There are approximately 3,000 species of snakes in the world, according to National Geographic. Of these, about 600 are venomous, and 200 of them are a threat to human safety, with bites that can lead to illness and death. The deadliest of these is the inland taipan, native to east-central Australia.
The World Health Organization reports that about 5 million people are bitten by snakes each year. Between 81,000 and 138,000 of those people die. Young people and children are particularly at risk, as are agricultural workers, hunters and fishermen, and others who work outdoors. (These are the most dangerous jobs in America.)
The London-based safari information site Safaris Africana has compiled a list of the most venomous snakes in the world. The company notes that there are several ways to measure lethality, among them the amount of venom dose needed to kill one person, the number of people killed by a species each year, and the percentage of people who die if a bite from a species is left untreated. Safaris Africana has used these and other yardsticks to determine some of the world’s deadliest snakes. (Note that many of these exist in numerous subspecies.)
Of the deadliest, the Inland taipan, the analysts who put together the report wrote “Its paralyzing venom consists of taipoxin, a mix of neurotoxins, procoagulants, and mycotoxins, which causes hemorrhaging in blood vessels and muscle tissues, and inhibits breathing. Its bite is lethal in more than 80% untreated cases, and can kill a human in under an hour.” (Snakes are hardly the only animals that can be deadly to humans, of course. These are the world’s deadliest animals.)
Click here to see the deadliest snakes in the world
The snake was first discovered by western scientists in 1879, and sightings are rare. Its primary diet is small mammals. Oddly, according to one report, no human has ever been killed by this species because those bitten were immediately “treated by taipan antivenom which is produced and manufactured by the Australian Reptile Park and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne.”
Even though there are many venomous snakes in North America, none are among the deadliest in the world.
11. Faint-banded sea snake
> Alternate name: Belcher’s sea snake
> Latin name: Hydrophis belcheri
> Range:(s): Indian and Pacific oceans, from eastern South Africa to western Central America
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10. Tiger snake
> Alternate names: Black tiger snake, mainland tiger snake
> Latin name: Notechis scutatus
> Range:(s): Southern Australia, including Tasmania
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9. Saw-scaled viper
> Alternate names: Indian saw-scaled viper, little Indian viper, Jararee snake, Said Dekhil snake
> Latin name: Echis carinatus
> Range:(s): India, Middle East, Central Asia
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8. Boomslang
> Alternate name: Tree snake
> Latin name: Dispholidus typus
> Range:(s): Sub-Saharan Africa
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7. Banded krait
> Alternate names: Ahiraaj saamp, welang
> Latin name: Bungarus fasciatus
> Range:(s): South and Southeast Asia, southern China
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6. Barba amarilla
> Alternate names: Fer-de-lance, common lancehead, mapepire balsain
> Latin name: Bothrops atrox
> Range:(s): South America east of the Andes, Trinidad, Panama
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5. Black mamba
> Alternate name: Ndemalunyayo
> Latin name: Dendroaspis polylepis
> Range:(s): Sun-Saharan Africa, possibly West Africa
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4. King cobra
> Alternate name: Hamadryad
> Latin name: Ophiophagus hannah
> Range:(s): South and Southeast Asia
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3. Coastal taipan
> Alternate name: Common taipan
> Latin name: Oxyuranus scutellatus
> Range:(s): Northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea
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2. Eastern brown snake
> Alternate names: Common brown snake, marragawan
> Latin name: Pseudonaja textilis
> Range:(s): Eastern and central Australia, southern New Guinea
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1. Inland taipan
> Alternate names: Inland taipan, fierce snake, small-scaled snake
> Latin name: Oxyuranus microlepidotus
> Range:(s): East-central Australia
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