Taipan or coastal taipan ( lat.Oxyuranus scutellatus ) ( English coastal taipan ) - according to various estimates, takes the third or fourth place in terms of toxicity in the world and the largest (up to 3,3,3 m long) poisonous snake in Australia. Due to aggressive temper, large size and speed, taipan is considered the most dangerous of all the poisonous snakes in the world.
It lives on the coast of North and Northeast Australia and in the southeast of New Guinea , which is why it acquired its name. Leads mainly a daily lifestyle. It feeds on frogs and small mammals, including mice and rats; therefore, it is not rare near human housing and on sugarcane fields, where before the invention of combine harvesters the most frequent bites of people occurred.
Poisonous teeth up to 13 mm in length.
The poisonous glands of Taipan contain up to 400 mg of poison, an average of about 120 mg. Taipan venom has a predominantly neurotoxic (blocks muscle contractions, which causes respiratory muscle paralysis) and coagulopathic (disrupts blood coagulation).
The color is plain, light or dark brown or reddish; the head is lighter, the belly is white or yellowish.
The taipan is very aggressive and fast: when it is disturbed, it raises its head, shaking it, then immediately strikes the enemy several times in a row. A taipan bite can lead to death in 4-12 hours, while a person bitten by other most poisonous snakes lives about a day. In the Australian state of Queensland, where taipans are most common, every second bitten person dies.
Taipan McCoy ( lat.Oxyuranus microlepidotus ) or inland taipan ( inland taipan ) - reaches a length of 1.9 m. The color of the back varies from dark brown to straw; Australia's only snake that changes color depending on the time of year is winter (June-August), when it is not so hot this snake is noticeably darker. The head is darker and can acquire a glossy black color.
The range is limited to central Australia - mainly eastern Queensland, but is rarely found in the north of the neighboring states of New South Wales and Northern Territory . It inhabits dry plains and deserts, hiding in cracks and faults of the soil, making it extremely difficult to detect. It feeds almost exclusively on small mammals. Females lay 12–20 eggs in deep cracks or in abandoned burrows; incubation lasts approx. 66 days.
This is the most venomous of land snakes. On average, 44 mg of poison is obtained from one snake - this dose is enough to kill 100 people or 250,000 mice. With an average lethal dose of LD 50 of 0.01 mg / kg, its venom is about 180 times stronger than cobra venom. However, unlike Taipan, McCoy's Taipan is not aggressive; all documented cases of bites were the result of careless handling of it. Not much is known about this snake.
In Australia there is also a snake family snake, very similar to a taipan - Tropidonophis mairii or keelback . However, it is non-toxic and is an example of mimicry .
