# Snakes, Numbers, Poisonous, Harmless **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109 "2010-07-18T09:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/21 "2010-07-20T08:05:45Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Uh, if you have poisonous snakes like that, and you’re so worried about him getting bitten, why do you let your cat outside then? > > My grandfather always said that the coral snake was the most venomous. I’ve encountered a few coral snakes in the wild. They don’t appear to have a hinged jaw, they have a small mouth. Also they are very docile. A friend I was camping with picked one up with a stick. It never once tried to bite or strike. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/22 "2010-07-20T08:42:21Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > As cited above - the Inland Taipan is the worlds most toxic venom. Number two is the common Ozzie brownsnake. Ahh, no. The inland taipan is number one amongst land snakes on most scales, but using those same scales the other two taipan species come in at number two and three. > [@](#): > > I get brown snakes in my back yard. Can’t say I’m happy with that, and I’ve only seen one up close once - it was crawling along the windowsill one morning on the other side of the glass. Highly unlikely. With the excpetion of the tiger snake the Australian elapids are not given to climbingi, which is their one saving grace IMO. This is the reason why, unlike venomous snakes in other parts of the world, they are pretty much never encountered on houses built off the ground and never find their way into beds. Unless there is a convenient dense shrub leading to your windowsill then what you saw was not a brown snake. It was almost certainly a brown tree snake, a species that is quite capable of climbing and hence commonly found in houses, it is also commonly mistaken for brown snakes. Fortunately it is also harmless to adults and unlikely to hurt even children. > [@](#): > > Brownsnakes kill a steady number of Australians. A steady number being about one every 5 years. Compare this to the death from lightning strike of about 4 a year > [@](#): > > Without medical help you have a 50% chance (or so) of dying. Well, no. If you receive a defensive bite, with little or no venom being injected, you have about a 99% chance of surviving. But that is also true of the taipans. With a bite that injects venom and no medical treatment at all you have about a 95% chance of dying. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/23 "2010-07-20T08:46:17Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > My grandfather always said that the coral snake was the most venomous. Maybe the most venomous in the united states. Wouldn’t even make the top 20 list for the world. > [@Spectralist](#): > > What about sea snakes? I recall seeing some Discovery show years ago that claimed sea snakes were the most/among the most dangerous types of snakes. Sea snakes have the most potent venom, drop for drop. however they have fangs that are barely longer than their other teeth and they can’t open their mouths unless their is something on them to prise the jaws open. In practice the only way to get bitten by a sea snake is to let it chew on some area that is small and has very thin skin. Most bites occur on the webbing between the fingers and in a couple of instances on the penis. Bad news if you do get bitten, but not really dangerous because you have to work at being bitten. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/24 "2010-07-20T12:08:50Z")
Are there statistics that show which type of snake kills the most people annually? **Gonzo** ’s link comes close, but in lumps a few snakes together per country. The most kills equals the most dangerous, no? ETA: A quick search indicates the Indian cobra or Russell’s viper, but didn’t include any actual numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/25 "2010-07-20T17:58:49Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > in a couple of instances on the penis :eek: Makes you wonder what the hell they were doing with said sea snakes, especially after this sentence: > [@](#): > > you have to work at being bitten ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/26 "2010-07-21T03:05:57Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Are there statistics that show which type of snake kills the most people annually? Not reliable figures, no. If you die of a snakebite in a remote village in, say, India they burn you. There’s no autopsy and no possible way to identify the type of snake involved. Even if others witnessed the bite, there’s no reason to assume they could reliably ID the animal, and even if they did, nobody will actually ask them. It’s only in the developed world that we have anything like reliable figures on the species involved in sake bites, and the developed world is where there are the fewest deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/27 "2010-07-21T03:09:04Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > :eek: Makes you wonder what the hell they were doing with said sea snakes, especially after this sentence: 😃 It’s not as bad as it sounds. Sea snakes are curious and quite fearless. They often investigate divers. If you try to push them away you just might get bitten. The safest option is to remain motionless and let them check you out and gently swim away when the time is right. In many places in the Pacific spearfishermen swim naked. While remaining motionless is still the best bet, on a couple of occasions it has led to people being bitten on the penis. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/28 "2010-07-21T03:13:58Z")
