A weakling in any fight, the ubiquitous deer squeaks onto this list because, well, it’s the single most dangerous wild animal in America by percentage. How? Why? Because these deer live almost everywhere, and are hit by cars in huge numbers. In 2013 alone, car accidents involving deer killed 192 people in the U.S. Oh, and they also carry ticks.

They’re not native to the U.S., but thanks to pet owners getting bored with (or maybe going broke feeding) huge snakes, escaped pythons are now a runaway population of ravenous wild animals that are decimating the local ecosystem. Estimates are that at least 30,000 and perhaps as many as 300,000 of these huge reptiles, which can reach 15 feet or more, are living in Florida’s swamps.

Kreee-eee-aarr! That’s the last sound you, the unwitting chipmunk, hear before one of America’s most common raptors soars down and devours you. Red-tails can dive at up to 120mph and use four sharp talons on each foot to pierce an animal’s skin and puncture its vital organs.

As prehistoric beasts that survived the Pleistocene extinction, Musk oxen would have landed much higher on the list, but you’re about as likely to run into one as you are a wooly mammoth. Musk oxen vanished from Alaska by the early 20th Century, only to be reintroduced in 1930. Today, these huge, hairy beasts are rare, and live in remote parts of the state rarely visited by humans.

Part of the cobra family, the coral snake is smaller and less aggressive than the rattler, but its venom — a neurotoxin — is more powerful. To distinguish between the coral snake and its harmless lookalike, the scarlet king snake, memorize this rhyme: “Red touch black, safe for Jack. Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.”

Like the littlest guy at the bar, you don’t really want to tangle with the smallest member of the weasel family. These tiny and adorable hunters are vicious, and strong, with a bite that can take down rabbits, which are five times their size.

Here’s what Canada Parks says about elk, which can be every bit as dangerous as bears and wolves, especially when babies are around: “In the spring, mother elk protect their newborn calves fiercely, warding off any and all creatures that come between them and their young by slashing with their hooves.”

Like others in the pit viper family, these snakes — found in the deserts of the west — lie in wait with heat sensors that tell them when prey is near. Diamondbacks have large venom glands and special fangs that deliver a huge dose of poison (250mg to 750mg) per bite. They can also go months without eating.

Badgers are low-slung with strong necks and thick fur, plus long claws that are basically tiny daggers. Badgers tend to dig up and eat animals that live in the ground, and will hiss, snarl, squeal and slash with those claws when threatened. Bonus defense: they unleash a stinky musk when alarmed, and generally don’t give a f***.

The bobcat (aka lynx) is an extremely elusive animal, which explains how they manage to persist in such a vast territory, including huge sections of the northeast in close proximity to population centers. Bobcats are loners that can go for long periods without eating, though given the chance, they’ll dine on whatever’s around. Earlier this year, a guy in Florida photographed one leaving the beach with a shark in its mouth.

Smaller than a wolf but larger than most dogs, the coyote is an opportunist with a ruthless streak. They can eat just about anything, including rotten meat and bones. In 2009, a pack of coyotes in Canada killed an adult human (a female hiker) for the first time in recorded history.

One could make a solid argument that the golden eagle, and not the bald eagle, deserves to be in the top 10 of this list. Golden eagles scavenge less and hunt more than bald eagles, and though they prefer small mammals, goldens can and will take young deer. So why rank the bald eagle higher? Because this is America!

Gators can run 15 miles-per-hour, swim 20 miles-per-hour, and weigh up to 1,200 pounds. They kill by biting into something, dragging it into the water and initiating their famous “death roll,” which is a terrible albeit exciting way to die. Weakness: A good poke in the eye, and former golf pro Chubbs Peterson.

Sure, they look dopey and harmless, but a pissed off moose is no laughing matter. The second largest land animal in the U.S., the moose can weigh up to 1,800 pounds and are capable of killing bears, wolves, and even humans, especially in the case of a mother whose young are threatened.

America’s largest owl weighs up to five pounds and can fly 40 miles-per-hour in near-total silence. They also have incredible vision and hunt after dark, launching stealth attacks against small mammals that are punctured by their talons, which have up to 500 pounds-per-square-inch of crushing power.

If there were some kind of apocalyptic event, this is the one species on the list that would survive. The rat’s toughness is all about its ability to endure and thrive in hostile environments. Rats can swim, climb, dig, and eat through wood, concrete, and some metal. They breed prolifically and can adjust that rate, making them very hard to exterminate.

There are now more than 5 million of these wild hogs living in 39 U.S. states — so many that the Federal government is working to cull their numbers. Wild pigs travel in groups of up to 15, weigh several hundred pounds, can be extremely aggressive, and have razor-sharp tusks. It is not uncommon for hunters to be gored, and their dogs to be killed, during hunts.

The biggest and baddest American raptor has excellent vision (seven times better than ours) and can spot prey over an area of three miles from 1,000-feet up. When in kill mode, bald eagles are practically fighter jets, with wingspans up to 7 feet and a top speed of 75 miles during dives. Eagles are also strong, able to carry up to four times their own weight while flying.

These are strong, surprisingly fast animals, capable of running 25 to 30 miles-per-hour. Black bears are excellent climbers and have extraordinary manual dexterity. They can work with latches and handles and have been known to unscrew jars, which seems like a waste of energy for an animal that could just as easily smash them and doesn’t much care about making a mess.

1. The largest land animal on the continent, bison stand up to six-feet-high at the shoulder and weigh upwards of 1.5 tons. And they’re not just big; a bison can run up to 40 miles-an-hour over short distances, and jump fences, so an angry buffalo with two sharp horns on its head is a force of nature that almost nothing short of a high-velocity rifle round can stop.

Wolves are endurance athletes, capable of covering dozens of miles in a day, with extreme cold tolerance (they can comfortably sleep, exposed, in temperatures as low as -40). While they prefer to hunt smaller, weaker prey, wolves can and often do take on elk, moose, and even bison. A grey wolf’s bite strength is 1,500 pounds-per-square-inch—about twice the force of a German shepherd’s jaws.

Though not nearly as aggressive as their maneater African cousins, male American crocs can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and have been known to snatch cattle on occasion; their normal diet consists of fish, aquatic birds, and small mammals. They’re fast on land (10 miles-per-hour) and in water (up to 20 miles-per-hour), and have the world’s most powerful jaws, with a bite force that is up to 10 times greater than a Rottweiler’s.

These remarkable hunters stalk prey so quietly that often an animal doesn’t know it’s a target until there’s a 150-pound cat on its back. Lions kill by striking from the rear, jumping onto an animal’s back and breaking its neck by biting into the base of the skull. These cats are prodigious jumpers, able to leap as high as 15 feet and as far as 40 feet, and they run fast too — capable of reaching 50 miles-per-hour at a sprint.

Despite weighing just 20 to 50 pounds, wolverines have been known to go after deer and even caribou if they’re hungry enough. Mostly, they don’t have to, but their voracious appetite means they can devour a smorgasbord of smaller critters (rabbits, squirrels, voles, beavers, etc) in a short period, using sharp, dagger-like claws and a powerful bite with a mouth that includes special molars for crushing bone.

The grizzly’s weapons are formidable: They are huge (up to 1,200 pounds, but typically more like 500 to 800), strong (capable of lifting nearly their body weight or more), and powerful, with a bite that could crush a bowling ball. And there’s this: Since 1895, there have been 15 reported cases of grizzly bears decapitating moose with a single paw swipe.