Tiger Snakes: Characteristics, Regional Morphs, Venom, Bite Victims | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

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TIGER SNAKES

Tiger Snake Tiger snake from Lake Alexandrina in South Australiam with clear banding, from The Conversation

Tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) are large, highly venomous snakes that live mainly in southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. Members of the genus Notechis in the family Elapidae, they are often observed and usually ground-dwelling, through they are able to swim and climb into trees and buildings. Tiger snakes are identifiable by their banding — black and yellow like a tiger — although their coloration and patterning can be highly variable. Their diverse characteristics have been classified either as distinct species or by subspecies and regional variation.

Tiger snakes are found mostly in Victoria and Tasmania but their range extends from the south of Western Australia through to South Australia, Tasmania, up through Victoria, and New South Wales. They are usually found in coastal regions, where they favor wetlands, creeks, dams, and other habitat around watercourses, or at shelter near permanent sources of water in pastoral areas. Places with lots of prey can support large populations of tiger snakes.

Tiger snakes embrace a large group of distinct populations, which may be isolated or overlapping, with a great deal of variance in size and color. There is a lot of seasonal color variations as well. Tiger snakes are generally 0.6 to 1.8 meters (two to six feet) long although one of 2.5 meters (eight feet) long have been recorded. Their average size is around 1.2 meters (3.9 feet). Their patterning generally includes darker bands, strongly contrasting or indistinct, which are pale to very dark in color. The overall colorations of these snakes including olive, yellow, orange-brown, jet-black, with undersides of light yellow or orange.

Tiger snakes are sometimes aggressive and have a nasty temper. Tasmanian devils feed on them, hikers wear fiberglass pants on Tasmanian trails for protection against them. Tiger snakes use venom to kill prey, and may also bite an aggressor; they are potentially fatal to humans. Tolerant of low temperatures, the snake may be active on warmer nights.

Tiger Snake Species, Subspecies and Morphs

There are two widely-recognizedtiger snake species: 1) Black tiger snakes ((Notechis ater) of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania); and 2) Mainland tiger snake ((Notechis scutatus) of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia). Widely dispersed populations (sometimes referred as polymorphs) show some conformity in their descriptions, but these characters may be shared by separate or adjacent groups. Tiger snakes are also identified by the region or island in which the forms occur,

King Island tiger snake, with barely visible banding

Common Tiger Snakes have a flat, blunt head, slightly distinct from their muscular body. Also known as mainland tiger snakes and eastern tiger snakes, they are found along the southeastern coast of Australia, from New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania and the far corner of South Australia. Their body is capable of being flattened along its entire length when the snake is agitated or basking. When threatened, they flatten their necks and strike low to the ground. Their average length is 0.9 meters (2.9 feet) with a maximum length of 1.2 meters (3.9 feet), but has been recorded at 2 meters (6.6 feet). They are highly variable in color, with base colors of brown, grey olive, or green, with lighter, ragged crossbands usually of creamy yellow. Occasionally, unbanded individual are seen. Scales appear like overlapping shields, especially around the neck. Ventral scales number 140 to 190, subcaudals 35 to 65, mid-body in 17 or 19 rows and the anal scale is single. [Source: Wikipedia Tiffany Hoy,Australian Geographic, July 25, 2012]

Western Tiger Snakes have a head that is distinct from their robust body, and grows up to 2 meters (6.6 feet). Their back is steel-blue to black in color with bright yellow bands; although unbanded specimens occur. Their underside are yellow, becoming blacker towards the tail. Midbody scales are in 17 or 19 rows, ventrals number 140 to 165, subcaudals 36 to 51 (single) and the anal scale is single (rarely divided).

Tasmanian Tiger Snakes have a blunt head distinct from their muscular body. Younger snakes tend to be slimmer and similar to other tiger snakes, Adults measure around 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in length. Their backs may be jet black, jet black with lighter crossbands, grey with black flecks forming faint bands, or unbanded grey or brown. Their undersides are usually lighter in color. Midbody scales are in 19, 17 or sometimes 15 rows, ventrals number 161 to 174, subcaudals 48 to 52 (single) and the anal scale is single. Tasmanian tiger snakes tend to be quiet snakes, probably due to the lower temperature ranges they inhabit.

