Taipans (World's Deadliest Snakes): Species, Venom, Bites, Characteristics, Behavior | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

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TAIPANS

inland taipam

Taipans are often called the world’s deadliest snakes. Some sea snakes have more toxic venom but they don’t have very good venom delivery systems and they don’t inject so much venom when they bite. Taipans, in contrast, have a very good venom delivery system — their fangs are like hypodermic needles — and they can inject lots of extremely toxic venom when they bite.

Taipans are snakes of the genus Oxyuranus in the elapid family. They are large, fast-moving, extremely venomous, and endemic to Australia and New Guinea. The common name, taipan, was coined by anthropologist Donald Thomson (1901-1970) after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland to describe them. The Wik-Mungkan people used the name in reference to an ancestral creator being in Aboriginal Australian mythology known as the Rainbow Serpent. [Source: Wikipedia +]

Taipans are sometimes recognized as the largest venomous snakes. They can reach lengths of 3.5 meters (11 feet) and be as thick as a body-builder’s arm. These snakes are extremely dangerous for three reasons: 1) their poisons are among the most toxin known (twice as potent as a tiger snake); 2) they inject huge amount of venom when they strike; and 3) can strike several times in quick succession.

Three species of taipan are recognized: 1) coastal taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus); 2) inland taipans (O. microlepidotus), and 3) recently discovered Central Ranges taipans (O. temporalis). There are two coastal taipan subspecies: the coastal taipan (O. s. scutellatus), found along the northeastern coast of Queensland, and the Papuan taipan (O. s. canni), found on the southern coast of New Guinea. A 2016 genetic analysis showed that the speckled brown snake (Pseudonaja guttata) was an early offshoot of a lineage giving rise to the taipans, with the Central Ranges taipan being an offshoot of the common ancestor of the inland and coastal taipans. +

Taipans are generally shy creatures but when they feel threatened they flatten their head, wave their tail back and forth like a rattlesnake, and strikes swiftly and repeatedly. Taipans live in rat holes or the burrows of other rodents and small or medium-size ground marsupials. They mainly on mice, rats and rodents and small or medium-size ground marsupials such as bandicoots. Temperament varies from species to species. The inland taipan is generally shy, while the coastal taipan can be quite aggressive when cornered and actively defends itself.

Taipan Bites and Venom

range of inland taipan

Taipan bite victims rapidly become paralyzed to the point where their lungs stop working. Death is usually caused by respiratory failure and the mortality rate nears 100 percent without antivenom. A taipan bite can kill a person in 10 minutes. Victims are sometimes bitten several times in quick succession. Symptoms of a taipan bite envenomation include a severe headache, nausea, vomiting and breathing difficulty. Taipans posses a highly neurotoxic venom with some other toxic constituents that have multiple effects on victims. In addition to paralyzing the victim's nervous system, the venom can clot the blood, which then blocks blood vessels and uses up clotting factors. If you see a taipan stand still and let them move away.

The high toxicity of taipan venom is based on their murine LD50, an indicator of the toxicity on mice. According to this method venom is injected into a group of mice and the amount of venom that kills 50 percent of the mice in 24 hours is called the lethal dose, or LD50, and is measured in milligrams of venom per kilogram of mouse. The lower the LD50 number the more powerful the toxin is. The LD50 of a taipan from Australia is 0.25 milligrams. For the king cobra and western diamondback rattlesnake it is 1.7 milligrams and 18.5 milligrams respectively.

The inland taipan is considered to be the most venomous snake in the world and the coastal taipan, which is arguably the largest Australian venomous snake, is second or third venomous snake in the world. The Central Ranges taipan has been less researched so the exact toxicity of its venom is still not clear, but it may be even more venomous than the other taipan species. Coastal taipans are capable of injecting large amounts of venom due to their large size. [Source: Wikipedia]

In 1950, Kevin Budden, an amateur herpetologist, was one of the first people to capture a taipan alive, but he was bitten in the process and died the next day. The snake, which ended up dying a few weeks later, was the first known taipan to have been milked for venom: Melbourne zoologist David Fleay and Dr. F. C. Morgan performed the milking, and the venom was used to develop an antivenom, which became available in 1955. In his book “Venom,” Brendan James Murray states that only one person is known to have survived a taipan 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 color.

