Reptiles
Coastal Taipan
Oxyuranus scutellatus · also called coastal taipan, common taipan
The coastal taipan is Australia’s longest venomous snake and, before an antivenom arrived in 1955, its deadliest — an untreated bite killed almost every time. A fast, sharp-eyed hunter of rats and bandicoots, it strikes in a rapid flurry, lets the prey go, and tracks it down once the venom has done its work.
Overview
Coastal taipans live in woodland, forest, cane fields, and grassland across northern and eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. Commonly 1.5–2 m and over 2.5 m in large individuals, they hunt rats, bandicoots, and other mammals by sight during the day.
Strike and release
To avoid being bitten back by dangerous prey, it delivers one or several very fast bites, releases the animal, and then follows the scent trail to the body once the venom takes hold.
A once-lethal bite
Its neurotoxic venom, with clotting and muscle effects too, was fatal in most untreated bites before antivenom in 1955. It is nervous and defensive if cornered but not aggressive unprovoked.
Status
The coastal taipan is Least Concern, widespread and common across suitable habitat.
Coastal Taipan: common questions
How dangerous is the coastal taipan compared with other snakes?
It is regarded as one of the most dangerous snakes in the world, combining several worrying traits, a large venom yield, highly potent venom that acts quickly on the nervous system and the blood, a long strike range, considerable speed, and a tendency to bite multiple times in quick succession if it feels genuinely threatened. Before a specific antivenom became available in 1955, an untreated bite from a coastal taipan was fatal in the overwhelming majority of recorded cases, often within hours. With prompt first aid, antivenom, and modern intensive care, the outlook for treated bites is now much better, but a coastal taipan bite is still a serious medical emergency requiring immediate hospital treatment.
Why does the coastal taipan release its prey after biting?
The coastal taipan specialises in hunting mammals such as rats and bandicoots, which have sharp teeth and claws and can injure a snake badly if held in the coils during a struggle. To avoid this risk, the taipan uses a strike-and-release strategy, lunging in to deliver one or more extremely fast bites and then immediately letting go and withdrawing to a safe distance. Its venom acts quickly enough that the bitten animal is soon incapacitated and dies nearby, at which point the snake follows the scent trail, locates the carcass, and swallows it whole, having taken essentially no risk of being bitten or scratched in return.
Is the coastal taipan aggressive toward people?
Not without provocation. Like most snakes, a coastal taipan that detects a person approaching will generally try to move away and avoid confrontation, and unprovoked attacks are very rare. However, it is a nervous, alert species with acute eyesight, and if it is cornered, trodden on, cut off from an escape route, or handled, it can react defensively with a dramatic display, lifting the front third of its body off the ground, flattening its neck, and striking rapidly and repeatedly with considerable reach. Most bites occur when people attempt to catch or kill the snake, so the standard advice is to keep well clear and allow it to leave.
How is the coastal taipan different from the inland taipan?
The two are closely related members of the same genus but differ in several ways. The coastal taipan is the longer of the two, lives in the warmer, wetter coastal regions of northern and eastern Australia and southern New Guinea, and is responsible for the great majority of actual taipan bites because it overlaps with areas where people live and farm. The inland taipan, sometimes called the fierce snake, is shorter, lives in remote arid country in central Australia, and has venom that is drop-for-drop even more toxic, the most toxic of any land snake, but it is shy, rarely encountered, and has never caused a recorded human death.