Why are Australian snakes so toxic?

[Michaelangelica]

Its the lack of wildlife in areas where snakes are best suited to (the drier, hotter parts of Australia), so they only get few chances to obtain food. If their toxicity wasn't terribly powerful, they'd have less chance of immobilizing their prey and they don't have a lot of prey to try to immobilize in the first place.

Yes thats what the prof said

The more prey about the less toxic the snakes tend to be.

Boas don't need venom as they can always come across more prey if they miss one.

[LaurieAG]

Each particular habitat has it's own animal niche so to speak and snakes were cut off there, It was there that they developed this ability to use venom as a way of protecting them during evolution.

 

The same could be said of the African Elephant and why it's tusks are bigger than the Indian Elephant. They developed it for defence over generations and during evolution.

 

The snakes have developed an evolutionary characteristic that makes them a predator to another animal. That question could go for any animal on earth and the above answer still exhibits some characteristic that makes them a predator or defence mechanism to some other being.

 

Hello LJP07,

 

There are other 'evolutionary' factors to consider like the march of the cane toad across Australia. I work at an Island environmental resort on the coast of SE Queensland. The most dangerous snake on the island is the Eastern Brown whose numbers have been greatly reduced as they were the most agressive hunters. These snakes are usually only found now in the drier dune regions of the island where there are very few cane toads.

[freeztar]

Snake bites account for approximately 125,000 deaths annually worldwide yet

snakebite is believed to have resulted in 38 deaths in the past 24 years in Australia. Mostly from idiots poking the snake with a stick!

Perhaps this is because of our better first aid and plentiful anti-venom?

 

Perhaps the Oz tourist board needs to point this out?

 

I found this:

Treatment of Australian Snake Bites

 

Which suggests quite different numbers...(An Oz source too)

[Jay-qu]

quite different numbers you say?

 

Your link suggests about '1 or 2' a year die from bites, ill take ~1.5, so over 24 years that amounts to 36. Not far of Michael's 38 figure...

[freeztar]

Of course you are right Jay. I was not absorbing the info properly (scanning). But no excuse excuses me from the fact that I was wrong.

Nonetheless, I'm still looking for numbers, as the numbers originally posted do not include a source to reference.

 

It's hard to believe that the snake bite fatality rate is so low in Oz. It's certainly not improbable, but I wonder, why?, nonetheless.

I am going to propose that the lower mortality rate is attributable to public awareness (which includes copious anti-venom supplies). Anyone ever watch "Venom ER"?

[Jay-qu]

Never heard of anything called venom ER.. :eek2:

 

its cos we are all trained from an early age how to rangle snakes like Irwin could :hihi:

[Boerseun]

Not maybe because Oz is very urbanised, and very few people actually come into contact with snakes?

[coldcreation]

... The day after that it bellied up to the back porch against the sliding glass door. The whole family sat and watched as Charlie dragged his cinder blocks accross the yard, creeping closer and closer to the snake. Until he had closed the gap and he killed it right there on the back porch. They tell me it was like watching a nature video. I was sad. I kinda liked the snake. I would not have let the dog kill it if I had been home.

 

Bill

 

Wow,

I was awaken by my two cats (Buffy and Moe) one evening in my New Haven CT apartment. They were going wild at about two in the morning, in the living room. I jumped out of bed to see what was going on. It turned out, my roomate's Reticulated python (UConnJack) had managed to escape from his cage (2 x 1 x 1.5 meters), also in the living room. It was big deal because the snake was three meters long and very aggressive. I was thankfull it was not our Eastern dimond-back that had excaped (he was only a foot and a half long but packed a mean bite. Testimony to that was the speed at which mice were affected when bit).

 

It was not easy getting the python back into its cage. It was hiding in back of a radiator. Finally we did get it back in its cage. It also had a roomate: a three meter Burmese python (Monty). She had become tame with time. But when I gave her away to a friend (I was on my way to Paris for a while) she escaped too from here cage several times.

 

Moral of the story: Snakes should not be kepts as pets. They belong in the wild.

 

CC

[freeztar]

Not maybe because Oz is very urbanised, and very few people actually come into contact with snakes?

 

Yeah, this definitely sounds reasonable. Looking at the US statistics was interesting:

Each year, approximately 8,000 venomous snakebites occur in the United States.1,2 Between 1960 and 1990, no more than 12 fatalities from snake venom poisoning were reported annually.3,4 Most snakebites occur between April and October, when outdoor activities are popular.5

Venomous Snakebites in the United States: Management Review and Update - April 1, 2002 - American Family Physician

 

No more than 12 annually...approximately 8000...bites...

