Snakes are extremely dangerous species of reptiles and no doubt they appear among the most feared creatures on the planet. One significant feature about these limbless moving reptiles is their ability to eject toxic venoms from a bite. These venoms do posses lethal threats to other organisms, thereby making the snake a very fearsome hunter in the wild. Trust me you really don't want to mess around the snake's territory.
Out of the 3,500 snake species found on Earth, only 600 of them are actually capable of ejecting venoms from a bite. These venoms comes in different levels of lethality depending on the amount of toxin found in it. Studying about venoms is quite complex, and snake venom works differently on different creatures and sometimes different seasons. Due to this, several criteria has thus been adopted on different lists of the most venomous snakes. Some lists look at "the most venomous snake bites", based on how many mice or humans one bite from a snake would kill. Other lists are more interested in the "most deadliest snakes" so they use the number of human deaths recorded each year from the snake. However the standard way of measuring the degree of lethality posed by a snake's venom or otherwise known as it "toxicity" is from the median lethal dose(LD50). The median lethal dose or LD50 is the dose of venom needed to kill 50%(half) the members of a group of tested animals after a specified duration. The animal mostly used for this tests are the mice. A lower LD50 is an indication of increased toxicity. Some of the data drawn from the test results may be inaccurate due to the complexity of these tests and unextended investigation of species neurotoxins.
In our countdown list, we're going to highlight 8 of the most venomous snake species found on earth, taking all the above criteria into consideration.
Inland Taipan
When it comes to the amount of toxin found in a venom, the Inland Taipan is by far the most venomous snake in the world. Being nicknamed as the "fierce snake", a single bite from an Inland Taipan can deliver a maximum of 110mg of it venom, being so toxic enough to kill at least 100 adult humans or 250 thousand mice. Although being so venomous, it has less defensive disposition unlike it counterpart "the coastal Taipan" and it shy by nature. Hence very few humans have been bitten and no human death has ever been recorded from an Inland Taipan.
Statistical data
Average dose of venom ejected : 44mg
Maximum dose recorded : 110mg
Median lethal dose for mice. : 0.025mg/kg
Components of venom
neurotoxins, hemotoxins, myotoxins, nephrotoxins, haemorrhagin, hyaluronidase enzyme.
EASTERN BROWN SNAKE
A specie of extremely venomous snake found mostly in the eastern and central Australia and New Guinea.
The eastern brown snake is considered the second most venomous land snake, after the inland taipan based on it LD50 value in mice. It responsible for about 60% of snake bite death in Australia.
An average eastern brown snake can yield about 5mg dose of venom in a bite. Thus the quantity of venom produced is dependent on the size of snake, larger snakes produce more venom than smaller ones. However the highest recorded yield is 67mg.
The subcutaneous median lethal dose (LD50) for the common brown snake in 18 to 21 gram of mice is 0.053mg/kg.
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