Chappell Island Tiger Snakes are by far the biggest tiger snakes species, averaging 1.9 meters (over 6 feet) in length. They have a blunt head distinct from their robust body. Their back is olive-brown to almost black, sometimes with lighter crossbands. Their undersides are usually lighter in color. Juveniles are banded. Mid-body scales are in 17 rows; ventrals number 160 to 171, subcaudals 47 to 52 (single), and the anal scale is single. These snakes are quite docile.

Peninsula Tiger Snakes have a blunt head distinct from their robust body, and averages 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) in length. Those from Roxby Island are much smaller, averaging 0.86 meters (2.8 feet) in length. Their back is generally jet black, sometimes with white or cream markings around the lips and chin. Specimens on Kangaroo Island are highly variable in color, often exhibiting banding and uniform brown colors. Some have red bellies. The ventral surface becomes much lighter prior to shedding. Juveniles nearly always have banding. Midbody scales are in 17, 18, 19 and rarely 21 rows, ventrals number 160 to 184, subcaudals 45 to 54 (single) and the anal scale is single.

Tiger Snake Venom

Tiger snake range

Tiger snake venom is among the most toxic in world. Tiger snakes are regarded as the fourth deadliest snakes after taipans and brown snakes. Tiger snakes are considered more dangerous because they inject more venom with their bites. The potent venom of tiger snakes can cause poisoning in humans in just 15 minutes after a bite. The venom yield is 35–65 milligrams (0.54–1.00 gr), while the lethal dose for humans is 3 milligrams (0.046 gr). One tiger snake yielded enough venom to kill 250,000 mice.[Source Jeanna Bryner, Live Science, August 31, 2021]

Tiger snake bites cause pain in the feet and neck, tingling, numbness, sweating and mental instability, followed by breathing difficulties and paralysis. Victims appear drunk and after a while they have difficult expressing ideas. The venom also damages the blood and muscles, leading to renal failure. Severe bites cause clotting, hemorrhaging and heart attack. The antivenom is effective combating the rapid onset of paralysis and respiratory failure, which, like the poison from the taipan, is usually what kills the victim.

Tiger snake venom possesses potent neurotoxins, coagulants, haemolysins, and myotoxins. In a study, the mortality rate from untreated bites is reported to be between 40 percent and 60 percent. Treatment for tiger snake bits is the same as for all Australian venomous snakes. The pressure immobilization method is used to inhibit the flow of venom through the lymphatic system. Broad, thick bandages are applied over the bite, then down and back along the limb to the armpit or groin. The affected limb is then immobilized with a splint. Identification of the venom is possible if traces are left near the wound. Identifying the snake is not necessary if bitten in Tasmania, because the same antivenom is used to treat all Tasmanian snakes' bites. The availability of antivenom has greatly reduced the incidence of fatal tiger snake bites.

Tiger Snake Bites

Tiger snakes are responsible for the second-highest number of snake bites in Australia, after brown snakes, and kill an average of one person a year according to the University of Adelaide. Tiger snakes accounted for 17 percent of identified snakebite victims in Australia between 2005 and 2015, with four deaths recorded from 119 confirmed envenomations. One reason there are a fairly high number of bites os that they inhabit highly populated areas along the east coast, including some metropolitan areas of Melbourne. They are attracted to farms and outer suburban houses, where they hunt mice at night. They can easily be stepped on by unsuspecting victims in the darkness. [Source: Tiffany Hoy,Australian Geographic, July 25, 2012]

Tiger snakes are one of the few snakes in the world that attack. When threatened, they flatten their bodies and raise their heads above the ground in a classic prestrike stance.

Anthony Brain, who works with tiger snakes every day at the World Tiger Snake Center in Tasmania, has been bitten more than 30 times, eight times with severe bites that made him very sick, but he refused to take antivenom, partly because of his fear of hypodermic needles. Brain told AP, "One night I came home after being bitten and I started throwing up and lapsing in and out of consciousness. I was bleeding out of my nose and ears, and my lungs started to tighten, so I thought I'd better call an ambulance. I woke up the next morning by the phone. I had passed out."