[Jay-qu]

Where we have 1-2 deaths annually from 3000 bites, so it cant be due to less bites overall, our fatality rate is much lower.. maybe it is due to the kind of snakes that are more likely to bite :) perhaps most of our bites come from an aggressive but non-lethal snake.

[Michaelangelica]

Not maybe because Oz is very urbanised, and very few people actually come into contact with snakes?

the reasons are two, three

1 Good supplies of anti-venom in all hospitals

2. Very effective first aid. A pressure bandage will give you 1-2 days to get to a hospital. The hospital will often take off the bandage and wait and see if you get sick. then give you anti-venom.

 

We are not totally urban. There are masses of national parks surrounding Sydney and bush walking camping is very popular.

 

An 8 YO girl died of snake bite a week or so ago. she did not know she had been bitten:(

Bite stats

North Queensland has the highest

number of reported snake bites in

Australia. A report recently released

from the Cairns Base Hospital**

showed that 264 people were treated at

the hospital for snake bites over a five-

year period (1 January 1996-31

December 2000). Of those bitten,

61 percent tested positive for venom,

but only 10 percent showed clinical

symptoms. Antivenom was administered

to 20 patients (7.6 percent). One patient

died of a bite from a brown snake.

Perhaps the most disturbing finding

from this study was that only two

patients had received correct first aid

following their bite. (See Safety first.)

Editor

 

Also, Australian snakes

are shy and comparatively reluctant to

bite, often not injecting venom when

they do bite. Indeed, a New South

Wales study showed that it is humans

who are more aggressive with people

100 times more likely to attack a snake

than the other way round.

50% of Australians and 100% of German and US Tourists have below average intelligence.

 

The most venomous snake in the world yet not one fatality from it

On the other hand, the most

venomous snake, the inland taipan (O.

microlepidotus), also known as the

small-scaled or fierce snake, tends to

live in the burrows of its main prey, the

long-haired rat. Unable to retreat from

its prey in this confined space it has a

greater need to finish it off quickly. Its

more risky attack strategy entails

holding its prey with its body and

biting repeatedly. However, this snake

can deliver, in one bite, more than

40 000 times the venom needed to kill a

200g rat and it contains a special

component which causes the toxin to

rapidly invade the body. Its prey has

 

On the positive side, there is potential for snake venom to be

used in drug design, just as the deadly venom from cone

shells has been used to create pain killers for American Pharmaceutical companies to make millions from

[Michaelangelica]

Found this while looking to see if Oz bees were OK.

I am on ACE inhibitor for high BP. I wonder how that makes you more suseptable to bee stings?

Venemous state

Janelle Miles

 

April 17, 2007 12:00am

Article from: The Courier-Mail

 

QUEENSLANDERS are much more likely to die from snake bites, wasp stings or a reaction to tick venom than other Australians, experts say.

Between 1979 and 1998, 20 Queenslanders died after being bitten by a snake, almost double the number from any other state or territory.

Ken Winkel warned outdoor workers, people susceptible to allergies, asthmatics and those on blood-pressure-lowering drugs known as beta blockers or ACE inhibitors should be particularly careful of wasps, bees and ticks.

Venemous state | The Courier-Mail

[silverslith]

Are they so toxic to local fauna? Wouldn't it be an arms race type of deal?

[Pyrotex]

It's a well known fact that most Australian snakes are very toxic, and most of the worlds most toxic snakes are found here. Why is this?...

Hell, if all you had to drink was room-temperature beer with hardly any carbonation, you'd be pretty toxic yourself.

[TheBigDog]

Hell, if all you had to drink was room-temperature beer with hardly any carbonation, you'd be pretty toxic yourself. :rolleyes:

What ever happened to old Eskimo Joe? Do you suppose he still keeps up with this thread?

 

Bill

[Michaelangelica]

Hell, if all you had to drink was room-temperature beer with hardly any carbonation, you'd be pretty toxic yourself. :eek2:

Room Temperature! That's Pommie Land (the ones that can't play cricket) not The Land of Oz! We even have ice machines! (just for the Yank tourists)

What ever happened to old Eskimo Joe? Do you suppose he still keeps up with this thread?

 

Bill

It is amazing how long it has gone.

It must end soon?

[Michaelangelica]

Quintessential Australians

 

Synonymous with summer, our venomous snakes are misunderstood Aussie icons.

 

By Heather Catchpole

Australia is justifiably famous for its snakes. We harbour more venomous snakes than anywhere else in the world — of the 140 species of land snakes, 110 are venomous, 12 of which are deadly to humans.

Quintessential Australians (Scribbly Gum)

An interesting article on Oz snakes, including some interesting links

Including this one which is about as odd and quirky as it gets!

Hungry snake discovers you are what you eat, News Online, 27 Jan 2009