What are the most poisonous snakes in the world: photos, names

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

There are many snakes on the planet that have a potent and destructive poison for humans, but not every reptile that has a deadly weapon seeks to use it against people. That is why the most poisonous of land snakes is not at all guilty of a large number of human victims. The same can be said about marine representatives - the owner of not the strongest of the poisons was recognized as the most deadly. Therefore, not every person, in response to the question of which snake is the most poisonous, will name the most dangerous.

Vipers

The Viper family includes many subfamilies, genera and species of poisonous snakes. The names of some of them are mentioned in this article, and we will definitely introduce you to them. Several genera of vipers, united in a subfamily with an identical name, differing from each other in many respects, are very common on the planet, including in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Basically, these are small reptiles - up to a meter in length, with the exception of the genus of giant vipers - these individuals are much larger. For example, the longest inhabiting the territory of Russia - gyurza – grows to2 meters.

Viper venom is one of the most toxic. The structure of the jaws and the mechanics of their work during the attack is such that, unlike most other poisonous snakes, their bite would be more correctly called a blow. However, animals are predominantly nocturnal and do not attack without a reason. The death of a person from a viper bite occurs in the absence of medical intervention after a few days or even weeks, and not in one hundred percent of cases, but it is impossible not to mention them, since these are representatives of the few poisonous snakes living in Russia.

Death Viper (Australian Spiketail)

The species was named for its resemblance to vipers. It lives in Australia, on the island of New Guinea and on nearby islands. The length of an adult individual usually does not exceed a meter. The fangs are quite large. The coloration is heterogeneous light brown in different shades, there are several darker longitudinal stripes on the body. It lives in wooded areas, thickets of shrubs. Hunts at night for small mammals, birds, snakes. Viviparous, one brood consists of 10-20, rarely - up to 30 cubs. When danger is detected, it freezes and does not betray itself in any way until it is directly approached, which is fraught with an accidental meeting with it. The poison paralyzes the nervous system, in the absence of a neutralizing drug, the probability of death from a bite is about 50%.

Rattlesnake

Generalized name for more than two hundred species of venomous snakes belonging to the subfamily of pitheads. The pits are temperature-sensitive depressions betweeneyes and nostrils that detect temperature changes with an accuracy of 0.1 °C, which allows you to successfully hunt in the dark.

They live in Asia and both American continents. These are small and medium-sized snakes, the largest of them is a rhombic rattlesnake, sometimes it reaches a length of almost 2.5 meters, but the length of an average individual usually does not exceed one and a half meters.

Themselves do not attack like most poisonous snakes. Noticing a person, they warn with a sound about their presence. However, if they decide that they are in danger, they will attack silently. Mortality from rattlesnake bites has decreased to 4% thanks to the created sera, but in the absence of timely measures, fatal outcomes can occur (the closer a snake bite is to a person’s head, the more likely it is to die), as well as other tragic consequences in the form of loss of a bitten limb, so how the venom of these snakes not only disrupts the process of blood clotting, causes paralysis and difficulty breathing, but in a short time leads to tissue necrosis. In addition, their jaws are so strong that they can even bite through shoes made of thick leather. Very dangerous are young snakes that do not know how to control the portion of the released poison and do not yet have a ratchet at the end of the tail.

Kaisaka, or Labaria

Also related to the pitheads, the American native kills with her swift attacka lot of people. The poison acts quickly, causing hemorrhage and rapidly spreading edema, leading to death. The largest in the genus of spearheads - reaches a length of 2.5 meters. May be brown or gray with well-defined rhombuses on the back. For the characteristic color of the chin, it is nicknamed the "yellow beard".

Bushmeister, or surukuku

The closest relative of true rattlesnakes has a hard, empty tail that makes noise not by itself, but by contact with the surface on which the animal moves.

The range of this species is South America. Surukuku is the largest of the poisonous snakes of these places and among all those belonging to the subfamily of the pitheads. It reaches a length of 3, 5, rarely - 4 meters. Poisonous teeth grow up to 4 centimeters. He prefers loneliness throughout his almost 20-year life, so only 25 facts of a human bite by him are known, of which 5 ended in the death of the victim.

