The Inland Taipan, another one on Australia’s big bad snake’s repertoire. This one however, has a special spot on this list as it is regarded as the most venomous snake in the World — the one with the biggest killing potential. Sure there are other marine snakes whose poison is even stronger when compared drop by drop, however, their venom volume is far from enough to consider them life threatening.
The Inland Taipan is one of the 3 known species of Taipans, the other being the Coastal Taipan and the Central Ranges Taipan. The latter two could easily occupy 2nd and 3rd position on this list as they are more venomous than the Common Krait, but for the sake of diversity and since they belong to the same genus I chose to include only the worst of them all, the Inland Taipan.
The Inland Taipan can reach up to 8 feet (2.5m) in length. It is also known as the Small Scalled Snake as well as the Fierce Snake — Fierce referring not to the temperament of the snake but to its venom lethality. Its venom is also a neurotoxic cocktail and like all other snake neurotoxins will mess up with the nervous system and cause paralysis, ultimately ending in asphyxia. One of the neurotoxic agents in the venom cocktail is taipoxin, currently the most lethal neurotoxin of all known snakes. For the same volume, pure taipoxin is 15 times more deadly than the natural venom of the Inland Taipan.
Fortunately there isn’t a single human death attributed to this snake, in part because they live far from inhabited zones and also because of the specific antivenin effectiveness.
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