Tiger Snake Bite Victims in the 1800s

Western tiger snake near a farm dam in Mount Barker, Western Australia

In 1867, a tiger snake bit and killed William Drummond, police magistrate, in Melbourne. A showman named Shires performed an act in which he allowed himself to be bitten by a tiger snake. Drummond, convinced that Shires was a fraud, demanded to be bitten by the snake himself. Shires complied — and Drummond passed out. Shires was acquitted of manslaughter on the grounds that he had been denied the opportunity to treat Drummond using a home-made antivenom.
On November 5, 1875, a tiger snake bit and killed Mrs. Falconer in Swan Hill, Victoria. She was treated with injected ammonia and died 50 hours after being bitten by a tiger snake about 1,8 meters (6 feet) in length.
In December 1878, a tiger snake bit and killed M'Fadden, a 12-year-old boy, in Alexandra, Victoria. He was bitten on the hand while planting potatoes. First aid included ligature (using a tourniquet or tourniquet-like bind) and scarifying (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom), later a doctor injected him with ammonia. He died 20 hours after being bitten.

In April 1893, a tiger snake bit and killed Charles Mason, 10-year-old boy in Stawell, Victoria, He stepped on a pregnant tiger snake in a bush way. A ligature (a tourniquet or tourniquet-like bind) was applied, the wound was scarified (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom), and stimulants administered. The boy was taken to hospital where he died eight hours after being bitten by the snake.
In May 1893, a tiger snake bit and killed Victor Hullar in Victoria, He was bitten on the hand during a snake demonstration. Brandy with some unnamed antidote, and washing the wound. Later a ligature was applied and the victim was injected with strychnine. He was sent to a hospital where he passed out and died/.
In February 1895, a tiger snake bit and killed Armit, an eight-year-old boy, in Inverary, New South Wales, near Bungonia. He was bitten on the ankle while crossing a paddock barefooted. First aid included a ligature and scarifying, and, later, strychnine.

In September 1898, a tiger snake bit and killed Chapman, a 15-year-old boy, in New South Wales. He bitten while bird catching. A friend took them to hospital but arrived four hours after the bite and died.
In January 1899, a tiger snake bit and killed Dudley, a 13-year-old female, in Bruthen, Victoria. She stepped on the snake while carrying parcel.
In January 1899, a mainland tiger snake bit and killed Gordon, nine-year-old boy, in Congbool station, Balmoral, Victoria. He was bitten twice on the thumb while removing some rails to get a rabbit.
In March 1899, a tiger snake bit and killed Pat O'Rourke, a 74-year-old male, in Kilmore, Victoria. He was bitten on his little finger when he went to the barn for some hay. The wound was bound, scarified (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom) and sucked. He sought medical treatment and was later sent home where he fell into laziness, and died.

Tiger Snake Bite Victims from 1900 to 1940

Mainland tiger snake, Banyule Flats Reserve, Melbourne, Victoria, in threat pose with body flattened and head raised

In September 1901, a tiger snake bit and killed Reginald Heeps, a 10-year-old boy, in Tallangatta, Victoria. He was bitten on the finger while catching rabbits, The wound was scarified (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom) and treated by a doctor who administered strychnine and brandy. He died one day later
In October 1902, a tiger snake bit and killed a 15-year-old boy in Coonong, New South Wales. He was bitten on the calf while bird-catching, died four hours later
In 1913, a tiger snake bit and killed Harry Deline in Melbourne at a snake show.
In 1914,a tiger snake bit and killed Alex Rolfe.
In November 1915, a tiger snake bit and killed a 21-year-old male in Laverton, Victoria.
In 1917, a tiger snake bit and killed Vogel, a boy, in Tintaldra, Victoria.
In 1917, a tiger snake bit and killed George Vowells in Sydney, He was an antidote vendor.

On March 13, 1920, a tiger snake bit and killed 26-year-old Teresa Caton in Sydney. She was a carnival girl who was bitten while 'playing' with some snakes belonging to snake showman Thomas Wanless. The wound was scarified (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom), a ligature (tourniquet) was applied, and Wanless' antidote was administered. The victim refused further treatment until 12 hours after the bite, which was too late. She died Wanless died the following year in South Africa from a Green mamba bite.
On December 3, 1920, a tiger snake bit and killed 9-year-old Ralph Shegog in Gundowring, Victoria, Bitten at his fathers dairy farm. He died one day after he was bitten.

