The Most Venomous Snake in the World

Inland Taipan   image source: theaustralian.com.au

Inland taipan lives in arid areas of central Australia, in the states of Queensland and South Australia. Moreover it likes to live in the rodent burrows, of whom it usually feeds on after all who would dare to throw her out of there. On the other hand, the appearance of this snake varies according to the season. In the summer it can be a light brown. While in the winter it acquires a dark brown color. The inland taipan average is approximately 5.9 feet in length. However, specimen have been found that exceed that measure reaching 8.5 feet.

Family

The inland taipan has two close relatives. The ranges taipan and the coastal taipan. They all have hollow fangs through which they inject a venom that accumulate in the back of their jaws. And they close their jaws, their fangs are stored in holes present in the lower jaw.

Food Habit

The favorite dish of Taipan is the long-haired rat. It also eat plain rats, small birds and some small marsupials such as colton when it is very hungry. Taipan apply multiple bites in a single attack. It can bite upto 8 times in a single attack.

Measure Venom

There is a standard way to measure venom of the snakes, which is the famous median lethal dose are LD50 by its acronym. This measure emerged from laboratory experiments in which venom's are tested in a multitude of unfortunate mice. It's called 50 because laboratory tests continue until 50% of inoculated mice died. Not one more nor one less. If the thing fails, the experiment will be carried out again. The most venomous snakes have a lower LD50 because they need less venom to kill half of the mice in the experiment. The inland Taipan only has an LD50 of 0.025 grams per kilogram. It's the smallest LD50 of all the snakes in all over the world, which automatically makes it the most venomous.

Attack

With each bite of the taipan snake in inoculation between 44-110mg if venom is made. This is 200-500 times more toxic than the majority of rattlesnakes. This is also 50 times more toxic than the venom of a cobra. A single bite of a taipan has the ability to kill more than 100 adults at a time. Fortunately it rarely bumps into humans since it lives far away from the great Australian cities. In addition, it's only exposed for a brief part of the day. If it perceives anyone as a threat it will put itself into a guard position and if it has no other choice it will attack.

Deadly Effects

The taipan's venom has neurotoxins, hemotoxins and myotoxins. Neurotoxins destroy the connections between neurons and cause permanent paralysis of the upper eyelid, the inability to articulate words, in addition to facial, muscular and finally repiratory paralysis, that is death by asphyxiation. Regarding hemotoxins, they inhibit blood clotting which causes internal bleeding and death from stroke. Finally, myotoxins kill muscle tissue. Dead cells end up in the bloodstream causing kidney failure. Whatever organ is affected, death will come if antidote is not applied.