Australia’s inland taipan is taking things a little too far
Bec Crew
Bec Crew
An oft-quoted fact about the inland taipan is that it could kill 250,000 mice or 100 adult humans with the venom in a single bite. Which, let’s be honest, is the very definition of overkill. A tenth of that would be more than enough.
Native to the cracked clay floodplains of Channel Country, which mostly spans south-western Queensland, the inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) is the most venomous snake in the world. The Indigenous people of the region call it dandarabilla.
Its favourite food is a large native rodent called the long-haired rat (Rattus villosissimus). This species can reach plague proportions – hence their unflattering nickname, the plague rat. So it’s actually quite fitting that their biggest predator is a snake that has more venom than it knows what to do with.
Some venomous snakes bite their prey and then retreat to avoid injury, but the inland taipan’s venom is so powerful, death is almost instantaneous.
Swallowing prey whole might come naturally to snakes like the inland taipan, but it isn’t a simple process. Unlike a mammal, a snake’s lower jaw is not a single fused bone but is, instead, connected in the middle by stretchy ligaments. This allows them to spread their jaw apart sideways to take more in. Inland taipans also produce large amounts of saliva to lubricate their neck as they swallow prey, whose flesh has already started breaking down due to powerful enzymes in the snake’s venom.
It’s nightmare material for rats, but humans don’t need to worry too much: these snakes keep to the remote wilderness of the Australian Outback and, as such, few people encounter inland taipans so there has never been a recorded human death from the species.
Inland taipans are rulers of their domain when it comes to venom, but they’re by no means invincible. The mulga snake (Pseudechis australis) – Australia’s largest venomous land snake – will give them a run for their money (at least when they’re young).
Once a mother inland taipan lays her eggs (and unceremoniously abandons them soon after), her babies will hatch about two months later. Although equipped with venom about as powerful as an adult inland taipan, they’re no match for mulga snakes. Mulga snakes have a taste for taipan hatchlings and are able to neutralize their venom.
There’s something comforting about the fact that the plague rat is targeted by the world’s most venomous snake, which itself is being targeted by Australia’s largest terrestrial venomous snake – nature just figuring things out in the Aussie outback.