In December 1925, a tiger snake bit and killed Charles McPherson in Molesworth, Tasmania. He was bitten while sitting on a tarpaulin, reading, on a camping trip. The wound was incised and cleansed and a a tourniquet was applied. He died in hospital 12 hours after being bitten.
In October 1927, a tiger snake bit and killed middle-aged Ernest Pollack in Fitzroy, Victoria. He had collected and bagged several specimens earlier in the day. He was found at home his home dead, having been bitten by one.
In 1928, a tiger snake bit and killed Dot Vane in Perth at a snake show. He was the wife of Rocky Vane.
In May 1928, a tiger snake bit and killed C.J. French in Adelaide. He was bitten on the forearm while giving a demonstration to children at the Adelaide Zoo where he was the curator of the snake park which was opened just two months earlier. A tourniquet was applied, the would was cut and sucked wound and permanganate crystals were given. He later died at hospital.
In February 1929, a tiger snake bit and killed 42-year-old Harry Melrose in Perth. William Henry Melrose, a partner of Rocky Vane's, was showing off with a bag of snakes and he was bitten on the hand. He was taken to hospital where the wound was scarified (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom) and other remedies applied. He died two days after being bitten.

Tasmanian tiger snake

In 1930, a tiger snake bit and killed Pegleg Davis while he was handling a snake.
In November 1930, a tiger snake bit and killed Ina Murray in Albury, New South Wales. She stepped on the snake and bitten was on the leg. Her husband scarified the wound (cutting the skin so blood flows out of the body, presumably to flush venom) and she was rushed to hospital where she died soon after.
In April 1931, a tiger snake bit and killed 19-year-old Jimmy Murray in Marrawah, Tasmania. Murray was a snake dealer who caught numerous snakes and sold them to Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research for venom extraction and research. He was giving a demonstration when he was bitten.
In 1932, a tiger snake bit and killed John Graves in Whittlesea, Victoria while he was handling a snake,
In December 1934, a tiger snake bit and killed 58-year-old Julius Mitchell in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales. Known as Milo the Snake Man, he was exhibiting his snakes when one bit him on the hand as he was trying to put it back in its box. He made incisions and applied a liquid, tied a loose tourniquet and refused further medical treatment.

Relatively Recent Tiger Snake Bite Victims

In January 1948, a tiger snake bit and killed Dorothy Vera Townson in Pelion Hut, Overland Track, Tasmania; She was bitten twice on the lower right leg by a snake, at about 11:30am. The snake hung on and bruised her leg after the second strike. The punctures were lacerated and tourniquets were applied, but the treatment was ineffective, and Miss Townson died at 4:30am the next day. Numerous hikers took turns carrying her body by litter 24 miles in 18 hours to get her down off the mountain.
In 1956, a tiger snake bit and killed Curley Bell in Haywood swamps, while snake collecting.
In 1977, a tiger snake bit and killed Gordon Kennedy in Brighton, Tasmania during a snake exhibition.
On November 5, 1998, a tiger snake bit and killed 14-year-old Tony Patterson in High Wycombe, Western Australia. He was bitten on the hand while photographing the snake. Initial first aid was inadequate. Afterwards he collapses, was hospitalized and given antivenoms.
In 1999, a tiger snake bit and killed seven-year-old male Joey McGlashan in Kennett River, Victoria. [Source: Wikipedia]

In 2003, a tiger snake bit and killed an unnamed, elderly female in Kew, Victoria. She was bitten while pruning vines.
On November 6, 2014, a tiger snake bit and killed 27-year-old Shane Tatti in Jarrahmond, Victoria. He was bitten on the wrist while weeding along a river bank. Tatti died despite getting the ordinary antivenom dose, but later testing revealed he had active venom in his system after his death, leading to debates in the toxicology field about antivenom protocols.
On January 3, 2015, a tiger snake bit and killed 70-year-old Mrs. Z. In Melton, Victoria. She was bitten on her toe in her sleep in bed. She received two vials of antivenom within three hours after the bites, and a third vial later.

On December 29, 2018, a tiger snake bit 20-year-old Callum Edwards in Lardner, five kilometers south-west of Warragul, Victoria. He was bitten while attending the Beyond the Valley music festival and was airlifted to hospital, where he died on January 1, 2019. His death was initially suspected to have occurred from a drug overdose, however medical staff later found traces of tiger snake venom in his system.
On January 28, 2020, a tiger snake bit and killed 78-year-old Winston Fish in Oatlands, Tasmania. H; bitten at least five times by a large snake while travelling on his farm, died at Royal Hobart Hospital two days later.

