The World's (and Australia's) Top Ten Venomous Snakes

Hello Folks,

The Older here.

I have long had a fascination with all things scaly, amphibious, or otherwise reptilian. So, when we went to the Healesville sanctuary, looking at the top ten most venomous snakes was one of my favorite things. Australia seems to have the deadliest everything around here... The world's deadliest jelly fishes... deadliest spiders... *shudders*

Sooo, I thought I would share some snakes we saw with you! :)

Images are mine unless noted.

Let's begin.
#10 The Mulga. Also known as the "King Brown Snake"


Australia seems to have trouble with it's colors and species... This brown snake is actually part of the black snake family. These guys can grow to a royal size of six to seven feet, depending on where they live. The toxins the Mulga produces are not particularly dangerous in small quantities, but when this snake bites it's prey, it releases 15x more toxin than other snakes. Their bite can kill a full grown man in 2-3 minutes. I also read that if a person remains calm until anti venom is given, they will most likely survive.




#9 The Dugite

The Dugit is a smaller snake, measuring on average 3 feet long, but has been recorded up to six feet. What makes this snake dangerous is the fact it is active in the day time, especially during the mating season when they are all Twitterpated. :P The venom is extremely concentrated, attacking and destroying basic proteins in the tissue. While this snake can kill a human quickly, the last recorded fatality was back in 1993.

#8 The Lowland Copperhead
(image from Wikipedia)


These snakes are not at all related to the American copperhead of which we all know. These guys grown to about 3-4 feet.The Lowland copperheads are extremely reclusive, only biting when stepped on or dug out of their den (don't really know why you would be doing that... Anyway) Their fangs are very short, so boots and thick pants often provide protection from the bite. If one is bitten however, they will die unless anti venom is provided promptly afterwards.

#7 The Gwardar

The Gwardar is a member of the brown snake family, and is about 3 feet long. These are very fast and quick snakes, active and hunting during the day. The fangs of a Gwardar are very small, equaling a painless bite. Often people are bitten without ever knowing it. First aid is easily applied to counteract the venom, but since people often don't realize they have been bitten, it is usually administered to late.




#6 The Common Death Adder

I will be honest, I think Death adders are some of the coolest looking snakes out there. These short and squat snakes are rarely longer than 3 feet in length. The are not the most agile either, preferring to sit and wait for prey instead of hunting it. Their fangs some of the longest of any known snake, second only to the tapian. This makes their bites quite painful. The adder accounts for the majority of snakebites, since it doesn't flee from humans, preferring to stay and fight. The venom attacks the central nervous system of its victim, causing near immediate muscle paralysis, the diaphragm and lungs to cease to function, then death as the toxin destroys the cerebral cortex. Although that sounds pretty awful, the ratio of bites to deaths is very low. About 8 in 100,000 people bitten die. It all depends on how much venom the adder is able to inject.


#5 The Red Bellied Black snake
Image from skyscrapercity.com/forums


The red bellied black snake is one of the most distinguishable of the 10 deadliest snakes. It is very docile and will rarely bite a human. When it does hoever, the venom can be lethal, but there is not one recorded instance where a human has died from a bite from this snake. The reason for this is most of these guys live in urban gardens, so first aid can be applied quickly and effectively. In the wild, you will rarely find one, as they flee at the first hearing of footsteps.




#4 The Tiger Snake

The Tiger Snake is one of the hardest snakes to identify out of these ten, as the colorings vary from black, to brown, to yellow, and even olive. The stripes vary in those colors too. Tiger snakes grow to a size of 6-7 feet long and are not usually aggressive, though will bite if they feel threatened. While death does occasionally occur, the venom is more known for the causing immense amounts of tissue damage and causing kindey failure. The venom is slow moving, so easily containable around the bite, so as long as first aid is applied immediately, one will not die.

#3 The Costal Tapian

The Costal Tapian is number three on the world's deadliest snakes list for good reason. This snake is active during early morning and extremely fast. They can grow to about 6 feet, but the standard size is around 4 feet. What makes this snake so deadly is the fact when it is hunting or defending itself, it will strike not once, but 3-4 times in less than a second. Then it flees to a safe distance and lets it's victim die. Death for a rodent is near instantaneous, and a human will die in about 30 minutes if not treated. The mortality rate upon being bitten with treatment is 90%... The reason for this is the venom is a neurotoxin, attacking the brain and spine without bothering the lesser nervous systems.

#2 The Common Brown

Common brown snakes grow to about 4 feet long, and are found mainly in woods, grasslands, and urban areas. This snake alone accounts for about half the deaths that occur by snake bites, because  it lives in close proximity to humans. When biting, these snakes can lunge several feet, then retreat quickly after giving said bite. When Anti-venom is applied, the victims usually survive. However, because of the fast clotting and aggressive venom, usually more than one dose must be applied. Most deaths are caused by the venom reaching the brain and causing internal bleeding and hemorrhaging. About 5 deaths a year occur due to this snakebite.

#1 The Inland Taipan
image from funpicland.com

The world's most venomous snake, and native to australia, grows to be about 5 feet long. While the venom in this snake is potent enough to kill over 250,000 mice in one bite... There has never been a recorded death of a human by this snake. The reason for this is it is extremely shy and reclusive. It also lives in the middle of Australia, as opposed to the coast. The middle of Australia is arid and sparsly populated, so people do not often encounter this snake. So while it's venom could kill a human in as little a 15 minutes, it is not one that has ever killed a human.


So there you go! The 10 most venomous snakes in the world... living in Australia. Hope you enjoyed it and learned something! :)