Powerful toxins (lethal dose): 1) anthrax (0.0002); 2) geographic cone shell (0.004); 3) textrodoxotine in the blue ring octopus and puffer fish (0.008); 4) inland taipan snake (0.025); 5) eastern brown snake (0.036); 6) Dubois’s sea snake (0.044); 7) coastal taipan snake (0.105); 8) beaked sea snake (0.113); 9) western tiger snake (0.194); 10) mainland tiger snake (0.214); 11) common death adder (0.500). Lethal doses is defined as the amount in milligrams needed to kill 50 percent of the animals tested.

Inland Taipans — the World’s Most Venomous Snakes

summer color of the inland taipan

Inland taipans (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) are the world’s most venomous land snakes according to the Guinness Book of Records and Encyclopedia Britannica. Also known as western taipans and small scaled snakes and nicknamed "fierce snakes," even though they are regarded as being shy, they are regarded as having the deadliest venom based on median lethal dose, or LD50, tests on mice. The word "fierce" describes their venom, not their temperament. These snakes can reach lengths of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) but average around 1.8 meters (5.9 feet). Their fangs are between 3.5 and 6.2 millimeters long (shorter than those of the coastal taipan) and their venom is several times stronger than that of the Tiger snake. On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List inland taipans are classified as a species of “Least Concern”.

Inland taipans are endemic to semiarid regions of central east Australia. They are reclusive and relatively rare and mostly found in cracks and crevices in the Channel County Queensland and the dry rocky plains where the Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Northern Territory meet. Inland taipans mainly hunt long-haired rats in their burrows. They use their potent venom to kill prey quickly, injecting more than 40,000 times the amount needed to kill a 200 grams rat. They also hunt plains rats, introduced house mice and small marsupials. Unlike other venomous snakes that strike with a single, accurate bite then retreat while waiting for the prey to die, inland taipans, subdue their prey with a series of rapid, accurate strikes. They may deliver up to eight venomous bites in a single attack, often rapidly snapping their jaws to inflict multiple punctures in the same attack. The venom acts so rapidly that prey does not have time to fight back. [Source: Wikipedia, Tiffany Hoy,Australian Geographic, July 25, 2012]

According to the International Journal of Neuropharmacology inland taipans favor clay crevices in Queensland and South Australia's floodplains, often within the pre-dug burrows of other animals. Because they are in more remote locations than the coastal taipan, inland taipan rarely comes into contact with humans. When taipans feel threatened, they coil their body into a tight S-shape before darting out in one quick bite or multiple bites.[Source Jeanna Bryner, Live Science, August 31, 2021]

Inland taipans are dark tan in color, ranging from a rich, dark hue to a brownish light green, depending on the season. Thir back, sides, and tail may be different shades of brown and grey, with many scales having a wide, blackish edge. These dark-marked scales occur in diagonal rows so that the marks align to form broken chevrons of variable length that are inclined backward and downward. The lowermost lateral scales often have an anterior yellow edge. The dorsal scales are smooth and without keels. The round-snouted head and neck are usually noticeably darker than the body (glossy black in winter; dark brown in summer), the darker color allowing the snake to heat itself while exposing only a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eyes are of average size with blackish-brown irises and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupils. They have 23 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, between 55 and 70 divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale. [Source: Wikipedia]

Inland Taipan Venom

Based on the median lethal dose value in mice, the venom of the inland taipan is by far the most toxic of any land snake. and it has the most toxic venom of any reptile when tested on human heart cell culture. According to some source it is even more toxic than sea snake venom; other sources say to most venomous sea snakes have the most toxic venom. Inland taipans are specialist hunters of mammals, so their venom is specially adapted to kill warm-blooded species. One bite possesses enough lethality to kill more than 100 men. These snakes are very fast and agile, and can strike instantly with extreme accuracy, often striking multiple times in the same attack, injecting venom each time. [Source: Wikipedia]

It is said the venom of inland taipans is so powerful it has the potential to kill an adult human within 45 minutes. Symptoms of an inland taipan bite include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, collapse and paralysis. A main ingredient of this venom, which sets it apart from other species, is the hyaluronidase enzyme. According to a 2020 issue of Toxins journal (Novel Strategies for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Snakebites), this enzyme increases the absorption rate of the toxins throughout the victim's body. [Source Jeanna Bryner, Live Science, August 31, 2021; Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, March 31, 2023]