Cobras

The combined name of about 20 species of poisonous snakes of the asp family. Their distinctive feature is the so-called "hood" - a fragment of the body that changes size due to the ability of the animal to push the ribs apart while in a state of excitement. It is difficult for a layman to distinguish a calm cobra from many other snakes. They live in numerous territories, mainly in Africa and Asia. The substance with which some cobras infect their victims is considered one of the most toxic in the arsenal.poisonous snakes. Cobras are not aggressive for no reason and usually warn of themselves.

Their attack consists of several throws, one ending with an accurate bite. Some species are able to accurately throw poison at a distance, aiming at the eyes of the victim. The bite mechanism is similar to chewing.

To this genus belongs the largest of the poisonous snakes in the world - the king cobra, otherwise - the Hamadryad. It can reach a length of 5.5 meters or more, as it grows constantly with a life expectancy of about 30 years.

Tiger snake

Belongs to the family of asps. It lives in Australia and on neighboring islands - New Guinea and Tasmania. It is considered one of the most poisonous snakes living on land. Viviparous, not very large - usually reaches a length of two meters, no more. Coloring can be different - from gray to reddish, all have almost imperceptible or pronounced transverse stripes on the body. There is even a black one. The poison is so strong that small victims die almost instantly, a person without treatment dies in more than 90% of cases from suffocation and paralysis, experiencing severe pain in the bite area.

Black mamba

One of the most dangerous and venomous snakes in Africa is also the second largest in the world among relatives with deadly bites. Often the mamba's body exceeds three meters in length. It is not considered aggressive, but if necessary, it is able to attack a person and inflict bites, leading to a quick death from a highly toxic poison that causes paralysis andsuffocation. People have died less than an hour after being stung by a black mamba.

The animal is able to move at high speed - up to almost 20 km/h. Despite numerous photos of poisonous snakes of this species depicting them as black, the color of animals varies from various shades of olive to gray-brown with a characteristic metallic sheen. They got their name for the color of the mouth, the cut of which resembles a smile.

Kraits

This genus of the aspid family includes several species that live in South and Southeast Asia. They do not differ in large size - representatives of the largest species grow up to 2.5 meters. The venoms of all kraits are neurotoxic, although they differ in composition. A common characteristic is the presence of a chemical compound in them, which, if directly penetrated into the bloodstream or ingested in large quantities, can very quickly lead to death due to a direct effect on the brain.

The Indian krait, or blue bungarus, often found in human settlements and leading both nocturnal and diurnal lifestyles, ranks second in India after cobras in the number of human deaths for which it is considered responsible. The most poisonous of the kraits is the Malay.

Mesh brown

According to some studies, it is her venom that ranks second in terms of toxicity among land snakes. The animal lives in Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. Adult snakes can be painted in a wide variety of colors - fromyellow to silver and black, so you should not rely on the name when identifying this animal. Medium-sized snakes - those that have grown longer than 2 meters are considered very large. They are active during the day, but do not attack first. However, if it is impossible to avoid a collision, they behave very aggressively: they raise their head high, taking the shape of the letter S, then a throw and a bite are possible. In the case of self-defense, these animals rarely release a lethal dose of poison, so the probability of death even without treatment is from 10 to 20%.

Mulga

Aspid again and again from Australia. Otherwise, the brown king. It is often confused with the brown reticulated due to its overlapping ranges and habitats. It differs from many other poisonous snakes in its thick neck and the ability to make it flatter and wider at the moment of excitement (not to be confused with the hood of cobras). The size of large individuals is about 3 meters. The poison is very toxic, and if hit by it, there is a high probability of death in the absence of an antidote.

The danger also lies in the lifestyle of the snake - the mulga is very mobile and prefers proximity to people, sneaking into houses, seduced by coolness. Almost ubiquitous on the Australian mainland.

Two-banded glandular snake

Also known as the blue coral snake or asp. A very bright and unusual snake less than 1.5 meters long (rightfully belonging to the genus of decorated asps), which has a unique for these animals, andin general for vertebrate creatures, poison. In composition, it is closer to the substance that scorpions and spiders infect their victims. In addition, poison is produced by the coral snake in a special gland that occupies a quarter of the entire body.

