Coastal taipan In his book "Venom", which explores the development of a taipan antivenom in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, author Brendan James Murray argues that only one person is known to have survived an "Oxyuranus" bite without antivenom: George Rosendale, a Guugu Yimithirr aboriginal 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. Coastal taipan The coastal taipan ("Oxyuranus scutellatus"), or common taipan, is a species of large, extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is
Coastal taipan rodent population in the fields. In Far North Queensland in the Cape York Peninsula, it is usually found in open woodland areas. Thickets of introduced "Lantana" are also favoured habitat. The coastal taipan shelters in abandoned animal burrows, hollow logs, and in piles of vegetation and litter. The coastal taipan is primarily diurnal, being mostly active in the early to mid-morning period, although it may become nocturnal in hot weather conditions. When hunting, it appears to actively scan for prey using its well-developed eyesight, and is often seen traveling with its head raised slightly above ground level. Once prey is