Inland Taipan
One of the most dangerous snakes in the world is the inland taipan which is a species of highly venomous snake in the family Elapidae, sometimes known as the western taipan, the small-scaled snake, or the terrible snake. Central and eastern Australia's semi-arid regions are home to the species. These areas were home to Aboriginal Australians who gave the snake the name dandarabilla. Frederick McCoy and William John Macleay first described it in 1879, and then it was unknown to scientists for the following 90 years. No other specimens were discovered, and no new information on this species was added until it was rediscovered in 1972.
The inland taipan's venom is by far the most deadly of any snake, even more so than that of sea snakes, according to the median lethal dose value in mice. It also has the most toxic venom of any reptile when tested on human heart cell culture. Because the inland taipan is an expert mammal hunter, it has developed venom that is specifically designed to kill warm-blooded animals. One bite is thought to have enough lethality to kill at least 100 adult people. It is a very swift and agile snake that can strike quickly and accurately, frequently striking many times in one attack, and it almost always envenomates.
Out of all the snakes found here, the inland taipan has the lowest LD50 rating—a startling 0.01mg—and is arguably the most venomous snake in the entire world. The inland taipan actually only injects 44–110 mg of venom per bite, but this is sufficient to kill 289 people. It has the ability to bite repeatedly in addition to envenomating more than 80% of the time.
