Australia's most deadly snakes

[Jonno from ERD]

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.

Sorry mate, but I disagree. Snakes are highly evolved to exploit their habitat as best they can, and part of their habitat is their prey. Most species of snakes have a preferred prey item...rodents for Taipans, frogs for Roughies, snakes and reptiles for Mulga's etc. It therefore makes sense that their venom will be more toxic to their preferred prey item than it will be to another family of animals.

As has been previously mentioned, Rough Scale Snakes have a tremendous effect on humans. I know of 4 seperate instances where people have been unconcious within 15 minutes of a bite - one of these was unconcious in just 4 minutes. I would hazard a guess that a significant portion of fatalities attributed to "Tiger Snakes" before the 1950's on the central east coast of Queensland are actually from Rough Scales.

 

[salebrosus]

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.

Hey bigguy, i am aware he ranks quite low on the list comapred to others, but it is one snake i think deserves alot more attention than it gets. I have seen more of them down here on the Mary River than i have of brown snakes in this area. Most have been road kill bar one.

I have been told many storeis of people being bitten by them and it knocking them on their butts fairly quickly.

Simone.

 

[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.

this is a list compiled by Graeme Gow.

 

[Amberoo]

Out of the 22 most venomous snakes in the world 19 of them are australian, Inland Taipan(Fierce Snake), Eastern Brown, Taipan, Eastern Tiger, Reevesby Inland Tiger, WA Tiger, Chappell Island Tiger Snake ,Death Adder, Western Brown, Copper Head. They are the top 10 and they are all Australian.

Amberoo.

 

[giganteus]

I just like to plant a seed because I never see it mentioned.
Alot people don't like the LD50 rodent test being compared to humans but I think
if we look at the evidence and case history it supports the LD50 as putting those snakes
at the top for humans.

1. Inland Taipan - never been a recorded fatality but majority of bites herpers that have done
first aid. Those bitten did get messed up.
I think you'll find the majority of sources and more importantly those you could trust put the Inland Taipan as the world's most toxic drop for drop. After that take your pick who you want to follow for the rest.

2. Eastern Brown Snake - Accounts for the most fatalities in Australia these days

3. Coastal Taipan - Enough already said.

4. Tigers - accounted for the most fatalities before they started to decline around 30 - 40 years ago.

After that the others further down the list ie. copperhead, western brown, mulga etc. whilst for some of these bites are less frequent , historically the chances of survival from a bite are greater.

Pretty ironic it supports the LD 50 so well.

Whilst the most toxic list doesn't take into account venom yield and other factors again it correlates nicely to the bite most likely to kill, perhaps excluding the roughie.

As already mentioned there are so many varying factors in a bite and the Rough Scaled Snake appears to be a good example of this. One bite on a lady's foot resulted in death fifteen minutes later. Roughie bites are bad news but don't under estimate the potential reaction to any bite. I know of a Western Tiger Snake bite that resulted in unconciousness in 3 minutes.

I know some will stick to their opinions which is fine, just take into account the only evidence we have to compare too.

Regards

 

[norris]

If a snake has the worst venom, does that make it the most dangerous? What about things like the amount of venom injected?

 

[Supertaipan]

It depends on other things, like how agressive the snake is, how many times it will bite, size of fangs etc, The inland is the deadliest , if you look at venom yield, but that is only one factor.

 

[norris]

Maybe they should tie 100 people down on beds and let them each get bitten by an inland taipan, and then do the same with all these other snakes. Then see which snake species kills the most people. (There'd be no treatment, the people would just lie there).

Then we'd know which one is the most dangerous.

 

[salebrosus]

Mulgas have a much higher venom yield but the browns venom is more potent. Then again their fangs are much smaller than that of a Coastal Taipan. Either way i reckon you would **** blue sparks if you got bitten by any of them.

Simone.

 

[norris]

I just read this (do to with coastal taipans killing 100% of bitten people before antivenom came along)....

"I’m the only person to have survived Taipan bite without the serum (antivenom)"

http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/snakes/taipan/survivorsgr.asp


Although he was declared dead 4 times.....

 

[salebrosus]

A documentary by Rob Bredl, interviews John Robinson who survived a Taipan bite without antivenom,

Simone.

 

[bigguy]

Simone, that was a Feirce Snake that bite John, not a Coastal Taipan. It was believed at the time the snake only injected a tiny amount of venom.

Interesting read from the only survivor of a Taipan bite before 1955 in the previous post. The story has been slightly altered over the last 60years, but at least the Chisel was actually used. We were also told the young Aborigional youth never regained his former fitness. It appears from the thread this was true.

 

[jflanagan]

1. That man which was bitten had lots of help, blood drained, the wound cared for, and the venom didn't spread. If he was on his own and left with no care for 15 minutes, no blood transfusions, he would have been very dead indeed.

2. The amount of venom needed to kill a subject is not an indication to the amount of time needed for the patient to be killed. E.g. If a toxin destroyed hemoglobin you'd die in under 30 minutes, if it was a neurotoxin you'd die far more slowly, however you'd definitely die given enough time. Where as hemoglobin can be produced by the body, so given the dosage the body may have more ability to 'fight off' the toxin.

The LD50 does not take into account time, which is what i think people are getting hung up on.

3. My degree was in neurobiology, so I can be sure that on a neuro-level 99% of venoms which work on mice work equally well on humans.

4. The LD50 is not a practical system, which people are also getting hung up on. The dosage of one bite from any of the top 10 would likely kill a human, however were not talking about that, were talking about venom. The assurance of death, given a dosage, not the assurance of death, given a bite...

The most 'dangerous' animal is probably the mosquito.

 

[norris]

Not that this is a "most dangerous animal thread", but what about the most dangerous animal of all.....MAN.

 

[Frozenmouse]

Not that this is a "most dangerous animal thread", but what about the most dangerous animal of all.....MAN.

and women can be just as dangerous.

 

[norris]

hahaha

 

[Amberoo]

ha...ha.

The most poisonous animal in the world is a tiny little frog, i have forgotten the name, but im sure someone else will know.

Amberoo.

 

[elapid@]

Dart frog

ha...ha.

The most poisonous animal in the world is a tiny little frog, i have forgotten the name, but im sure someone else will know.

Amberoo.

that would be the dart frog (dendrobates auratus) green poison dart frog, (dendrobates pumilio) strawberry poison dart frog South America .
Very nice looking frog too. Im not sure if its the most toxic, but poisonous and venomous are totaly different from each other, as poison taken orally can have an affect , and venom taken orally might not have any affect at all unless you have a open wound. Quote me if im wrong, im not a 100% sure , but when i heard about it , it did make sense.

cheers steve.

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[Frozenmouse]

that would be the dart frog (dendrobates auratus) green poison dart frog, (dendrobates pumilio) strawberry poison dart frog South America .
Very nice looking frog too. Im not sure if its the most toxic, but poisonous and venomous are totaly different from each other, as poison taken orally can have an affect , and venom taken orally might not have any affect at all unless you have a open wound. Quote me if im wrong, im not a 100% sure , but when i heard about it , it did make sense.

cheers steve.

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that makes sense as i have seen a doco where a perenti has a very large mulga snake for breakfast. and i was wondering how it went as it ate the head and all. also mulga snakes have a toxin that is very effective on reptiles?.

 

[mysnakesau]

.......

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..........

I work at our local wildlife park & they have a sign displayed in their reptile section that the Inland Taipan (also known as the fierce snake (I think) ) is considered the most venomous in the world - 1 drop of of venom from this snake can kill 50 adults.