 to 36 months of sleepless nights until you finally die. Wikipedia describes the stages of the disease thus:

1. The patient suffers increasing insomnia, resulting in panic attacks, paranoia, and phobias. This stage lasts for about four months.
2. Hallucinations and panic attacks become noticeable, continuing for about five months.
3. Complete inability to sleep is followed by rapid loss of weight. This lasts for about three months.
4. Dementia, where the patient becomes unresponsive or mute over the course of six months. This is the final progression of the disease, and the patient will subsequently die.

The bullet ant is ranked as having the most painful sting in the world - often likened to the pain of being shot, described thus: “waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours”. The ant is found in Nicaragua south to Paraguay and, like other ants, they live in large colonies which are usually situated at the base of trees. The ants are used in an initiation rite for boys in the Satere-Mawe tribe of Brazil. The boys are made to wear a glove with hundreds of these ants attached - they must suffer the stings for 10 minutes and they must perform this ritual multiple times. The boys arm is usually paralyzed temporarily from the poison and their bodies can shake for days. You can watch the rite of passage on youtube - I don’t recommend it for the weak of heart.

Also known as kariba weed, the salvinia molesta plant is an aquatic fern from Brazil. It floats on top of water and doubles in size every few days. This usually results in lakes that become completely covered by a mat of the plant up to 24 inches high. The intrusive weed prevents sunlight from entering the water which, in turn, prevents animal and plant life from surviving. To make matters worse, you can’t kill the plant. If you break it into small pieces, each piece will spawn a new plant. In the US attempts have been made to remove it using cranes, but all it takes is one tiny piece to restart the whole growing process. It is now found around the world and causes havoc everywhere it goes. In the image above, what appears to be a nice lawn is actually an entire lake covered with salvinia molesta.

The corpse flower thrives in the grasslands bordering rain forests in Sumatra (though it is now found around the world in display gardens). It grows a single enormous flower which produces a smell that is remarkably similar to a rotting corpse (hence its name). The flower grows to over 10 feet wide and its coloring is designed to mimic the look of rotting meat - to help entice the carrion eating insects that pollinate it. The tip of the corpse flower is nearly the same temperature as the human body which probably helps to spread the stink and adds to the illusion that it is really rotten flesh. Here is an excellent youtube clip with David Attenborough presenting the corpse flower.

It is huge. It has one of the most painful bites in the spider world. It is the most deadly spider; forget the funnel web spider - this thing is dangerous. It has the highest human kill rate in the world. To make things even worse, a bite from this spider causes an erection that lasts for hours. No - this is not a subtle ad for viagra; it really is a side-effect of a wandering spider bite. Emergency room staff are able to immediately recognize a person suffering from a bite. Needless to say, the venom is being studied for possible medical uses for people suffering erectile disfunction. [Youtube Clip]

The Candiru is a small parasitic catfish which is found mostly in the Amazon river where it is the most feared fish - even more so than piranhas. The fish can grow to a maximum length of around six inches. Candiru feed on the blood of their host creatures by swimming into the gills and using razor sharp spines on its head to attach itself. It then chews its way through the host until it reaches a major artery and drinks blood until it is satiated. The fish finds its prey by sniffing the water and this is where it starts to get nasty: the smell of human urine appeals to candirus and they can find their way to a human penis or vagina under the water and enter it. When this happens, the fish attaches itself (causing great pain to the poor human) and it can generally only be removed through surgery. This is a very unpleasant situation to be in - so be warned: don’t pee in the Amazon river. You can watch a youtube clip about the candiru here. And if you are able to cope with disgusting images, check out the photo of a doctor removing a candiru from a man’s nether-regions.

First of all we need to get one thing clear - I am not a “greenie” or an “environmentalist” - but even a hard-hearted non-recycler like me can see how much damage man causes to nature. We pollute our waterways and air, we tear down whole forests, we flatten mountains, and we bury nuclear waste beneath the earth. Nature has every reason to hate us and perhaps that is in part the reason for the many plagues and pandemics that have struck our kind since time immemorial.

Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and it is, beyond a doubt, the deadliest known protein. If the clostridium botulinum spores find their way to food or wounds, they will begin to release the toxin which leads to poisoning if eaten. It is so deadly that a mere two pounds (roughly 1kg) of the stuff is enough to kill the entire human population. It is so deadly that it is potentially useful as a biological weapon. This is the kind of thing we obviously want to keep right away from right? Well, no. Millions of people have this deadly protein injected into their face every year; it is present in minute quantities in Botox which is used to “treat” wrinkles.

Contributor: JFrater

译文: 自然界最恶毒的东西

[警告：蜘蛛恐惧症患者要当心啦；这张列表中有一张蜘蛛的图片。]自然界几乎给我们提供了我们需要所有的东西，它就像天上的星星一样各种各样，也有不好的一面。自然界也存在一些我们能想象出来的最可怕的东西—比史蒂芬金想象出来的东西更可怕！这张列表包括十种这样的东西。

10

蜜獾

最邪恶的动物

  蜜獾通常在非洲和亚洲的南部和西部经常出现。这些年来吉尼斯世界纪录把它命名为“最大胆的动物”。这种动物（表面看起来很可爱）几乎会攻击所有东西，他也很聪明能够知道敌人的弱点。例如，当面对的是一个男人它会攻击他的睾丸。它也是为数不多的使用工具的一种动物—例如用原木作为梯子。蜜獾喜欢蜂蜜，它们会不顾自身的安危直接冲进蜂箱—这往往不幸的导致其死亡。蜜獾能杀死鳄鱼，而且它是非常有效的蛇杀手。它只需要15分钟就可以吃掉5尺的蛇。这些动物的凶猛在自然界众所周知的，甚至没有哪只豹或狮子可以杀死它们。

9

蚊子

最坏的昆虫  

  毫无疑问蚊子是世界上最坏的动物。只要夏天一开始，人们冬天被裹起来的腿就成了蚊子节日的盛宴。晚上你躺在床上你就可以听到它们嗡嗡叫，但是你又看不到它们—第二天早上你鼻子上就会有一个很大的肿块，因为这是蚊子杰作。哦，蚊子也出现在大部分昆虫的尸体上，因为它会传播疟疾—据说，其实有一半的人的病史表明他们因被雌性蚊子叮咬而死亡。上帝一定是先占领了人间然后创造了动物，但是他没有注意到撒旦创造了蚊子。

8

致死性家族失眠症

最严重的疾病

 致死性家族失眠症是一种很可怕疾病，世界上只有28个家庭出现这种疾病。这种疾病让你不能入睡，也没有药物可以帮助你。只要患上这种疾病，你一般会在7到36个月的不眠之夜后死去。维基百科把这种疾病描述为这几个阶段：

1.      患者失眠不断增加，然后导致恐慌，多疑症，恐惧症。这个阶段大概持续四个月。  

2.      幻觉和恐慌开始显而易见，这样大概一直持续五个月。

3.      随着体重的迅速下降，患者就完全不能入睡了。这个阶段大概持续三个月。

4.      患者在接下来的六个月的过程中变成痴呆，不能说话。这是这种疾病最后的进程，接着患者将会死去。

7

子弹蚂蚁

咬人最痛的动物

  子弹蚂蚁被归类为世界上蜇人最痛的动物—经常把它比作子弹。人们是这样描述的：被它咬之后，二十四小时之内这种疼痛一波又一波燃烧着，跳跃着，毫不减弱。这种蚂蚁出现在巴拉圭南边的尼加拉瓜，和其他蚂蚁一样它们一般生活在树根底下一个很大的群体里。这种蚂蚁是在巴西Satere - Mawe部落男孩的成年礼上的。成人礼上男孩子要带上附着数百只蚂蚁的手套—他们必须忍受蚂蚁十分钟的叮咬钟并且这种仪式要举行很多次。男孩们经常因蚂蚁的毒素而造成短暂的瘫痪，而且他们的身体会颤抖好些天。你可以在youtube（一个互联网视频共享网站）看看这一段仪式—我不建议心脏不好的人去看。

