Odatria_14_NOV13 - Victorian Herpetological Society

snake in Kurri Kurri, near Maitland, 1000 kilometres fromits usual habitat.A single drop of venom from the inland taipan can kill 100men and quickly cause paralysis and haemorrhaging, buta Hunter Valley teenager has survived a rare bite from theworld’s most poisonous snake.Police are investigating how the 17-year-old came acrossthe snake in Kurri Kurri, more than 1000 kilometres fromits natural habitat in arid ground in the far west of NSW.The boy took himself to the emergency unit at Kurri KurriHospital yesterday with a bite on his left hand, policesaid.The snake was also brought to the hospital and wildlifeworkers identified it as the inland taipan.The boy was later taken to the Calvary Mater Hospitalin Newcastle, where he was in a serious condition thismorning.Although he spoke briefly to police last night, his healthremains a concern for specialists as the poison continuesto wrack his body, The Newcastle Herald reported.The inland taipan is known colloquially as a “fierce snake”,reaches up to 2.5 metres in length and is native to westernNSW, south-eastern South Australia and southern parts ofthe Northern Territory.A drop of venom can kill 100 adult men and 250,000 mice,Taronga Zoo spokesman Mark Williams said.been reports of people experiencing effects of venomwithin half an hour as well.“It also contains an anticoagulant, which means it willinterfere with the blood clotting, so therefore you canexperience bleeding out as well.”Ms Mendezona said bites were quite rare because thesnake’s native areas were not highly populated.The teenager’s bite is probably one of about 100 inAustralia’s history, she said.“It’s not known yet as to how the young man actually gothold of the snake. We can only speculate.“You can actually keep venomous snakes under the correctlicence.“But a 17-year-old boy would not have the correct licenceat all so he shouldn’t have been touching it.“You could probably speculate it was an illegal pet, but wecan’t know for sure at this stage.”Mr Williams said there were no recorded deaths from ainland taipan bite.“Like any animal if confronted ... it will defend itself,” hesaid.Antivenom for inland taipan bites is kept at zoos that keepthem, as well as hospitals near where the snake is foundin the wild.Other deadly snakes in Australia include the eastern brownsnake, coastal taipan and eastern tiger snake.Police do not believe the incident is related to a break-inat Hunter Valley Zoo on Sunday night where thieves stolefour pythons and two alligators.No taipans were reportedly stolen from the zoo.The inland taipan that bit a Kurri Kurri teenagerAustralian Reptile Park’s head keeper of reptiles andspiders Julie Mendezona said the snake’s venom is aneurotoxin that acts quickly.“Effectively what it will do is it will start shutting downthe function of messages going to your brain, to yourvital organs, your lungs and your heart and even yourmuscles.“So paralysis is usually what happens with the patient.“Because it can act so fast, being a neurotoxin, that’s whatmakes it such a deadly animal.“It can kill someone within maybe 45 minutes. There have24STEPHANIE GARDINERSydney Morning HeraldSeptember 2012Surprises In Evolution Of Frog LifeCyclesAll tadpoles grow into frogs, but not all frogs start outas tadpoles, reveals a new study on 720 species offrogs to be published in the journal Evolution.The study conducted by John J. Wiens, an AssociateProfessor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionat Stony Brook University, and colleagues Ivan Gomez-Mestra from the Doñana Biological Station in Seville,Spain, and R. Alexander Pyron from George WashingtonUniversity, uncovers the surprising evolution of life cyclesin frogs.