The average quantity of venom delivered by inland taipans is 44 milligrams, with a maximum recorded dose of 110 milligrams, compared to 169 milligrams, with a maximum recorded dose of 610 milligrams for Indian cobras (Naja naja) and 410 milligrams, with a maximum recorded dose of 848 milligrams for North American eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus). [Source: Wikipedia]

The median lethal dose (LD50) is 0.025 mg/kg (the lower the value the more powerful the venom). In comparison, the LD50 value of beaked sea snake (Enhydrina schistosa) is 0.164 mg/kg; for Indian cobras it is 0.565 mg/kg; and for North American eastern diamondback rattlesnakes it is 11.4 mg/kg. Inland taipans have a smaller venom yield than their cousins coastal taipans yet their venom is almost four times as toxic.Belcher's sea snake (Hydrophis belcheri, also called the hooked-nose sea snake) has been erroneously called the most venomous snake in the world, due to Ernst and Zug's published book “Snakes in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book” from 1996. Bryan Grieg Fry, a prominent venom expert, wrote: In “Snakes in Question” all the toxicity testing results were lumped in together, regardless of the mode of testing (e.g. subcutaneous vs. intramuscular vs. intravenous vs. intraperitoneal). As the mode can influence the relative number, venoms can only be compared within a mode. Otherwise, it's apples and rocks." Belcher's sea snake's actual LD50 (recorded only intramuscularly) is 0.24 mg/kg and 0.155 mg/kg, less lethal than other sea snakes such as the olive sea snake (Aipysurus laevis) 0.09 mg/kg and the most toxic intramuscularly, recorded of the sea snakes — the black-banded robust sea snake (Hydrophis melanosoma) 0.082 mg/kg. The black-banded robust sea snake has also been tested subcutaneously registering at 0.111 mg/kg, which is in line with the coastal taipan and thus more than four times less toxic than the inland taipan's venom. In the LD50 subcutaneous test, it is actually Dubois' sea snake (Aipysurus duboisii) which has the most toxic venom of any of the sea snakes tested, registering at 0.044 mg/kg. This is still nearly half as lethal as the inland taipan's venom.

Compents of inland taipan's venom: 1) Neurotoxins — affecting the nervous system: Presynaptic neurotoxins; paradoxin (PDX), and postsynaptic neurotoxins; Oxylepitoxin-1, alpha-oxytoxin 1, alpha-scutoxin 1; 2) Hemotoxins (procoagulants) – affecting the blood Myotoxins — affecting the muscles; 3) Possibly nephrotoxins — affecting the kidneys; 4) Possibly haemorrhagins — affecting the blood vessels (endothelium); 5) Hyaluronidase enzyme – increases the rate of absorption of venom. Paradoxin (PDX) appears to be one of the most potent, if not the most potent, beta-neurotoxins yet discovered. Beta-neurotoxins keep nerve endings from liberating the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The biological properties and toxicity of a baby inland taipan's venom are not significantly different from or weaker than those of an adult's.

Inland Taipan Bite Victims

Only a handful of people (most of them snake handlers) have been bitten by inland taipans. All have survived mainly due to receiving immediate medical attention. There is one case in which a person survived without antivenom. On September 15, 1967, a tour guide was bitten while trying to capture a snake for a tour group in the Channel Country. He was taken to Broken Hill Hospital and then to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, but was not given antivenom, as he reported he was severely allergic to horse serum and believed he had been bitten by a brown snake. He spent four weeks in the hospital overall; his condition was likened to severe myasthenia gravis (a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles, which are essential for breathing, swallowing and facial movements). Meanwhile, the snake was sent to Eric Worrell, who said it was a coastal taipan. In 1972, it was correctly identified as an inland taipan. In 1984, Australian toxicologist Peter Mirtschin was bitten by a three-week-old inland taipan. He was the first to be treated with Taipan antivenom. [Source: Wikipedia]

In September 2012, in the small city of Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, north of Sydney, more than 1000 kilometers away from the snake's natural environment, a teenaged boy was bitten on the finger by an inland taipan. The teenager's rapid self-application of a compression bandage above the wound and the availability and administration of a polyvalent (broad-spectrum) antivenom in the local hospital saved his life. The police worked to find out how the inland taipan got to this part of Australia. The snake was most likely a stolen or illegal pet and the boy had tried to feed it.