The bite leads to damage to the entire nervous system and painful general convulsions. A person who is injured can die from suffocation. However, the coral asp, nicknamed the killer of killers, is very rare on the way of people, it is even difficult to find it on purpose. Hunting in natural conditions for small animals, birds and other poisonous snakes, it is capable of harming a person only through careless physical contact.

Harlequin Asp

Small (up to one meter), bright poisonous snake, common in some regions of the USA and Mexico. It often settles near people, but even in case of direct contact with them, it does not always bite, but injects poison only in a third of all cases. The fangs are small, up to 3 mm, but during a poisonous bite, an individual gives out a portion of poison that is fatal to humans. If survived, life-long complications to the kidneys are likely.

African boomslang or tree snake

Animals up to 2 meters in size, the colors are varied in the palette from bright green solid, spotted and striped to black, depending on the places where it lives and hunts. Remaining invisible, the tree snake easily finds victims among birds and small animals. It has an excellent reaction - it is able to bite a bird in flight. with people notconflicts if you do not try to take it in hand. The location of the teeth tilted and slightly shifted inward in the mouth is not very suitable for attacking a person, but in the case of defense, the individual is able to strike with a very toxic (twice as toxic as the venom of the Indian cobra), poison flowing down the grooves on the teeth, which causes paralysis, internal bleeding, destroys tissues. Without an urgent blood transfusion, death will occur. So in the 50s of the last century, the famous American zoologist Carl Paterson Schmidt died while trying to catch a snake.

Sand Efa

Small - less than 80 centimeters, very poisonous snake. In Africa, more people die from its bites than from all other snakes in general. Those rescued from death often lose their bitten limbs, as the poison causes cell death. In addition, it provokes bleeding in the mucous membranes - vessels burst even around the eyeball.

Efa does not attack herself, she warns about herself by rustling, which she makes due to the friction of skin areas against each other. Defensively, it takes a distinctive pose for it - the head is located between two half-rings formed by the body and tail. Able to make a sudden throw at a distance of up to three meters. Able to move sideways.

In the former Soviet Asian republics, a subspecies lives - the Central Asian efa.

Taipans

The coastal taipan, despite not being the most venomous snake in the world, is generally recognized as the deadliest. Its common name iscruel (ferocious) snake. The danger lies in the nature and lifestyle: the animal is active during the day and very aggressive, has great speed, often hunts in places where people live and work. Attacks instantly, inflicting several bites. Before the invention of the antidote, almost all taipan bite incidents ended in human death. Even now, only half of the victims manage to save. The poison causes paralysis, including respiratory failure, disrupts blood clotting, which leads to death within a few hours.

The snake reaches 3 meters in length, but due to its color and lightning speed, it is almost impossible to notice it in time and escape from the attack. Found in Australia and New Guinea.

Taipan McCoy, living in a dry desert area inland, has a rather calm disposition. Despite the fact that most scientists recognize the most poisonous snake living on land (the poison is 180 times stronger than the venom of a cobra), cases of bites and, accordingly, death of a person are rare. This is the only Australian snake that changes its color depending on the outside temperature. The colder it is, the darker its color.

Sometimes you can see the name parademancy, which is an obsolete name for this species.

Sea venomous snakes

Sea snakes also belong to the family of asps. A little less than 60 varieties are now known. Most do not exceed 1.5 meters in length, but some individuals reach almost three. Some linger under water for hours and descend to a depth of 100 meters, others return to the surface.after a few minutes. Some need fresh water to drink, unlike relatives who never leave the sea. Diverse in colors and habits, activity time.

Dubois, which many recognize as the most poisonous in this subfamily.

Nosed enhydrina is undoubtedly considered the most dangerous - it is responsible for half of all deaths caused by sea snake bites. Aggressive. And even though only a quarter of its bites when attacking people contain poison, it is the most deadly of the sea, injecting at one time a portion of the substance, almost five times the lethal dose for humans.