Inland taipan strike if provoked, mishandled, or prevented from escaping. Because it lives in such remote locations, the inland taipan seldom comes in contact with people; therefore it is not considered the most deadly snake in the world overall, especially in terms of disposition and human deaths per year. The word "fierce" from its alternative name describes its venom, not its temperament. The two Australian taipans; the coastal taipan ("Oxyuranus scutellatus") and the inland taipan ("Oxyuranus microlepidotus") shared a common ancestor. Alignments of the mitochondrial ND4 genes from these species indicate an evolutionary divergence from the common ancestor around 9-10 million years
Taipan taipans, with the central ranges taipan being an offshoot of the common ancestor of the inland and coastal taipans. Their diets consist primarily of small mammals, especially rats and bandicoots. Species of this genus possess highly neurotoxic venom with some other toxic constituents that have multiple effects on victims. The venom is known to paralyse the victim's nervous system and clot the blood, which then blocks blood vessels and uses up clotting factors. Members of this genus are considered to be among the most venomous land snakes based on their murine , an indicator of the toxicity on mice. The