Column : What’s the most poisonous creature on earth?
I always thought the stonefish in the seas of South-east Asia were the most poisonous creatures on earth. One step on one of its spines causes numbing pain, temperary paralysis and sometimes death.
The only info I could find on the stonefish were here and here.
aND i’VE HEARD IT WAS (damn caps lock) A) the box-jellyfish of Australia B) The whistleing spider of Australia C) the giant tarantula of South America- no known deaths, but they tested the venom. And what about Black Mamba’s of South Africa? I read that even if you had anti-venin administered immediately, you only had a 50/50 chance of surviving.
Hmmm…
OK, I found this blurb, but not the original:
“Burnett, J.W., Weinrich D., Williamson J.A., Fenner P.J., Lutz, L.L., and Bloom D.A. Autonomic neurotoxicity of jellyfish and marine animal venoms. Clinical Autonomic Research 1998;8:125-130.
Venoms and poisons of jellyfish and other marine animals can induce damage to the human nervous and circulatory systems. Clues to the pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of these lesions can be obtained from data of human envenomations and animal experimentation. Marine venoms can affect ion transport of particularly sodium and calcium, induce channels or pores in neural and muscular cellular membranes, alter intracellular membranes of organelles and release mediators of inflammation. The box jellyfish, particularly Chironex fleckeri, in the Indo-Pacific region, is the world’s most venomous marine animal and is responsible for autonomic disorders in patients. The symptoms induced by these venoms are vasospasm, cardiac irregularities, peripheral neuropathy, aphonia, ophthalmic abnormalities and parasympathetic dysautonomia”
Great site!
http://www.kingsnake.com/toxinology/
Talks about the different tests and the problems with them. The inland taipan (formerly known as the fierce snake it says) is the most toxic for the subcutaneous LD50 test.
The site has many papers and links too. But I didn’t find any more LD50 tests outside of the snake section.
And lastly, here is something on insects that I found:
"Department of Entomology & Nematology
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0620
Insects in the order Hymenoptera were recorded as early as the 26th century BC as possessing a venom toxic to vertebrates. Harvester ants in the genus Pogonomyrmex have the most toxic venom based on mice LD50 values, with P. maricopa venom being the most toxic. The LD50 value for this species is 0.12 mg/kg injected intravenously in mice, equivalent to 12 stings killing a 2 kg (4.4 lb) rat. A Pogonomyrmex sp. sting produces intense pain in humans that lasts up to 4 hours."
Take care-
-T
IIRC the box jellyfish is the most venomous marine creature and the taipan the most poisonous snake. Australia’s snakes are generally fairly poisonous. I don’t believe that there has been a human fatality involving a taipan, whereas brown, black and tiger snakes kill a few from time to time.
picmr
There’s a story in the June 2000 issue of Outside magazine by Bill Bryson which discusses the box jellyfish.
Bryson, traveling near Darwin, Australia, met a marine biologist who studies the box jellyfish, and a tiny piece of one of its tentacles once touched his bare skin. The biologist said the feeling was similar to holding a lit cigarette against your skin for 30 seconds.
When Bryson asked him what he imagined contact with several yards of the tentacles (which is what you’d experience if you swam with the critters) would be like, the biologist just shuddered.
Apparently the box jellyfish is only one of many, many creatures and plants on and around the northern coast of Australia that can kill you quite quickly and decisively. And in the case of the box jellyfish, no one even knows why…it has no natural predators.
Actually, I think I read about the same scientist back in a Nat’l Geographic article a few years back- they were bringing a bucket out of a boat and a piece landed on his forearm, but he couldn’t do anything about it because he was holding the bucket. Anyways, at the end of the article they talked about shining a light on jellies off of a pier at night and noticed a natural predator- the box turtle! It was gobbling them up left and right because of the spotlight lighting them up.
I’d be careful about Bryson as a resource on something like this. He’s a great storyteller, I love reading his stuff, but he quite cheerfully exaggerates for the sake of a more dramatic story.
I’m not sure what you mean by “the giant tarantula of South America.” There are several species of South American tarantulas which are called “giants.” These include the goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the salmon pink birdeater (Lasiodora parahybana) and the Brazilian giant white knee (Acanthoscurria geniculata, a beautiful creature to behold).
Arachnologists say that no species of tarantula is known to have medically significant venom – certainly not the above, which are kept by some as household pets. Some of them have nasty side-effect – Theraphosa blondi, for example, can sometimes cause soreness and some nausea – but they’re not fatal in normal doses. (Granted, these doses may be quite small, but I doubt that they’re much smaller than those of other spiders, or of jellyfish.)
