Eastern brown snake: the second most venomous snake in the world (9 photos)

Murphy's Law is when one of the most poisonous snakes in the world is also the most common. But this evil joke of nature is far from the last that eastern brown snakes have prepared for people.





I sat down to listen to what the Book of Animals would say about me.

The eastern, reticulated, or common brown snake is a typical representative of the fauna of Australia and the nearby islands. Reticulated snakes are easy to confuse with other, less poisonous Australian snakes, because the "ordinary" scaly snakes do not differ in their appearance. And this is a cruel joke number one.



If our non-poisonous snakes can be distinguished by a round pupil, then in Australia this rule does not work!

The first months of life, the snakes show off sandy-red scales with black and gray rings. Sometimes, instead of rings, there may be a mesh pattern on the body. As they mature and grow, the dark marks disappear, and the color of the scales changes to a palette of orange-brown tones. Theoretically, you can distinguish an eastern snake by its light belly, pinkish color of the oral cavity and small fangs. But in practice, you don’t need to do this! While you are examining the snake’s belly and mouth, it will have time to bite you!





Well, have you spotted all the signs, can I bite?

By the way, about the poison. This is the second and most important evil joke of brown snakes. When measuring the toxicity of reptiles, scientists use the formula of the half-lethal dose - LD50. This is the amount of poison needed to kill half of all the mice tested. The less poison needed to kill, the more powerful it is. So, for reticulated reptiles this figure is only 0.041 mg/ kg. For comparison: the LD50 of the king cobra's venom is 1.644 mg/ kg, which is 40 times more. To personally meet the forefathers, an adult needs only 3 mg of eastern snake toxins - even a baby will have this much.



So cute! You can't tell that it is deadly!

Today, only one snake crawls on the earth, whose venom is stronger than the brown ones. This is the world-famous McCoy's taipan. The LD50 of this toxic reptile is only 0.01 mg/kg. But! Taipans are rarer and behave much more calmly. Therefore, 15 out of 19 deaths in Australia from snakebites from 2005 to 2015 were caused by common brown snakes!



Do you still think this is YOUR field?

The venom of reticulated snakes contains powerful neurotoxins and coagulants. After 15-30 minutes, the nervous system of the bitten person begins to malfunction: convulsions develop, severe pain syndrome, kidney failure and other internal organs. At the same time, all the blood in the veins coagulates and the heart stops working. Do you know what the third evil joke of brown snakes is?



Why do you need a barbed net if there is the second most poisonous snake on the planet on your property?

Because the bite itself is almost unnoticeable! As victims say, brown reptiles bite painlessly and very quickly. This is because snakes have small poisonous teeth, from 2.8 to 4 millimeters. For comparison: taipans have fangs up to 1.3 cm long — and this is not the largest size among poisonous reptiles. The record holders are Gaboon vipers with teeth up to 5 cm long!



Don't worry, it won't hurt! It'll bite like a mosquito! It will hurt later!

But all of the above was not enough for the snake. With the help of humans, the scaly ones quickly multiplied. Now the southern and central parts of Australia are teeming with brown snakes: all because people brought mice and to this day contribute to their reproduction. Fields, barns, farms are paradises for rodents, and therefore for snakes.

That is why the most frequent victims of reptiles are farmers. They get a charge of toxin when they try to drive snakes away from the site. A little less often, ordinary people get it when they do not notice the snakes and pass too close. But as a rule, in both cases, the brown scaly ones do not attack from behind. Before attacking, they raise the upper part of the body up, curl up like springs and open their mouths. If you stop moving towards the snake and quietly leave, no one will bite anyone - producing poison is quite energy-consuming.



While you complain about weeds, Australian farmers collect snakes from their fields and don't whine!

Sometimes, however, snakes themselves do not notice people until they are critically close. This happens once a year - during mating games. At the beginning of the Australian spring, males fight for the attention of a female, trying to press each other to the ground. The winner will mate with the lady and crawl away - but there are no hard feelings due to unfulfilled promises.



If there are no arms, we will have to hug each other with our bodies!

Females do not suffer from parental instinct either. Their maximum is to find a more comfortable hole. After the mother lays from 10 to 35 eggs, she crawls away, leaving the offspring to their fate. But don't worry about the snakelets. From birth, their teeth are so poisonous that no living creature in its right mind would dare to touch them!