Welcome to Australia: We'll do everything we can to kill you

Plane tickets to Aussie-land should come with a warning label. Or even better a survival. Seriously. Not really joking.

Here is a list (in no means comprehensive...and to be honest I am not sure I actually could create such a thing without updating it regularly, which let's face it is way more work than I am willing to or interested in expending here)

#1 Serpents
Depending on the source Australia is home to 7-9 of the worlds top 10 most deadly snakes.

World Rankings:

1) Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus ), Australia.

The most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is 110mg. That would porbably be enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice.

***Let me jump in here really quick. Quick math problem. If 110 mg of venom can kill 100 people how many milligrams does it take to kill a human being? 110/100=1.1mg Also, worthy of note: 1 person is the equal to 2,500 mice. Makes you feel big, huh?




2) Australian Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis ), Australia.
One 1/14,000 of an ounce of this vemon is enough to kill a person. The Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) – sometimes referred to as the Common Eastern Brown Snake is the world’s second most venomous land snake.

***No big deal but one of these snakes lives under the staff house 'supposedly'. Also, these snakes love to live in the most densely populated areas. Fun.


4) [I know, right? They let Asia have #3)] Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus ), Australia.

The venom delivered in a single Taipan bite is enough to kill up to 12,000 guinea pigs. The common taipan is the third-most venomous snake on Earth and arguably the second-largest venomous snake in Australia.


5)Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus ), Australia.
All Notechis species have a very potent neurotoxic venom, which may cause neurotoxic, hemolytic, coagulopathic, and myolytic reactions; paralysis or death can ensue in as short as 30 minutes.

**That's right folks, you couldn't even watch a full episode of Spongebob Squarepants before you kicked the bucket. Also, fun fact: these snakes have been spotted around some of the centers I'll be working.



6) Beaked Sea Snake (Enhydrina schistosa)
This is a sea snake found in the North of Australia (and many other places). ***Apparently they couldn't get this one to cooperate in biting thousands of helpless rodents with a single bite***






10) Death Adder
Death adders inject on average 40 – 100 mg of extremely toxic venom (0.4 – 0.5 mg/kg murine LD50, subcutaneous) with a bite. This makes an untreated death adder bite one of the most dangerous in the world (rated in top 10 in the CSL list).

Death adder venom is highly neurotoxic. It blocks the post-synaptic neuromuscular transmission from the acetylcholine receptor.

**I don't even know what that means but it doesn't sound the least bit fun


All in all, I think it's safe to say that Indiana Jones would not be keen to winter here.



This is only the first of a long long series in this initial topic. To be honest. There is so much going on here that I couldn't possibly write or explain the half of it so I'll start with a long list until I sort out my brain.