On December 13, 2004, a man was bitten by tiger snake in the southern suburbs of Perth but didn’t die. The man had just finished his meal at a fast food restaurant and was bitten while throwing out his trash. Local media reported: Doctors say a man who was bitten by a tiger snake would have died without medical treatment. The 35-year-old is in a stable condition in Fremantle Hospital after being bitten by the deadly snake in Bibra Lake at about 9:00pm Associate professor Simon Brown from Fremantle Hospital says the man had just finished his meal in the car park of a fast food restaurant when he crossed paths with the reptile. "He just took his scraps over to the rubbish bin, walked across a small amount of grass near the car park and felt a bite to his leg," he said. "It was near to the Bibra Lakes and we know that there are a lot of tiger snakes around that area."

Giant Tiger Snakes of Mount Chappell Island

Lucie Cutting and Mim Hook wrote for ABC Radio Hobart: Flying into Mount Chappell Island (Hummocky Island) and landing on the grass airstrip feels a bit like arriving at Jurassic Park. The island in Tasmania's Fearneux Group is said to host Australia's largest and most venomous tiger snakes. But for Pakana ranger Grahame Stonehouse, those snakes are just another part of his day. Mr Stonehouse is one of two people living on the island, which is an Indigenous Protected Area.[Source: Lucie Cutting and Mim Hook, ABC Radio Hobart, January 8, 2023]

For 11 years, he has split his time between Mount Chappell Island and mainland Tasmania. The ranger describes the island's snakes as "twice as big" as their relatives in other parts of the country. It's a conservative description, in comparison to local legends about highly venomous, barking snakes; and "fair dinkum" stories about visitors retreating, after the sudden appearance of four or five "big buggers". By early afternoon, Mr Stonehouse has already seen three large tiger snakes, but he's not bothered by their presence."They don't want to use their venom on you, they want to use it on a feed," Mr Stonehouse says. "I've got a lot of respect for them."

The ranger is walking through sometimes knee-high scrub, in a 200-meter stretch of land he calls "Snake Alley", where snakes are often found sunning themselves. After less than 10 minutes of searching, he spots a snake. But it quickly moves out of sight, into a short-tailed shearwater bird burrow. Commonly known as mutton birds, short-tailed shearwaters make burrows that provide both shelter and food for the snakes, which gorge on the birds' chicks.Mr Stonehouse says stories about the number and size of snakes on Mount Chappell Island have "gotten out of hand", but the reptiles are plentiful and larger in size."They're jet black, you don't see no stripes on them," Mr Stonehouse says.

Herpetologist Simon Fearn is also familiar with the island's tiger snakes and his work sorts the myths from the truth. The scientist has studied the reptiles for years, and was even bitten by one on a visit to the island in 1991. He says The island's reputation for having Australia's biggest tiger snakes can be traced back through history.Mr Fearn points to naturalist Eric Worrell, who visited Mount Chappell Island in the 1950s to collect hundreds of snakes. "He used to go there and pillage the island for snakes to milk for venom," Mr Fearn says. "He wrote lots of popular articles about it and made the island famous and the size of its snakes famous. "The problem is … there are probably 40 islands in Bass Strait with tiger snake populations and none of the others have been studied much — there are probably other islands with snakes just as big."

Are they more venomous? "People confuse toxicity, how potent the venom is, and the quantity of venom," Mr Fearn says. "Chappell Island tiger snakes are amongst the least venomous tiger snakes, but because they're so big and have such big heads, they inject a lot more venom." The herpetologist has direct experience, after suffering a snake bite on the second last day of a six-week visit in 1991. He developed necrosis at the wound site and was left with a large scar on his hand.

However, the snake bite was not the most memorable moment from that visit. A brief rain shower in a particularly dry year allowed him to witness something truly amazing. "The island was bone dry and one day a shower of rain went over the island for 10 or 15 minutes, just enough to make all the grass and vegetation wet," Mr Fearn says."Thousands of tiger snakes came up out of the ground everywhere and they were drinking off the grass. It was one of the most incredible things I've seen in my life."

How the Tiger Snakes on Mount Chappell Island Got to So Big

Herpetologist Simon Fearn of the Natural Sciences team at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston. says the tiger snakes on Mount Chappell Island are consistently longer and heavier, with bigger heads. "Lots of tiger snake populations were stranded on islands when the sea level rose after the last ice age," Mr Fearn explains.

