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Outback UL

StoryofE

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
May 1, 2003
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Has anybody ever heard of a urban, well, actually, I guess it would be a wilderness legend about a poisonous snake going into a family's tent and biting and killing everyone in the tent? I think the name of the snake is a tai-pan and it's only found in Australia. Is this just a legend or has it actually been documented. Has anybody else heard of this?

:cool:
 
Well, the Taipan is certainlly a real snake... haven't heard any stories about them killing entire families sleeping in tents, but it is the most poisonous snake in Australia.

Here is a link for some more info :)
 
Interesting site...The whole of Australia seems to be bulging with venomous nasties..snakes, spiders...

it's a wonder anyone steps outside their house, really.
 
Australia has the most poisonous creatures per square foot compared to anywhere else in the world.

Don't forget the blue ringed octopus. You only see it's blue rings just before it kills you. Lovely!

(If you're reading this IJ you can shush BTW!)
 
i may be wrong, but i think i read somewhere that australia also harbours the only poisonous mammal in the world, even tho i don't remember the name
 
Duckbilled platypus (platypi) have poisonous spurs on their ankles if my memory is working today.
 
yes! that's the one!

platypus.jpg


here's a cute image


udl9_27_01b.jpg
 
Yup, platypus are one of the few poisonous mammals (there are a couple of others, but I don't remember them).

I don't know why a snake would go into a tent and kill a whole family though, it sounds like an exaggeration of a far more simple story. Although snakes have been known to get into sleeping bags (not those kind!:mad: ) and boots and suchlike.

Fortunately, living in the civilised part of the country, I don't get those kind of beasties creeping around my back yard ;) :eek:
 
Brown snakes too! :eek:

God was definately on something when he invented the Platypus wasn't he?

And aren't Koalas always completely trashed out of thier faces on eucalyptus leaves? *Hic*
 
Probably. Dangerous though - limbs made for climbing, with claws about three inches long... and damn sharp with it.
Deceptively cute and cuddly - it's all part of their secret agenda, I'm sure... :eek!!!!:
 
Kangaroo meat is cholestrol free isn't it? Don't think I could tuck in to a Fillet of Skippy though.
 
I've had a Kangaroo burger before... it's not actually that bad, although the image of Skippy did pop into my head :)
 
Mmmm, Skippy. drool

Damn tasty, kangaroo is. And environmentally sound, despite what some people will tell you. (We've spent the last two hundred years turning Australia into an adventure park for kangaroos, then complaining that there are too many of them.)

Shrews are apparently poisonous. (Came up on another thread.)

And box-jellyfish (or cubuzoans) aren't real jellyfish, apparently. They're far too active. Of course, it doesn't matter to you if one stings you. If you notice it. (The smallest cubuzoan is arguably the most deadly, and may have killed many people without leaving any trace as they are so small. There have been 3 fatalities confirmed, but they think many people who drowned mysteriously or suffering sudden heart failure while swimming may have been victims.)

On the original story, it is unlikely that a Taipan could have killed more than two people in one go. While they are certainly in the top 8 venemous snakes in the world (they keep changing which is most, last I checked it was the Western Dugite, which was then renamed as a species of Taipan for some reason), killing one human would probably mean injecting most of its venom (not that it needs to, they're just wasteful that way), and after two strikes the toxicity is down to a survivable level, if there's any venom left at all.
 
anome said:
... killing one human would probably mean injecting most of its venom (not that it needs to, they're just wasteful that way), and after two strikes the toxicity is down to a survivable level, if there's any venom left at all.
Well isn't that nice to know
 
killing one human would probably mean injecting most of its venom (not that it needs to, they're just wasteful that way), and after two strikes the toxicity is down to a survivable level, if there's any venom left at all.


so what your saying is...if a taipan comes at you...maybe you should push one or two people in front of you

Yeah...I forgot about the jellyfish and the blue ringed octopus. Strangely enough...there is a good chapter or three about "dangerous creatures" in of all places the book The Devil's Triangle 3: From the Devil's Triangle to the Devil's Jaw....an old paperback from the 70's (hence the title)...first place I read about blue ringed octopus, sea snakes and the like...at least I learned not to pick up any tiny octopii resting in shallow pools
 
During WWII my father was a sergeant in the army. One time they were stationed in the Middle East near the border with India. They had to pitch camp and decided to do so in a dried-up riverbed (although I wondered what would've happened in a monsoon!). Next morning, they all got up except one guy. When dad went to give him a roasting, he was completely still and said he could feel wriggling under him!
Dad got the men to disassemble the tent without moving the guy then, with several men, grasped the groundsheet and gently lifted him up and carried him to one side. Underneath the man was a nest of tiny snakes! They thought his bodyheat had incubated a nest of snakes eggs which had hatched during the night.

This isn't a freind-of-a-freind story, this was told to me by my father. A dramatic story from his army days or a tale passed around by soldiers?
 
