Taipans are large (up to 3 metres in length), fast, highly venomous Australian snakes, one of which, the Fierce Snake, has the most toxic venom of any land species worldwide although it is not the most deadly. The taipan was named by Donald Thompson after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
There exist three species: the common taipan, the less common inland taipan (also known as the Fierce Snake and small-scaled snake) (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) and a recently discovered third species. The common taipan is broken up into two subspecies, the mainland coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus) and the Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni) which is native to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Their diet consists primarily of small rodents, especially rats, and bandicoots.
The coastal taipan is usually pale to dark brown in colour, fading to a lateral cream, although juveniles are lighter in colour. The Papuan taipan is black or purplish-gray, with a copper-coloured stripe on its back. They are easily found in sugar fields due to an abundance of rats - their main food source.
The inland taipan is often considered to be the most venomous land snake. With an LD50 of 0.025 mg/kg, it is 20 times as venomous as a common cobra. Lethal dose calculations are made on mice, so they have a marine bias. The bias is emphasised in this species of snake, as it is specialized to feed on rodents. Calculated LD50 values might not be applicable to non-mammalian species, and may even be inaccurate for mammals other than mice, or other rodents. The venom from a single bite of the inland taipan might be potent enough to kill about 250,000 mice, or the mouse equivalent of 100 men. This species generally lives in remote and sparsely inhabited areas. Like most snakes, inland taipans are generally shy and will usually not bite unless they feel threatened. No fatalities have been attributed to this species, and all known bites have been to people who keep them in captivity or actively seek them out in the wild.
The common taipan is the third-most venomous snake on Earth and arguably the second-largest venomous snake in Australia (the first arguably being the King Brown, Pseudechis australis). The danger posed by the coastal taipan was brought to Australian public awareness in 1950, when young herpetologist Kevin Budden was fatally bitten in capturing the first specimen available for antivenom research. The common taipan is often considered to be one of the deadliest species in the world. Mortality rate without treatment is second only to the black mamba, nearing 100%. However, antivenom treatment is highly effective. In several aspects of morphology, ecology and behaviour, the common taipan is strongly convergent with an African elapid, Dendroaspis polylepis (the black mamba).
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[quote="geonyzl"]I have a question..... In the Philippines there was a report of a venomous snake.. it has slender long body, and it can lift its body like a cobra(but it is not a cobra), it has a strong venom and sometimes it spits the venom to the prey. Some residents described them as snakes with legs. These snakes were known to be fast crawlers because according to them, it can chase people and other bigger animals.
the only spitting snakes live in Africa and the snake that fits ur discription best is a black momba but it lives in africa as well
I didnt vote actually. i don't mind which--afterall I haven't wished to be bit.
Still--man is the most poisonous--with all the things that he could do in this world. Even some under you know.
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the black mamba definitely is the most poisonous snake in the world. a couple drops of its venom has the ability to kill 200 grown men. it is also the worlds fastest snake and it can make
half its body(a little over half)rise off the ground.definitely deadly!!!!!
Might very well be true...
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The Inland Taipan.
The Mamba injects a larger amount almost instantly.
But if you are saying which is a most dangerous it would be the Mamba because of its speed.
For the Venom, its the Inland Taipan.
AND PEOPLE, STOP CONFUSING THE QUESTION!!
ITS THE MOST POISONOUS NOT THE MOST DANGEROUS!!
This is an absurd topic altogether - everybody's got their favourite that they claim to be the most venomous snake in the world, yet there are so many ways to determine this. Just check out all these snakes from, say, Wikipedia, and you notice that about all of them are said to be the most venomous snake in the world
There isn't even an universal measurement: some people use mouse body count, some use LD, others grown up men, some measure the actual venom's potency, whilst others again measure how dangerous one bite is. If you claim, e.g. that "black mamba can kill 200 grown up men with a drop of venom" or something along that, it is plain absurd - are the men 50 kg or 120 kg, or an eurasian "standard" of 70 kg - or was it 75 kg? You get the point. Even mice have different breeds and strains that give highly variable results. (The size of mice between different strains can vary tens of %) - which makes the body count (and LD) vary as well...
Just a quick glance at this thread shows that there seems to be a huge amount of beliefs and unbacked claims, and a tiny bit of knowledge. Just because everybody has their own most venomous snake, it already pretty much sums the truth that nobody knows it for sure. I see that black mamba is a very hot favourite here, yet according to many stats and tables & zoology books I've seen black mamba is lucky if it even makes it to the top 10.
The more assured someone is that his favourite snake is the most venomous in the world, the less I believe he has any real knowledge about snakes at all
If we talk about land snakes then it is inland taipan. But the sea snake is considered the most poisnous snake despite its inability to cause much harm to other creatures since it doesnt inject a very large amount of toxin.
This question is quite controversial, because of the different criterion undertaken for gauaging the potency of the snake venom (like some snakes have short fangs despite having a very toxic venom so its not very effective). But the answer normally varies between inland taipan and sea snake.
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