In December 2013, reptile handler Scott Grant, who was in his 40s at thetime, was conducting a demonstration in front of 300 people at the annual building union's picnic in Portland, Victoria. He had just finished showing the audience an inland taipan and was trying to put it into a bag when it struck him. He got into his utility and tied a bandage around his arm. A few minutes later, however, he was lying on the ground and convulsing. He was flown in a serious condition to Essendon Airport and driven to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, and over time, he recovered. Only a tiny amount of venom from the inland taipan had entered his body, and the adverse reaction he felt shortly after was an allergic one, presumably due to his past snake bites.

In October 2017, Weinstein et al. published a case report in Toxicon, writing, "The victim was seeking to observe members of an isolated population of this species and was envenomed while attempting to photograph an approximately 1.5 m specimen. He reported feeling “drowsiness” and blurred vision that progressed to ptosis; he later developed dysphagia and dysarthria. The patient was treated with one vial of polyvalent antivenom, which was later followed by an additional two vials of taipan monovalent. He was intubated during retrieval, and recovered after 3 days of intensive care. He had a right ophthalmoplegia that persisted for approximately 1 week post-envenoming."

Coastal taipan in Cooktown, Queensland in 1980

According to Rob Bredl, "the Barefoot Bushman", in an isolated area of South Australia, his father, Joe Bredl, was bitten while catching an inland taipan and barely survived. A more recent victim was his friend John Robinson, bitten while cleaning an inland taipan's cage at his reptile display on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. He weathered the bite without antivenom, but sustained considerable muscle damage, as well as heart damage.

In September 2024, Jeffrey Leibowitz was bitten by an inland taipan in his home in Florence, South Carolina. After seeing various posts of Leibowitz’s videos on Facebook, Al Coritz, a lifelong snake keeper, was “flabbergasted” at the way Leibowitz handled snakes. Coritz told WBTW Myrtle Beach the plastic containers shown in Leibowitz’s posts are not suitable for snakes over a long period of time as they can easily slither through the cracks. He also said that handling them freely without a snake hook or tongs made it only a matter of time before the snake would strike back.“There’s no predicting these animals,” Coritz said. “I think I was totally flabbergasted when I was watching him handle the little taipan and I saw its little tail wagging, which means that ‘I’m very upset. Don’t bother me. I don’t want you to touch me.'”[Source Gabby Jonas,WBTW Myrtle Beach, September 14, 2024]

Coastal Taipans

Coastal taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus) are the third most venomous snakes in the world, according to most toxicological studies, after inland taipans and eastern brown snakes. The toxicity of inland taipans is four times greater than that of coastal taipans but because their large fangs, large size (they can grow to three meters), aggressiveness and nervous disposition coastal taipans are considered more dangerous than their inland cousins.

Coastal taipans are also known as eastern taipans. They live a wide range of habitats, from monsoon forests to open woodlands in temperate and tropical areas in an arc along the east coast of Australia from northern New South Wales to Brisbane and northern Western Australia. They are fond of sugarcane fields and live in other human-modified environmens. Coastal taipans are equipped with the longest fangs of any Australian snake (1.3 centimeters, 0.4 inches). [Source: Tiffany Hoy, Australian Geographic, July 25, 2012]

Coastal taipans are incredibly fast and able to jump with extraordinary precision into the air fangs-first to attack a victim multiple times before they are aware of what hit them, according to the Australian Museum. They are extremely nervous and alert and put up a vicious defence when surprised or cornered, ‘freezing’ before lifting their whole, lightweight body off the ground and hurling it forward to inflict several lightning-fast snapping bites. However, they’re not usually confrontational and would much rather escape any threat. | On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, coastal taipans are classified as a species of “Least Concern”. Before 1956, when an effective antivenom was produced, this snake's bite was nearly always fatal, according to Australian Geographic. [Source Jeanna Bryner, Live Science, August 31, 2021]