The Box Jellyfish's sting can be neutralised using plain old vinegar.

So next time you're surfing make sure you've got a bottle of Sarsens tucked in your shorts al a Ursula Andress knife stylee in that James Bond movie!
 
Provided it isn't one of the ones that stops your heart almost instantly...actually...wear a wetsuit filled with vinegar! :D
 
On the subject of snake behavior, I remember seeing something on the Discovery/Learning/Animal Planet channel(damn, there seems to be a lot of those) about the Black Mamba. They said that it was the only snake that has ever been known to actually chase a fleeing human instead of acting defensively and then fleeing itself. I know that the only time I ever saw the Croc Hunter sweat was when he was holding/wrangling one of these.

:cool:
 
The Bushmaster from Central and South America is supposed to be a very aggresive snake as well...An old UL stated that the only way to get away from one was to run uphill...
 
lennynero said:
Has anybody ever heard of a urban, well, actually, I guess it would be a wilderness legend about a poisonous snake going into a family's tent and biting and killing everyone in the tent?

Sorry, I've come to this a bit late... I read a similar story in the 80s, about a black mamba entering a hut in Southern Africa, and killing the whole family living there.

I think I read it in Fitzsimons' 'Snakes of Southern Africa'- this book has been reprinted loads of times, I'm not sure which edition I was reading.
 
A friend of mine was stung by a Box Jellifish when she was about 8 years old. About 6cm of one tenticle connected with her left shoulder. Today as a 40 yr old she has a dreadful dark, raised scar on her shoulder that still looks as though the wound was quite a recent one.
 
Tyger Lily said:
Don't forget the blue ringed octopus. You only see it's blue rings just before it kills you. Lovely!

Ooooooooo I looked this one up and it is certainly a fearsome wee beastie (and it looks fantastic too):

http://www.didyouknow.cd/animals/octopus.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/2_1bri.htm

http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/blueringedoctopus.htm

http://www.earlham.edu/~sheedjo/blue-ringedoctopus.htm

http://www.australiancephalopods.com/occy_blue_ring.html

----------
That Think Quest site deals with poisonous animals and the 2 mammals it includes are the Platypus and the Soricidae (which is like a mole or a shrew):

http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/2_5sor.htm

A relevant Notes & Queries from the Garudian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-24298,00.html

Emps
 
First you will feel nauseous. Your vision becomes hazy. Within seconds you are blind. You lose your sense of touch. You cannot speak or swallow. Three minutes later you are paralysed and unable to breath.

The above is from the first site linked by Emperor above...amazing such a small creature could have so much venom. Just wonder why it would need so much. If it does that to humans..I dont even want to think what it does to crabs and the other prey it feeds on.

Edited for bad spelling (on the part of the website).
 
soaring spirit said:
Interesting site...The whole of Australia seems to be bulging with venomous nasties..snakes, spiders...

it's a wonder anyone steps outside their house, really.

Actually it's very rare for anyone to die from a poisonous bite. After all, I can remember being trained from early childhood to know which spiders to watch out for, and definitely no paddling in rock pools!

Never have seen a blue-ringed octopus. We used to poke sticks in rock pools to see if we could find them, but sadly no.

I did have a snake try to climb into bed with me when we were camping once. Not sure what type it was, but it didn't seem to aggressive. Didn't take much encouragement to make it leave. Dunno, maybe it just wanted to be friendly.
 
It was probably just a python. They like to curl up somewhere warm just after they've eaten.

You're quite right, too. We learn at an early age how to avoid getting killed. Except for tick poisoning. It seems that many societies and clubs for young people encourage the collection of paralysis ticks on the extremities as a sort of rite of passage. So that everyone gets to spend a night or two with their parents trying to get the things out with lit fags and kerosene.
 
Tyger Lily said:
Australia has the most poisonous creatures per square foot compared to anywhere else in the world.

Don't forget the blue ringed octopus. You only see it's blue rings just before it kills you. Lovely!

You see the ring before you die. :p (Darn that film really haunts me!)

All those dangerous creatures in Australia? *shudder* And ppl wonder why I don't go to visit my friend in Sydney! :eek!!!!:
 
anome said:
It was probably just a python. They like to curl up somewhere warm just after they've eaten.

You're probably right about the snake. I do remember encountering carpet snakes around that area. Actually the snakes freaked me out far less than the goanas there. They aren't poisonous, but they were bloody big. I once walked over two kilometers (the long way) back to the camp site to avoid a goanna that was sunning itself on the track back from the back. I swear it was at least 2 meters long. I wasn't game enough to try walking past it.


You're quite right, too. We learn at an early age how to avoid getting killed. Except for tick poisoning. It seems that many societies and clubs for young people encourage the collection of paralysis ticks on the extremities as a sort of rite of passage. So that everyone gets to spend a night or two with their parents trying to get the things out with lit fags and kerosene.


*shudders* I don't know how they can do that. Parasitic creatures like tics and leeches freak me out.
 
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