Australia has a reputation for being full of deadly wildlife – and with good reason. The vast antipodean island is home to an impressive list of dangerous critters.
Sharks, spiders and snakes get most of the bad press, but those are just the start. The tentacles of the box jellyfish (frequently found around the Northern Territory coast) contain thousands of stinging cells, each preloaded with its own harpoon-like venom delivery system. The country is also home to an animal with one of the most toxic venoms on the planet: the blue-lined octopus. And there’s the platypus. It’s one of the few living mammals to produce venom, which males inject into rivals via spurs on their hind legs.
- What's the most dangerous animal in Australia? Does the country's wildlife deserve its deadly reputation?
- It has 24 eyes and is one of the world's deadliest animals, with a sting so venomous it can kill a human in minutes
Why does Australia have so many venomous animals?
If you’re looking to apportion blame, direct your ire towards the Earth’s tectonic plates. Prior to 100 million years ago, Australia was joined to the supercontinent of Gondwana, but then the landmass broke off and went its own separate way. Some venomous species hitched a ride and went on to become established on the newly formed continent. This explains why venomous trap-jaw ants can be found not only in Australia but in other tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
The same principle applies to jellyfish and venomous cephalopods, including squid, octopuses and cuttlefish, all of which were in existence for hundreds of millions of years before Australia went solo. The waters of Australia didn’t make them venomous. Instead, these already venomous species simply found themselves in an evolutionary niche that suited them.
It’s a different story for Australia’s venomous snakes, however. Around 65 per cent of the country’s 220 snake species are venomous, compared with just 15 per cent of the world population. These are fanged snakes, known as elapids, and they are all descended from a single venomous ancestor that swam to the continent from Asia around 40 million years ago. Over time, as the snakes diversified to live in different habitats and eat different things, the specificity and potency of their venoms evolved. New species arose, including the inland taipan, which is considered to have the most potent venom of any snake in the world and is life-threatening to humans.
But don’t worry too much. Though Australia has many venomous species, the chances of being seriously harmed are slim. Those who are badly injured tend to be people who are involved in activities such as farming, or those who deliberately handle or provoke the animals.
Discover more amazing wildlife stories from around the world
- Peculiar deep-sea creature with huge eyes discovered 3,628m down off Californian coast
- Camera trap hidden deep in Amazon Rainforest captures elusive predators doing something never filmed before
- "Large, unidentified creatures" reported off Mexican coast. After long wait, the mysterious animals are finally identified
- In 2020, humans suddenly vanished from a popular bay in Hawai‘i. What happened next was remarkable
Top image: an inland taipan in South West Queensland, Australia. Credit: Getty
