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Some 680-700 of the worlds 2700 snake species are venomous (almost one third of which are harmless to people). By far the most venomous land snake in the world is the 1.7m (5ft 7in) small-scaled or fierce snake (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), found in isolated patches over a very large area of east-central Australia. It appears to be most common in the Diamantina River and Cooper Creek drainage basins, Queensland and Western New South Wales, where it feeds mainly on the plague rat; a bitten rat would probably drop dead within a few seconds, since the snakes venom is strongly neurotoxic. The average venom yield after milking is 44mg (0.00155oz), but one male specimen yielded a record 110mg (0.00385oz) - enough to kill 250,000 mice. Fortunately, because of the remoteness of its habitat it rarely comes into contact with people and, so far, no human fatalities have been reported. |