I just published a book about about a snake. Specifically a black mamba. So I’m loving this thread. I wanted to state that the black mamba was the deadliest snake in the world, but it’s not easy to say any snake is. Kraits are the most poisonous, I believe. And I think the carpet viper (which goes by many other names, cassava snake, puff adder (not to be confused with the American snake that is called that) kills the most people – simply because it is numerous and ill tempered and hangs out where the food is for a lot of people. The mamba is dangerous because of the combination of size, hostility, and extremely toxic venom. Mambas and cobras (closely related) really are the most bad-ass snakes all the way around. Big, mean, and deadly. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/29 "2010-07-21T03:17:17Z")
If you are looking for a place with lots of deadly snakes, I think India, south Asia, and West Africa are all good candidates. And yes, poisonous snakes are far more common in warmer, tropical climates because snakes are far more common in warmer, tropical climates. As cold blooded animals, snakes thrive in warmer weather. Some do OK in the dessert, but the jungle simply has more food for snakes to have large numbers. My favorite snake fact is about the King Cobra. It lives primarily on other snakes. Even poisonous ones. Now that’s a bad-ass snake. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/30 "2010-07-21T03:27:00Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I just published a book about about a snake. Specifically a black mamba. So I’m loving this thread. > > I wanted to state that the black mamba was the deadliest snake in the world, but it’s not easy to say any snake is. Kraits are the most poisonous, I believe. And I think the carpet viper (which goes by many other names, cassava snake, puff adder (not to be confused with the American snake that is called that) kills the most people – simply because it is numerous and ill tempered and hangs out where the food is for a lot of people. The mamba is dangerous because of the combination of size, hostility, and extremely toxic venom. Mambas and cobras (closely related) really are the most bad-ass snakes all the way around. Big, mean, and deadly. I thought I’d read that about kraits when reading The Snake Charmer, but happily accept the answers given earlier in the thread. My answer about the cassava snake is a guess. I don’t have a cite. Curious to know the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/31 "2010-07-21T03:39:42Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I thought I’d read that about kraits when reading The Snake Charmer, but happily accept the answers given earlier in the thread. Kraits may not be the all time champions or anything, but they’re pretty high up in the nastiness chain. As poor [Joe Slowinski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bruno_Slowinski) found out. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/32 "2010-07-21T03:41:33Z")
He is the subject of the book I mentioned. (Maybe you knew that and that’s why you mentioned him.) It’s very well written. I recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/33 "2010-07-21T03:49:06Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > He is the subject of the book I mentioned. (Maybe you knew that and that’s why you mentioned him.) It’s very well written. I recommend it. Don’t know the book, but I knew Dr. Slowinski very slightly ( met him a couple of times, shook his hand, exchanged brief pleasantries ). Unfortunately his death wasn’t as big a shock as it should have been. Pretty damn sad, nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/34 "2010-07-21T04:21:47Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Highly unlikely. With the excpetion of the tiger snake the Australian elapids are not given to climbing. You are assuming my windowsill was not at ground level. Which it is. It was most certianly a brown snake. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109/35 "2010-07-21T04:31:55Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Some do OK in the dessert, but the jungle simply has more food for snakes to have large numbers. Yet the highest natural densities of snakes are found in the Australian semi-arid regions. Jungles have high primary productivity, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into high availability of food for any given species or group. Indeed the high biodiversity demands that the numbers in any one guild or clade are limited. The unpredictable rodent explosions of the Australian arid regions gives snakes a huge advantage over snakes living in more predictable environments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-numbers-poisonous-harmless/547109.md?page=1)