Lucie Cutting and Mim Hook wrote for ABC Radio Hobart: Mutton bird chicks are available to the snakes for about five weeks of the year, after which they become too large to eat. The smaller the snake's head, the less time it has to consume the rapidly growing chicks. "There's about 20,000 baby snakes born on Chappell Island every year and less than one per cent reach adulthood," Mr Fearn says. "It's only the biggest, fastest-growing baby snakes that can jump the gap from skinks to their first mutton bird chicks." [Source: Lucie Cutting and Mim Hook, ABC Radio Hobart, January 8, 2023]

The snakes are at their heaviest in February, after gorging on mutton bird chicks, then slowly reduce in weight and activity until the next mutton bird hatching season. Once the chicks are too large to eat, the snakes curl up in the burrows and use the living chicks as a heat source. "For the rest of the year they burn off fat, that's why Chappell Island is relatively unique … because there's no other food for the snakes," Mr Fearn says.

Island Tiger Snakes Evolved Large Jaws in Less Than 100 Years to Feast on Seagull Chicks

A study published in Evolutionary Biology in January 2023, describes how tiger snakes on Carnac Island, a tiny islet off the coast of Perth in Western Australia, evolved the ability to swallow whole seagull chicks, in less than a century, allowing the snakes to survive on the tiny island. The researchers who wrote the study wrote in The Conversation: The snakes were introduced less than a century ago, possibly dumped by a travelling snake performer to avoid trouble with the law.These marooned tiger snakes are now adept at swallowing the large chicks of the seagulls that nest there. Adult snakes have little else to eat on this island in order to survive and reproduce. [Source: Alessandro Palci and Sherratt, Researchers at the University of Adelaide; Mike Lee, Professor at Flinders University, The Conversation, January 16, 2023]

But how did they adapt so well, and so quickly? Tiger snakes on the mainland (the ancestral stock of the snakes on Carnac Island) typically feed on much smaller creatures, especially frogs. The secret is a process called “phenotypic plasticity”, which is a phenomenon where an organism physically changes its body within its own lifetime to match the environment it is experiencing.

Our research team took a detailed look at how the snakes from Carnac Island have adapted to survive there. We raised some baby snakes taken from the island and some from the nearby mainland, and divided them further into two groups — one group fed on small mice, and the other on large mice. After the snakes matured, we looked into their heads using a high-resolution version of a medical CT scanner and took measurements of the different skull bones. This showed us how the island and mainland groups responded to different prey sizes.

Mainland snakes always had the same head shape, regardless of whether they were fed small or large prey. But Carnac Island snakes showed an intriguing response: those fed large prey developed a much bigger bite, with longer jaw bones (especially in the lower jaw and palate). Previous studies had only looked at external head dimensions. We confirmed their conclusions and further revealed exactly which skull bones were responding to the drastic dietary change.

Using Dogs at 19th Century Prison To Developed a Tiger Snake Antidote

Eric A. Powell wrote in Archaeology magazine: When archaeologists monitoring work on the former grounds of a nineteenth-century jail in downtown Melbourne noticed bones turned up by earth-moving equipment, they immediately suspected them of belonging to executed prisoners buried in the prison-hospital courtyard. Instead, they turned out to belong to a canine victim of Australia's Victorian Snake Bite Commission. Further excavation revealed the skeletons of six dogs buried together in a pit, all of which appeared to be young and robust. [Source: Eric A. Powell, Archaeology magazine, September/October 2002]

"We originally thought they might be police dogs or guard dogs at the jail," says Geoffrey Hewitt, an archaeologist at La Trobe University. But archival research turned up remarkably specific information on the dogs' fate. According to newspaper accounts from 1877, two doctors from the colony's Snake Bite Commission tested a secret snake bite antidote on six dogs at the jail. The animals were injected with tiger snake venom, followed by an injection of the secret antidote. "It clearly didn't work," says Hewitt, and the dogs were buried in the prison courtyard.

Further work on the skeletons includes DNA testing as well as osteological analysis that may help determine their breeds. Hewitt notes that the dogs weren't alone in the courtyard. The skeleton of a prisoner executed in 1917 or 1918 was eventually found just a few feet from them.

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