Jubilation: With that screen name, you haven’t posted to the Al Capp thread??
It looks to me like you’re confusing cause and effect there, Five. If a creature has venom that potent, you can believe it’s not likely to have an natural predators! The question is, what predators wuld it have, had it not its venom, and which it is very effectively protecting against?
I’m doing biology at Sydney Uni (that’s Australia) and there is such a snake as the fierce snake. Doug was right, it’s a variant of the taipan (called Oxyuranus microlepidotus) but it’s not called the fierce snake because of its demeanour, it’s actually very, very timid. It has 218,000 mouse LD50 doses per bite, which pretty much make it the most venomous snake. In terms of it being dangerous most Australian snakes aren’t because they’ll run away if they see you. A mamba is far more likely to kill a person than an Australian snake is?
As Ben Elton said in Stark, Australia has nine of top ten most venomous snakes in the world, or more accurately, the top nine most venomous snakes in the world. And then we’ve got our politicians…
I don’t know if the fierce snake is actually the most venomous creature in the world, wouldn’t spiders or jellyfish need to be considered?
What do people know about the rumour of the daddy longlegs being the most venomous spider. A professor over here told us that to his knowledge the venom had never been tested and it was just an urban legend, does anybody know anything more?
I saw a show recently on the Discovery channel that maintained that the feeder snake, a cousin of the taipan, is actually the most poisonous. When I first read the original question, I just assumed that the writer had misheard the name of the snake as “fierce.” Any truth to that?
That was solely from a TV program on one type- I can’t remember the name. It showed a ‘bushmaster’ snake go into the hole of this spider and strike at it- the spider jumped up, turned around, bit the snake, and the snake immediately went into convulsions- it took it only a few seconds to die. That’s when the announcer said it was ‘most’ or ‘very’ or something about its venom. I was pretty surprised. Sure, it had to of been something of a set-up (the camera was in the hole for most of the show, so they had to have planted it there, right?), but they slowed the picture down and you saw the spider bite and the snake die. They also showed natives eating the thing by wrapping it up into a leaf and cooking it. They ate the abdomen and the eggs. And it was big- would cover a sheet of paper. Does this help track it down a little? I’d be curious to know which one it was.
Chronos:
Here now, Chronos, let’s not quibble over jots and tittles. Surely it was clear I meant no evidence has been found of likely past or present predators? By all evidence (if Bryson’s telling true; he’s my only source) the toxicity of the box jellyfish occurred in a vacuum (figuratively speaking), which is evolutionarily unlikely.
And, Tomcat, if the box turtle is happily eating up the box jellyfish with no ill effects, I’d say it’s obvious the jellyfish toxin didn’t evolve as a counter to the turtle, wouldn’t you?
Not necessarily. I’ve read the Bryson book and IIRC he calls the toxicity of stingers “overkill” because the tentacles are way to poisonous to be needed for the prey of the jellyfish (tiny shrimps). It may well be that the poison evolved as a defence mechanism in an evolutionary “arms race” with turtles, but that something has changed which means that the turtles’ ability to eat the jellyfish with no apparent ill effects doesn’t result in them wiping out the jellyfish.
Maybe they can only eat them as a small proportion of their diet. Perhaps there is greater habitat for the jellyfish now and less for the turtles.
Have you non-Australians heard the Billy Connelly sketch about these jellyfish? He is highly amusing in recounting his alarm at reading the signs (common on Queensland beaches) warning swimmers. When he gets to the part about “douse the wound liberally with vinegar” the incredulity in his voice is something indeed.
picmr
Does anybody know anything about the relative toxicity of the various species of cone shells? I seem to recall the military or CIA or NSA or one of the other alphabet agencies investigating mollusk toxins for possible use as exotic weapons. Something about them being REALLY deadly.
Maybe we should start a parallel thread regarding plant poisons - I was always under the impression that ricin, extracted from the castor bean, was the most potent vegetable-derived toxin. Any other candidates?
Sorry, but that doesn’t really help. There are plenty of poisonous spiders that would kill a snake instantly. He might have been referring to the Goliath Birdeater, currently regarded as the world’s largest spider, but it’s not considered to be a “poisonous” variety (at least, not to humans).
Besides, it sounds like you’re not sure of what the announcer said, so I don’t think we should put much stock in this anecdote.