Fact or Fiction

[Switch]

Biggest (Most Massive) reptile - the estuarine crocodile (over 7 m (23 ft) long).
Smallest reptile (and smallest lizard) - the British Virgin Islands gecko (only 18 mm = 7/10 inches long)
Fastest reptile - the spiny-tailed iguana (tracked at 34.9 km/h = 21 mph)
Biggest (heaviest) snake - the anaconda of South America.
Longest Snake - reticulated Python (over 10 m long)
Fastest-moving snake - probably the poisonous black mamba
Biggest lizard - the Komodo dragon (up to 3 m long)
Biggest turtle - the leatherback turtle (up to 2.5 m)
Most poisonous land snakes - the taipan (from Australia), black mamba, and krait.
Only poisonous lizards - the Gila monster, the beaded lizard
Weirdest ability - horned lizards can squirt a thin spray of blood from their eyes up to of 3 feet (0.9 meter) away.

 

[Fuscus]

Weirdest ability - horned lizards can squirt a thin spray of blood from their eyes up to of 3 feet (0.9 meter) away.

Hey, Thats MY party trick. (Wish I get invited to more parties :?).

 

[Guest]

and where did THIS information come from switch??? u get this lot off a web site or did u actually do a fair bit of research. :twisted:

 

[soulweaver]

sounds fine, but i don't read enough abt overseas species to argue any of the information

 

[africancichlidau]

Hasn't stopped you before buddy

 

[sobrien]

lol.
Sounds completely correct to me. Everything there I had heard been mentioned before so...

 

[Alexahnder]

Most poisonous land snakes - the taipan (from Australia), black mamba, and krait.

This doesn't seem right because no snakes are poisonous (poison is different to venom) and also Inland tapians are more venomous compared to those other species.

 

[Fuscus]

Most poisonous land snakes - the taipan (from Australia), black mamba, and krait.

This doesn't seem right because no snakes are poisonous (poison is different to venom) and also Inland tapians are more venomous compared to those other species.

You are right there, you can eat all those animals quite safely

 

[peterescue]

The Krait's not venemous, blows a bit of smoke now and them but she putts around the harbour quite nicley when they take her out.
Peter

 

[Springherp]

Alexahnder, what is the difference between posion and venom just to clear things up?

 

[bigguy]

Peter,

Hav'nt been on the Krait for years. Is it still around???

 

[peterescue]

Yep she is Bigguy. She's moored down at The Maritme Museum. Gets looked after very well. I keep meaning to go out but always end up being busy at the wrong time.
Peter

ps. On the other krait. There are more than one species. ( I think)

 

[Springherp]

I just did a search on the difference between poison and venom, this is what I came up with:

Generally, a poison is a toxic substance that is distributed throughout the tissues of an animal's body. These animals lack any specific or localized apparatus for producing, storing or delivering poisons. Instead, the whole body, or large parts of it, is toxic. Typical poisonous animals are frogs, newts and jellyfishes.
Contrary to poisons, venoms of animals are produced, stored and delivered by a very specific set of organs, and venoms are not distributed freely in other tissues of the animal body. Typical venomous animals are the venomous snakes, scorpions and cone shells.

 

[Guest]

arn't only the tenticals on jellyfish poisonous? isn't that less then half their body mass?

 

[bigguy]

Jellyfish are not poisonous, they are venomous and shoot venomous darts into their prey on contact.

A simple definition between venom and poison is poison is ingestered through the mouth(such as eating or drinking) whereas venom is injected into its prey

 

[Guest]

That most venomous bit is wrong, neither of those exotics are in the top ten of the LD50 are they?
the first 3 most venomous snakes are
Oxyuranus microlepidotus
Pseudonaja textilis
Oxyuranus scutellatus

I would leeast rather be be bitten by the coastal Taipan!! The worlds most dangerous snake

 

[craig23]

why is the coastal tiapan the worlds most "dangerous" snake? you just said that the Inland Taipan followed by the Eastern Brown has the most toxic venom, then the Coastal Taipan.
So it is the third most toxic, agreed.
It is fairly uncommon and very seldom bites people.
There are many more fatalities in Australia by Eastern Browns and Eastern Tigers than Coastal Taipans and on a global scale out fatality rate from snake bite doesnt even compare, even tho we have some of the most "venomous" snakes.... so how do you justify saying they are the worlds most "dangerous" snake???

 

[Switch]

So an example would be - "the cane toad is poisonous to the Northern Quoll and is having an effect on its numbers",
"the Tiapan is venomous and is capable of inflicting a fatal bite".
Am i right ?

 

[hugsta]

arn't only the tenticals on jellyfish poisonous? isn't that less then half their body mass?

Not in the case of the box jellyfish, it's tenticals are extremely long and are made up of individual organisms, so if say a boat drove over one near a beech, the chopped up pieces can still sting you and thats not good considering they are the deadliest jellyfish in the world.

 

[Dicco]

The Russels? Viper closely followed by the Specticled Cobra kills more people each year than any other snake so technically it would be the worlds most dangerous.