Coastal Taipan Characteristics

Coastal taipan range

Coastal taipans are the second-longest venomous snake in Australia after king brown snakes (Pseudechis australis). Coastal taipans average around 2.0 meter (6.6 feet) long and weigh about three kilograms (6.6 pounds), with the longest individual on record, according to the Queensland Museum, reaching 2.9 meters (9.5 feet) in length and weighing 6.5 kilograms (14 pounds). Adults usually attain sexual maturity around 1.2 meter (3.9 feet) in total length (including tail). Though rare and unverified, much larger specimens are widely believed to exist, including one as long as 3.3 meter (11 feet). [Source: Wikipedia]

Coastal taipans generally have light olive or reddish-brown upperparts, with paler underparts. The taipan subspecies in Australia (O. s. scutellatus) have a long and narrow head with an angular brow and is lighter-coloured on the face. The body is slender. These snakes usually uniformly light olive or reddish-brown in colour, but some specimens may be dark gray to black. The belly is typically creamy-white to a pale light yellow in colour, and is often marked with orange or pink flecks. Individuals undergo a seasonal change in color, becoming darker in winter and fading in summer. The eyes are large, round, and are light brown or even hazel in colour with large pupils.

Coastal taipans resemble eastern brown snakes (Pseudonaja textilis), northern brown snakes (P. nuchalis), and king brown snakes. All are brownish in color. Coastal taipans are distinguished by their larger head and narrower neck, and light face and snout. The head and neck are the same width in the other species.Coastal taipan closely resembles African black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) in size, body shape, colour, venom toxicity, and hunting behaviour. Both employing a "snap and release" hunting strategy. Their convergence is thought due to their adaptation to hunting mammals, where large size is needed to eat large prey, and lethal venom is needed to immobilise prey quickly before they can fight back and injure the snake.

Coastal Taipan Behavior, Diet, Reproduction

Coastal taipans are primarily diurnal (active in the day) and are mostly active in the early to midmorning period. They may become nocturnal in very hot weather. Most snake handlers say that coastal taipans tends to avoid confrontation, but becomes highly defensive if provoked. [Source: Wikipedia]

Breeding season takes place between August and December. About 7 to 20 eggs are laid at one time. The eggs are incubated for 60 to 80 days, with the newly hatched snakes ranging from 30 to 34 centimeters (12 to 13 inches) in length. Young grow quickly, averaging 6.7 centimeters (2.6 inches) a month, and reaching a length of one meter (3.3 feet) in one year. Male coastal taipans reach sexual maturity when they are 80 centimeters in length, which they reach around 16 months of age, while females are able to breed when they are around one meter long, around 28 months old.

Coastal taipans mainly hunt and eats small mammals, and opportunistically take birds. Their diet consists primarily of rats, mice, and bandicoots. In 2010, a dead coastal taipan was found to have ingested a cane toad. Whether the snake had been poisoned by the toad and died, or had resisted the poison and been killed by a vehicle (as it was found on a road with neck trauma) was unknown.

When hunting, coastal taipans 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 detected, the snake "freezes" before hurling itself forward and issuing several quick bites. The prey is released and allowed to stagger away. This strategy minimises the snake's chance of being harmed in retaliation, particularly by rats, which can inflict lethal damage with their long incisors and claws.

Coastal Taipan Venom and Its Affects

Coastal taipan venom is predominantly neurotoxic and coagulopathic. Neurotoxins prevent nerve transmission. Coagulopathic angents impair the blood's ability to clot, either by excessive bleeding or abnormal clot formation, potentially leading to prolonged or excessive bleeding. Before the introduction of a specialised antivenom in 1956, coastal taipan bites were nearly always fatal.

Coastal taipan envenomation symptoms include nausea and vomiting, convulsions, internal bleeding, destruction of the muscles, diaphoresis (sweating), abdominal pain and kidney damage. In severe cases, death can occur in just 30 minutes. Among the neurotoxic effects are descending flaccid paralysis (pattern of muscle weakness or paralysis that begins in the upper body and progresses downward to the lower body), ptosis (droppy eyelids), diplopia (double vision),ophthalmoplegia (paralysis or weakness of the muscles around the eye, which can affect eye movement), bulbar weakness (weakness or paralysis of the muscles in the face, mouth, and throat), intercostal weakness (weakness of muscles in the rib cage, and limb weakness. In severe cases, death can occur in just 30 minutes. Severe cases require intubation. [Source: Wikipedia]

