As in most cases, if you leave these critters alone, they more than likely will leave you alone.

But in a survival situation, you may not have that luxury; here are the most common backyard threats, depending on where you live.

Yellow Jacket

The yellow jacket may be small, but its venomous sting is still painful.

Plenty of picnickers have gotten a nasty surprise when they've taken a swig of a soft drink and gotten a painful sting on the lips, mouth or throat from an angry yellow jacket. These small wasps are attracted to sweet smells, and also to the odors of meat and fish. So, they hang around garbage cans as well as crash garden parties.

They're social insects, found in temperate areas across North America. Nests can be found in attics, walls, log piles, even in abandoned animal burrows, usually with 500 to 5,000 insects. And if the worker wasps perceive a threat, they'll attack intruders.

Only female yellow jackets have stingers, which are attached to their abdomen. While bees die after they've injected a victim, the stingers on wasps, hornets and yellow jackets remain on their bodies, so they can sting again and again.

While the natural reaction may be to swat and flail your arms as these insects fly toward you, that will likely get them more agitated. Just walk away.
The CDC estimates 90 to 100 people die each year from insect bites due to severe allergic reactions known as anaphylactic shock [source: CDC].

If you keep your distance, this insect is a plus for your immediate surroundings.

They eat lots of flies and mosquitoes.

Paper Wasp

Paper wasps build easily identifiable honeycomb nests. They'll often rebuild in locations where other successful nests were in the past.

The name may sound rather flimsy, but these wasps can pack a punch. Their nests are easy to recognize hexagonal, paper honeycombs with deep holes for larvae. They can make a nest just about anywhere — under building overhangs, or inside metal gutters and outdoor grills. Their long, thin bodies, about an inch (2.5 centimeters) long, are usually reddish brown, with some yellow markings, and they look smooth and hairless.

Mature nests may house 20 to 30 adults, who forage during the day.

Like most venomous creatures, stinging a human is usually a last resort for wasps. It can happen if they're captured, touched, or if they sense the nest is being threatened. Males are harmless, but females can sting people or pets multiple times. Severe allergic reactions can sometimes lead to death.

Gardeners consider these insects beneficial, because they do eat caterpillars, flies and beetle larvae. Be most aware of these creatures during the summer. By late summer, the queen stops laying eggs and the colony begins to die off.

These wasps build new nests every year, but often in the same location as an earlier successful nest.

A sting that feels like a gunshot? Keep reading!

Black Widow Spider

The black widow spider has a nasty reputation but keeps mostly to itself unless it's disturbed.

Legendary. Notorious. Always a scary element at Halloween parties. This spider is actually pretty timid, but its bite can be ferocious. A black widow's venom can cause cramps, difficulty breathing, nausea and even death.

Black widows are found in warm regions around the world. The female is black with a distinct, reddish, hourglass-shaped marking on her abdomen. More than 25 species worldwide eat insects and other spiders trapped in their webs.

One lifestyle change led to a dramatic decrease in black widow spider bites: indoor plumbing! Since the spiders no longer have outhouses to spin their webs in, people now encounter them doing yard work or near piles of firewood [source: Barnes].

Only the females bite, and do it only defensively, when touched or disturbed.
The most common myth about the black widow is that the female eats the male. It happens, but usually when the animals are in captivity and the male cannot escape. Females are typically twice the size of males.

When you see a web, don't get too close, and always assume a spider is on it. Once a web is built, these spiders tend to stay put. They are awkward and unsteady when they're forced to leave it.

Copperhead Snake

The copperhead adapts easily to living near humans, even in cities.

Copperheads can live just about anywhere, from forests and swamps to mountains and suburbs. They're medium-sized snakes, 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) long, and masters of disguise. Their copper-and-bronze color makes it easy for them to camouflage themselves in leaves, limbs or logs.

While their colors may differ, there is usually an hourglass-like banding pattern on their bodies. They're not aggressive, but an ill-fated step on them can lead to a strike.

Copperheads thrive from Mexico through most of the central United States and into New England. They're comfortable in forests and on rocky hillsides. And in what might be the most lethal roommate arrangement ever, copperheads sometimes live communally with timber rattlesnakes.

These snakes have adapted well to human developments, and are common in suburban, even city neighborhoods.

Like most snakes, there are plenty of tall tales about them. One myth claims that people can tell when copperheads are in their vicinity because they give off the scent of a cucumber. The reality is, many species of scared snakes release a musky odor from their vent, enabling possible predators to find them.

Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a type of pit viper. They're dangerous, but if you leave them alone, you're less likely to get bitten.

The coil of their powerful, sleek bodies, the dance of the keratin in their rattles and that forbidding forked tongue all strike fear in creatures around them, from mice to birds to humans.

When it comes to humans, rattlesnakes are a bit timid. If they sense danger, they first try to stay motionless or to blend into the background. But the consequences can be deadly if a human steps on one or tries to catch it.

These reptiles can be found in backyards, mountains, prairies, deserts, even beaches.

Rattlesnakes are pit vipers. The loreal pit, located between their nostril and eye, detects heat emitted by prey or potential predators. When the snakes strike, they can inject venom through hollow fangs. Rattlesnakes are the largest of the venomous snakes found in the United States. The Western Diamondback can be more than 7 feet (2.1 meters) long.

Even the babies are potent. Rattlesnake young have both fangs and venom at birth. And they're resilient: They can go months without eating, and can live more than 20 years.

Whether you are in your backyard or anywhere rattlesnakes reside, think before you sit down, or stick your hand into leaves or brush. You don't want to mess with a group of rattlesnakes, known as a rhumba.

Each of these venomous creatures poses its own level of threat, but it is important to note that none of them are overtly aggressive unless they feel threatened.

By being aware of them as a possible threat, you will reduce the chance of an encounter to almost zero; to learn more about backyard venomous threats, read up at How Stuff Works.

Featured Image via Wikipedia