Small, dark tick — the primary disease vector in Europe. Despite being only 3–4 mm, kills more Europeans annually than any other animal.

Transmits Lyme borreliosis (200,000+ cases/year), tick-borne encephalitis (3,500+ cases/year, ~30 deaths), babesiosis, anaplasmosis. The TBE vaccine exists.

Forests, parks, tall grass, urban green spaces. Most active April–June and September–October.

Quests on grass tips and twigs, latching on contact. Seeks warm, moist body sites. Feeds for 3–7 days before dropping off.

Grey or brown with a distinctive zigzag along the back, up to 80 cm. The northernmost venomous snake in the world — found inside the Arctic Circle in Lapland.

Hemotoxin causes pain and swelling. Around 0.5% of bites are fatal — usually only in children, the elderly, or those with allergies. About 7,500 bites per year across Europe.

Forests, bogs, heathland, and mountain meadows up to 3,000 m elevation.

Shy and retreating. Bites only when stepped on or cornered. Active by day in cool weather, by night in summer.

Common throughout Europe. Males reach 200 kg with razor-sharp tusks. Adapts well to humans — boars now roam parks of Berlin, Rome, and Barcelona; 3,000+ in Berlin alone.

Causes more wild-animal injuries in Europe than any predator. A sow defending piglets or a wounded male can disembowel within seconds.

Forests, fields, and increasingly suburban areas of major cities.

Lives in family groups (sounders). Active at dusk and night. Charges with tusks aimed at the legs and groin — capable of 40 km/h.

Up to 3.5 cm — Europe's largest social wasp. Yellow-brown with reddish-brown markings. Builds papery nests in tree hollows and attics.

A single sting is painful but rarely lethal. Multiple stings or anaphylactic shock can kill — about 30 deaths per year across Europe from wasp/hornet stings combined.

Forests, gardens, villages, and city parks across most of Europe except the far north.

Active by day. Hunts other insects — a colony eats 500 g of insects daily. Defends the nest collectively when disturbed within 5 m.

Smaller and darker than European hornet, with yellow legs. Invaded Europe via France in 2004 and now spread across France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, UK, Germany, Belgium.

Highly aggressive when nests are disturbed. Several confirmed deaths in France and Spain from anaphylactic shock. Devastating to honey bee colonies — kills up to 50 bees per day per hornet.

Builds large nests high in trees — often only spotted in autumn when leaves fall.

Hovers in front of beehives picking off returning bees. Defends its nest aggressively at 5 m distance — silent, fast, persistent.

Most widespread carnivore in Europe. Adapts to cities — urban foxes are common in London, Berlin, Warsaw. Population in UK estimated at 357,000.

Direct attacks on adults are rare. The real danger is rabies (eastern Europe) and Echinococcus multilocularis — a tapeworm in fox feces that can kill humans if eggs are ingested.

Forests, fields, suburbs, and city centres across all of Europe.

Crepuscular and nocturnal. Solitary or family groups. Bold around humans where not hunted.

Largest European deer — stags up to 240 kg with massive antlers. Found from Scotland to the Carpathians.

Hundreds of vehicle collisions yearly across Europe. Stags during the September–October rut occasionally attack humans, dogs, even cars — antlers are deadly.

Forests, moors, and parklands across Europe.

Lives in single-sex herds outside the rut. Stags roar to attract hinds; the sound carries for kilometres.