Venom-induced consumption coagulopathy is also common and, characterised by clotting abnormalities and hemorrhaging. Less-common effects are muscle damage (myotoxicity), characterised by elevated creatine kinase and myalgia (muscle pain), acute kidney injury (which can require dialysis in severe cases). White cell count is commonly elevated and platelet count is often low. There is generally little local reaction at the site of the bite.[

The average venom yield from one milking of a coastal taipan is 120 milligrams, with a maximum of 400 milligrams recorded. The subcutaneous LD50 value of this species is 0.106 milligrams per kilogram, according to the Australian Venom and Toxin database, or 0.12 milligrams per kilogram, according to Engelmann and Obst (1981). The estimated lethal dose for humans is 3 milligrams. The venom primarily contains taicatoxin, a highly potent neurotoxin, along with taipoxin, which has an LD50 of two microgram per kilogram. 124 micrograms of the latter can kill a healthy 62 kilograms adult.

Early administration (within 2–6 hours of bite) of antivenom and intubation for respiratory paralysis are the standard treatments, but a chance of a hypersensivity reaction exists following antivenom administration. Neurotoxic symptoms may be irreversible once established due to the presynaptic nature of their pathology. The first taipan-specific antivenom was developed in 1954. Before this, tiger snake antivenom was used, though it was of little benefit in taipan envenomation.

Coastal Taipan Bite Victims

Coastal taipans accounted for 4 percent (31 cases) of identified snakebite victims in Australia between 2005 and 2015 and no deaths were recorded in this period. At least one death from these snales was recorded from 2000 to 2016, and two between 1981 and 1991 Bites from coastal taipans account for most snakebites in New Guinea in the rainy season, when the snake becomes more active, particularly in southern New Guinea. [Source: Wikipedia]

In 1949, George Rosendale, a Guugu Yimithirr Aboriginal man, was bitten by a coastal taipan through his boots and thick socks while stacking wood. He became sick 15 to 30 minutes later, with ptosis (droopy eyelids), nausea, and difficulty breathing, and was taken to Cooktown Hospital. A doctor visiting the area on holiday treated him with fluids, and tiger snake antivenom flown up from Cairns. He was flown to Cairns Hospital the next day and was discharged after 19 days. He reported losing his sense of smell. Rosendale died at age 89 in 2019.

In 1949 and 1950, 19-year-old snake handler Kevin Budden visited north Queensland to catch a taipan in a quest to develop antivenom. On July 27, 1950, he caught a coastal taipan sunning itself in a rubbish dump on the outskirts of Cairns by putting his foot on it, grasping it by the neck with his left hand and letting it coil around his arm. He then walked to a main road and hailed a passing truck to take him to the house of local naturalist S.E. Stephens. Once there, the taipan escaped his grasp as he attempted to adjust his hold and bit his hand. Despite this, Budden secured the snake before going to hospital. He became paralysed later that day and died early the following afternoon despite ventilation and large doses of tiger snake antivenom. Before he died, Budden requested the snake be sent to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, which in turn forwarded it to Fleay for milking. Fleay did so successfully, but found wrestling with the surprisingly strong and muscular subject to be difficult. They procured 78 milligrams of whitish venom, which led to the development of taipan antivenom. The snake itself became a minor celebrity, discussed in many newspapers at the time and was put on display in Melbourne Zoo, but died on 12 September 1950.

On February 14, 1996, Peter Ryan, 33 -year-old male from Kerry, Queensland, died from a coastal taipan bite. He was bitten twice on his left leg on January 23, 1996. He was transferred from Beaudesert Hospital to Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane where he died. The bite was witnessedand multiple doses of antivenom were administered. Pathology and the autopsy report confirmed the bit was from a coastal taipan
On November 1, 2012, Andrew Vaughan, 57-year-old male, was killed by a coastal taipan bite in Yeppoon, Queensland.
On April 10, 2016, Wayne Cameron, 54-year-old male, was killed by a coastal taipan bite in Rockhampton, Queensland.
On December 26, 2016, David Pitt, 77-year-old male, was killed by a coastal taipan bite in Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, Queensland.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org , National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, Australian Museum, David Attenborough books, Australia Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated August 2025