Inland Taipan Is the Most Venomous Snake Is Not The Most Dangerous In The World

People have argued about the most venomous snakes as long as I can remember (and I've been keeping snakes and research for more than 20 years).

The reason there is so much controversy about the most venomous snakes in the world is because people judge them according to different criteria, and this inevitably leads to conflict.

For example, some people build their lists of the most venomous snakes in the LD50 test. LD50 stands for lethal dose 50 percent. In the case of snake venom LD50 is a scale used to measure the effectiveness of a snake venom. It refers to the amount of toxin that when given all at one time, kills 50 percent of the animals tested (mice, in this case).

Other people create lists of the most venomous snakes in the world can produce given considering the venom yield, ie the amount of the venom of the snake with a bite.

So you can probably find dozens of lists containing the "Top 10 Most Venomous Snakes" in the world, characterized, and many of these lists will conflict with each other.

Does not poisonous, Most Dangerous

While I'm at it, I'd like to clarify another important point in relation to poisonous snakes. Many people create lists of what they claim are the "most dangerous" snakes in the world, and it is simply a list of the ten most poisonous snake ranked as mentioned by the LD50 test.

But there is a big difference between a very poisonous snake and a very dangerous snake. Many snakes, the poison on the charts are high up shy and withdrawn and thus account for only a very few human fatalities. How could you do such snakes on a list of the world's most dangerous snakes?

On the flip side of the coin, there are certain venomous snakes that, although not in the top ten toxic, yet logged Rank for a large number of human deaths each year. This could be because that particular snake in densely populated areas, which is found far from medical care, that the snake is comparatively aggressive towards people or a combination of these factors.

A good example of this would be the saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus), for a relatively high number of deaths in Sri Lanka accounts. While it is certainly highly toxic, has the saw-scaled viper does not appear on any top ten lists "poisonous snakes." However, he is responsible for more deaths than any other snake in its reach, mainly because of its habit of hiding in areas of humans. Victims of human trafficking

My point is, you can not make a list of the most venomous snakes in the world and designate it as the "most dangerous" snakes ... or otherwise. These are two different things, and they must be treated as such.

To echo this sentiment, here is an excerpt from a Princeton University Press interview with Mark O'Shea, snake expert, TV personality and author of poisonous snakes in the world:

"The most dangerous snake is not poisonous. Most poisonous snakes are large class, Australian brown snakes and sea snakes, but they have small venom yields and a few snake bites to humans and few human deaths in the scheme of things ... with that in however, can I have encountered many dangerous snakes, rattlers to cobras, vipers, sea snakes to desert, but I think the most dangerous snake I encountered on the Sri Lankan Russell's viper be ... "

The most venomous snake - Meet the Domestic Taipan

Despite all the semantic arguments and scientific debates, it is a fact that most people seem to agree. The poisonous snake of the LD50 test or any type of criteria is measured, is the inland taipan snake of Australia.

The inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) has the most toxic venom of any snake in the world. But here, it does not necessarily mean that the inland taipan - also known as fiece snake - which is "dangerous" or deadliest snake in the world. As already discussed, is the most poisonous not always translate to the most dangerous.

In fact, the inland taipan has proven this point for me. More than 40,000 people worldwide die each year from venomous snake bite. But Australia has only 2 - 3 snake bite deaths per year. So, how can a continent with the world's most venomous snake, the inland taipan, such a relatively small number of snake bite deaths per year? The answer of course is that the domestic taipan, while highly toxic, is not one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

Sure, it has deadly poison with the potential to kill people, but it's a world of difference between possibility and reality. The inland taipan is the world's most poisonous snake by most standards, but it is not by far the world's deadliest snake.