6

人厌槐叶苹  

最强的入侵杂草

 人厌槐叶苹也被称为卡里巴杂草，是巴西一种水生蕨类植物。它漂浮在水面上，隔几天就长到它的两倍大。这通常会导致湖泊完全被一簇簇植物给覆盖了，多达24英寸高。入侵杂草阻止阳光进入水中，相反也阻碍了动物和植物的生存。更糟糕的是你不能杀死它们。如果你把它们撕成一小块，这些小块会长成新的杂草。美国曾试着用起重机把它移走，但是所有这些小块就可以重新开始整个生长过程。现在这些杂草应经蔓延全球并对各地造成严重的灾害。上面图片中出现的一块非常漂亮的草坪实际上是被人厌槐叶苹覆盖了的湖。

5

尸花

最臭的花

 尸花在苏门答腊热带雨林与草原接壤的地方生长十分茂盛（虽然现在它全世界的展览花园里都出现了）。它长着一朵巨大花，这朵花会产生一种和腐烂尸体非常相似的气味（因此得其名）。尸花超过10尺宽，它的颜色很像腐烂的肉的颜色—这样可以引诱吃腐肉的昆虫来授粉。尸花顶端的温度和人体的温度几乎一样，这可以帮它散发它的臭味并让人产生幻觉那就是真正的腐肉。这里有一个非常好的视频剪辑，是关于戴维. 爱登堡展示尸花的视频。

4

巴西流浪蜘蛛

最坏的蜘蛛

 它很大并且是蜘蛛界咬人最痛的蜘蛛之一。它是最致命的蜘蛛；不要忘记漏斗网蜘蛛—这种蜘蛛是危险的。巴西流浪蜘蛛是世界上人类杀死率最高的蜘蛛。更糟糕的是，被这种蜘蛛咬到会让人在几个小时之内身体一直保持僵直。不，这不是一个狡猾的伟哥广告；这真的是巴西流浪蜘蛛叮咬的副作用。急诊室工作人员应能立即认出谁被巴西流浪蜘蛛咬到了。不用说，毒液正被可能的医疗用途所研究，用来治疗的被蜘蛛叮咬的人。[youtube的视频剪辑]

3

钻穴鱼

最肮脏的鱼

 钻穴鱼是一种很小的寄生鲶鱼，大部分出现在亚马逊河，那里有最恐怖的鱼—甚至比食人鱼更恐怖。钻穴鱼最长能长到六英寸左右。它游进鱼鳃里并利用它头上的剡棘附在里面，靠寄主的血液维生。钻穴鱼通过嗅水找到它的猎物，这就是它变得肮脏的开始：人类尿液的臭味吸引了钻穴鱼，它在水下通过人类的阴茎或阴道进入认得身体。当它进入人的身体后，钻穴鱼就把它附在人的身体里（这会导致病人身体剧烈疼痛），并且它一般只能通过手术才能消除。出现这样的情况很不乐观—因此在此警告：不要在亚马逊河小便，你可以在这观看钻穴鱼的视频剪辑。如果你能适应这些恶心的图片，就找找关于医生在一个男人下体排除钻穴鱼的图片看看。

2

人类

环境的最大破坏者

首先我需要明确一件事情—我不是一个“环境保护主义者”或是一个“环境保护论者”—但是即使像我这样硬心肠的不回收者也能看到人类给自然造成了多大的毁灭。我们污染了水和空气，我们毁掉了整个森林，我们夷平了高山，我们还在地底下埋了核废弃物。自然界完全有理由憎恨我们，这也许就是自古以来许多瘟疫和流行病袭击我们的部分原因。

1

肉毒杆菌毒素  

历来最致命的毒素  

肉毒杆菌毒素是由细菌肉毒梭菌产生，毫无疑问它是最致命的已知蛋白质。如果肉毒梭状芽孢杆菌孢子存在于食物或伤口里它们将释放毒素，吃了之后会中毒。只要有两磅（约1公斤）的这种东西就足以杀死整个人类，因为它是最致命的。肉毒杆菌毒素的致命性使它拥有成为生物武器的潜力。对于这种东西，很显然，我们要敬而远之？然而，不是这样的。每年都有数百万人把病菌注射到脸上；这病菌出现在微量的肉毒杆菌里，它用来“治疗”皱纹。

投稿人：JErater