The inland taipan itself is hunted by other reptiles, including the king brown snake ( Pseudechis australis) and Australia’s largest monitor lizard, the perentie ( Varanus giganteus). The swift death of the prey reduces the risk of injury to the snake. The highly effective venom acts so fast that the prey animal is dead within minutes, sometimes even seconds.
TAIPAN MANGAO SERIES
It will then strike, injecting its venom in a series of bites made in quick succession.
TAIPAN MANGAO CRACK
When hunting, the inland taipan will typically corner its prey in a crack in the soil or in a burrow. During droughts, they may have to rely on stored body fat. When prey animals are plentiful, the snakes grow fat and their numbers rise. It will mainly prey on small to medium-sized rodents, especially the native long-haired rat ( Rattus villosisimus), though it will also eat the plains rat ( Pseudomys australis) and the introduced house mouse ( Mus musculus). The inland taipan is one of the few Australian snakes to specialize in eating mammals. Snakes, being cold-blooded, are not able to change their own body temperatures with processes such as sweating and shivering. The head of the inland taipan is much darker compared to the rest of the body, which makes it possible for the snake to warm up quickly by exposing only its head to the sun.
These color changes allow the inland taipan to control its temperature, with the darker markings efficient at absorbing heat and the lighter ones good at reflecting it.
During the summer months it changes to a pale straw color. The color of its back varies from a dark brown to almost black in winter. The inland taipan has adapted to the extremes of the outback climate by dramatic seasonal changes in its coloration.
After a few hours it retreats back into its shelter for the remainder of the day, although in cool weather it may show up above ground in the afternoon too. The inland taipan is most active in the early hours of the day, when it surfaces to hunt for prey and to bask in the morning sun. The snake seeks protection from both the scorching heat and predators under rocks, inside mammal burrows and within deep cracks in the parched earth. (The Outback is Australia’s vast interior region.) The inland taipan lives in the remote black soil plains of the outback where the borders of South Australia and Queensland meet. You can see Steve Backshall come face to face with an inland taipan in the video below: The other Australian taipan that it shares a common ancestor with, namely the coastal taipan, is far more aggressive. The inland taipan’s alternative name, ‘fierce snake’, points to the potency of its venom rather than its behaviour. ‘describing’ the characteristics of the new species and how it differs from existing species). Describing a species means giving it a name and telling the scientific world that the new species exists (i.e. The inland taipan may be the world’s most venomous snake, but this Australian taipan is so shy that hardly anything was known about it by Western science for nearly a hundred years after it was first described in 1879.Ī new species is ‘described’ after it has been discovered. Meet The Inland Taipan: Introduction Inland Taipan – the world’s most venomous snake.
Become an animal expert! Visit our main animals page: Animals: The Ultimate Guide.Other interesting Inland Taipan facts: The two parts of inland taipan’s scientific name mean ‘sharp-pointed tail’ and ‘small-scaled’ĭiscover more about the animal kingdom with Active Wild:.Conservation Status: Not assessed by the IUCN.Average length: 1.8 m to 2.5 m (5.9 ft to 8.2 ft).Scientific name: Oxyuranus microlepidotus.Other Names: Fierce snake, western taipan, small-scaled snake, lignum snake, dandarabilla.On this page you’ll meet the inland taipan – the world’s most venomous snake! Read on for facts, pictures and information on this deadly Australian animal … Inland Taipan Facts At A Glance
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