Inland taipan summer), the darker colour allowing the snake to heat itself while only exposing a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupil. It has 23 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, between 55 and 70 divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale. The inland taipan averages approximately in total length, although larger specimens can reach total lengths of . Its fangs are between 3.5 and 6.2 mm long (shorter than those of the coastal taipan). Inland taipans adapt to
Taipan Rosendale, a Guugu Yimithirr aborigine bitten at Hope Vale in 1949. Murray writes that Rosendale's condition was so severe that nurses later showed him extracted samples of his own blood that were completely black in colour. Temperament also varies from species to species. The inland taipan is generally shy while the coastal taipan can be quite aggressive when cornered and will actively defend itself. Taipan The taipans are snakes of the genus Oxyuranus in the elapid family. They are large, fast-moving, highly venomous, and endemic to Australasia. There are currently three recognised species, one of which, the coastal taipan, has