Australia's most deadly snakes

[Riley]

anyone know Australia's 10 most dangerous/deadly snakes?
just wonderin
i know that Australia has 7 of the most dangerous in the world..but yeah.
also i saw a grey & black snake with horns at the ARP, anyone know know what type this is?

thanks

 

[Bendarwin]

the Penrith trouser snake is up there............

 

[Jozz]

http://www.avru.org/general/general_mostvenom.html

It has Black Tiger Snake twice though? I think they should be just different locality tiger snakes.

Anyone know if this list is right?

 

[Fuscus]

http://www.avru.org/general/general_mostvenom.html

It has Black Tiger Snake twice though? I think they should be just different locality tiger snakes.

Anyone know if this list is right?

That is just the animals LD50 rating in mice . ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LD50 )
In reality the most dangerous are the ones that often come in contact with people, mainly brown snakes. Inland taipans are rarely encountered by humans and have very few recorded bites

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Riley,

It's one of those age old questions that really doesn't have an answer. There are so many variables that it's impossible to pinpoint a single species or group of species as the most venomous or dangerous.

The most venomous land snake in the world is the Inland Taipan, but there is no documentation of anybody ever dying from one. There's probably a number of different reasons for that...mistaken identity of the snake before it was rediscovered, only being extensively worked with after the creation of antivenom, and also occuring in areas with a very small human population.

The snake that claims the most lives in Australia is the Eastern Brown Snake - it's the second "most venomous snake in the world". The reasons for the above stastic are many...it occurs along the densely populated east coast of Australia, where it thrives in disturbed habitat. It's a nervous, pugnacious species that won't hesitate to bite if threatened.

The LD50 tests that determine what species is the most venomous is highly flawed. It makes perfect sense that rodent specialists rate very highly on it, as the test is conducted upon rodents. If you were to conduct the tests on reptiles or amphibians, the results would differ dramatically.

At the end of the day, the most dangerous venomous snake is the one that has just bitten you.

 

[Jozz]

You're right. That list is the most VENOMOUS. Eastern Brown and Tigers would be the most dangerous in Aus wouldn't they. Where's David Williams when you need him

Most Dangerous, and most venomous are very different.

 

[michelle]

most dangerous is the coastal taipan but most venomous is the inland, yes different locality tigers

 

[Jozz]

I would have thought there would be more deaths in Australia from the Eastern Brown than the Coastal Taipan?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

There are far more deaths from Eastern Browns than Coastal Taipans. From a keepers point of view, Coastal Taipans are definitely the most dangerous Australian snake to keep in captivity though. Also, there is almost a 100% death rate from Coastal Taipans before the invention of antivenom.

 

[Bendarwin]

There are far more deaths from Eastern Browns than Coastal Taipans. From a keepers point of view, Coastal Taipans are definitely the most dangerous Australian snake to keep in captivity though. Also, there is almost a 100% death rate from Coastal Taipans before the invention of antivenom.

Indeed,
The most confirmed kills come from the Cobra......... Why? because they (the natives) mess with them and get tagged then have no medical to sort them out. Aussies are smarter, we have the bad boys but leave them alone. The best scale in my opinion is the mg per head ratio. (dead rodents per mg of venom) In this competition the inland Taipan is the king,and in my eyes THE DEADLIEST SNAKE IN THE WORLD.

My 2c inc. GST

 

[blackghost]

Hey Riley, do a search on YouTube under 'Steve Irwin' or 'Deadly Snakes'. Steve has a 3 part series on the
top 10 most venomous snakes in Australia. Really good viewing too.

blackghost

 

[Riley]

wow thanks everyone!!

 

[Brettix]

What about sea snakes ???

 

[mrmikk]

Hey Riley, do a search on YouTube under 'Steve Irwin' or 'Deadly Snakes'. Steve has a 3 part series on the
top 10 most venomous snakes in Australia. Really good viewing too.

blackghost

I tried looking for these the other day and they have all been taken down, probably a copyright infirngement I imagine. But the doco Steve did is excellent on this subject.

 

[Frozenmouse]

1,the small scaled snake
2,brown snake
3,taipan
4,tigersnake
5,reevesby island tiger snake
6,beaked sea snake
7,wa tigersnake
8,chappell island tiger snake
9,death adder
10,gwardar
11,australian copperhead
these are also the 11 most deadly in the world first non australian one at #12 is the indian cobra.

 

[Dipcdame]

I think you'll find the Boomslang is up amongst the top ten, and the Malayan Krait, the Saw Scaled Viper from Asia and Africa make a respectable top ten addage. There's 3 in the top ten not from australia.

 

[salebrosus]

anyone know Australia's 10 most dangerous/deadly snakes?
just wonderin
i know that Australia has 7 of the most dangerous in the world..but yeah.
also i saw a grey & black snake with horns at the ARP, anyone know know what type this is?

thanks

This one would have been the Rhincoerous Viper.

1,the small scaled snake
2,brown snake
3,taipan
4,tigersnake
5,reevesby island tiger snake
6,beaked sea snake
7,wa tigersnake
8,chappell island tiger snake
9,death adder
10,gwardar
11,australian copperhead
these are also the 11 most deadly in the world first non australian one at #12 is the indian cobra.

I still can't believe Rough Scaled Snakes aren't even mentioned.

Simone.

 

[jflanagan]

The LD50 tests that determine what species is the most venomous is highly flawed. It makes perfect sense that rodent specialists rate very highly on it, as the test is conducted upon rodents. If you were to conduct the tests on reptiles or amphibians, the results would differ dramatically.

Rubbish...

The LD50 isn't highly flawed, it makes no sense to determine the most venemous snake by testing on frogs and other snakes. Common biology dicates that the LD50 would be exactly the same for all mammals, not just rodents.

'Rodent specific neurotoxins' are just as good at killing humans as they are at killing rodents I hate to tell you.

 

[bigguy]

As Jonno most maturally point out, this is an age old question with many answers. To simplyfy matters there are actually 3 catorgeries which everyone around the world tend to merge together and get confused.

1) The worlds deadliests snakes, ie the snakes with the strongest venom drop for drop.

a) See list previously list on this thread


2) Which snakes causes the most human deaths

a) The Saw Scaled Viper causes the most deaths as it is found commonly over a huge heavery populated area of Africa and Western Asia. You could flip a coin between 2 and 3 with the Asian Cobra or Russels Pit Viper


3) the worlds most dangerous snake, ie which snake has the highest chance of causing human death without antivenom.

a) The Coastal Taipan is normally regarded as the Worlds most dangerous snake. Before antivenom, it was 100% death rate from a full bite. Before 1955 only one youth ever recovered from a Tai bite. He was bitten by only 1 fang, through a pair of shoes and within seconds his father chopped a massive lump of flesh from his foot with a chissle. The Black Mamba comes in second with about a 97% death rate, followed closely by the Eastern Tiger Snake with about a 95 % death rate.

Simone, the Rough scale or Clarence River Tiger from memory comes in at around 18 drop for drop. It venom however, appears to travel much faster through the human body then most other species and major symptons occur very quickly after a bite as many a herper have found out.

 

[bigguy]

Ld50 test are on mice, however I saw a special with Jamie Seymor(the Box Jelly King). On this show Jamie actually tested snake venoms on human blood which basically backed up the LD50 list.