Many
English people won't holiday in Australia for fear of snakes. Perhaps this fear
is understandable considering that Australia has the ten most venomous snakes
in the world and the most intimidating wildlife a Pom has ever encountered is
a ruminating cow.
But although Australian
snakes are venomous, they are not dangerous unless someone does something silly
like try to catch or kill them. They are timid creatures that flee if a human
gets within about five meters of them. If they are accidentally stepped on, their
first reaction is to escape, and second is to bite. If they do bite after being
startled, they usually don't inject venom.
But
like every country, there are silly people in Australia and so snakebites do occur.
One example of such sillyness occurred when a Darwin man was having a few beers
with his mate while driving home from Mandorah. Along the side of the road he
spotted a King Brown and decided to catch it for the Mandorah Pub's fish tank.
As his right hand was being used to hold his beer, he grabbed it with his left
and was subsequently bitten. He threw the snake in a plastic bag but for some
reason, then decided to stick his hand into the bag and was duly bitten another
eight times.
As the poison went to work,
his mate applied first aid by pouring beer over his head and whacking him across
the face. It wasn't an effective treatment as he ended up in a coma for six weeks.
His left arm withered and died and had to be amputated. On the positive side,
he still kept the use of his right arm for holding his beers in the future.
Yet
despite such would-be Steve Irwins wanting to see their life flash before
their eyes, and many drunk Aussies taking off their clothes and running naked
through the bush after a B&S ball, only 0.13 of every million deaths in Australia
are the result of a snake bite.
Snake
myths that have fooled gullible people
- The
Death Adder has a sting in its tail.
- Snakes
hypnotise their prey.
- Tiger Snakes chase
people. You should run uphill to escape them.
- Snakes milk cows.
- If
you kill one of a pair of Tiger Snakes, its mate will hunt you down to take its
revenge.
- In Australia, there is a Hoop
Snake that takes its tail in its mouth and then goes bowling merrily along.
Quick
bites
- Australia houses the world's 10 most venomous snakes. The inland taipan is the world's most venomous, with toxin 50 times more potent than the Indian cobra.
- Most
toxic venom - The most toxic snake venom on mice is the Inland Taipan (Fierce
Snake). Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is 110mg. That would probably be
enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice.
- Taipan
size - The Taipan's average length is 2.5 meters, although they have been known
to grow to 3.3 meters.
- Most venomous
yield - Australia's most venomous (yield) snake is the King Brown. The snake is
believed to have been involved in 22 of the past 38 deaths attributed to snakebite.
- Most
venomous Australian snakes - Fierce Snake, King Brown, Taipan, Eastern Tiger,
Riesvie Tiger, Beaked Sea Snake, Western Tiger Snake, Giant Black Tiger Snake,
Death Adder, Western Brown snake.
- Some snakes are known to be able to go without food for periods of nearly two years.
The animals' reduce their resting metabolic rate by 72 per cent - lower than their standard resting rate.
- The keelback or freshwater snake is the only Australian species of snake which is not harmed by eating cane toads.
Icon
1) A NBL team is known as
the Cairns Taipans
2) The
Dreaming- In Jewish, Christian and Islamic culture, the snake is a bad guy who
tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. But in Aboriginal cultures, the Rainbow Serpent
is the creator of life. The serpent emerged from beneath the earth and as she
moved, winding from side to side, she forced her way through soil and rocks, making
the great rivers flow from her path. From her body sprang the tribes, the animals
and the birds of Australia.
In some myths,
a woman can't conceive unless the Rainbow Serpent enters her body. In other myths,
the Serpent is vengeful upon those who damage the land.
The
serpent is sometimes depicted as a man, other times as a woman and sometimes as
a man with breasts.
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