Taipans

Taipans are large, fast moving, highly venomous snakes with long fangs. They produce very large amounts of venom, which prior to the introduction of antivenom (1955), was was said to be fatal in more than 90% of taipan envenomations. Two distinct species are described in Australia; the coastal taipan (O. scutellatus scutellatus), and the western/inland taipan (O. microlepidotus), which is also known as the fierce snake and the small scaled snake. A related species, O. scutellatus canni, is found in Papua New Guinea

The coastal taipan (O. scutellatus scutellatus) is an aggressive and highly venomous snake. It is found along the coast of northern Australia from Brisbane to the Kimberleys in Western Australia. It has the largest fangs (13mm) of all Australian venomous snakes and is also the longest venomous Australian snake (up to 3m). It usually hunts during the day, except in very hot weather, when it hunts in the evening. Its diet consists mainly of rats and mice, so it is attracted to barns, farms and other habitations. It is not usually aggressive unless cornered or attacked. Then it may strike rapidly, inflicting multiple bites. The average venom yield is approximately 120mg, and a maximum yield of 400mg has been recorded. The clinical syndrome includes severe neurotoxicity and coagulopathy. Rhabdomyolysis is a lesser feature. Taipan or polyvalent antivenom is required to treat this envenomation.

The head is distinct from the body, which in the adult is usually light or dark brown, with a creamy yellow abdomen. The eyes have a round pupil and an orange iris. Clutches of 10-20 eggs are produced.

Related Treatments

• Snake bite, Current treatments

Related Venomous creatures

• Fierce snakes, Family: Elapidae, Genus: Oxyuranus, Spieces: O. microlepidotus
• Snakes, Australian, Class: Reptilia, Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes

Books

• Cogger, H. G., Snakes, Encyclopaedia of Papua and New Guinea, vol. 2, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1972. [ Details... ]
• Owner, F., Reptiles of Australia and New Zealand, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1970. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., A Guide to the Dangerous Snakes of Papua, First edn, Government Printer, Port Moresby, 1956, 18 pp. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., A Guide to the Dangerous Snakes of Papua, Second edn, Government Printer, Port Moresby, 1968, 22 pp. [ Details... ]
• Stackhouse, J., Australia's Venomous Wildlife, Paul Hamlyn, Sydney, 1970, 144 pp. [ Details... ]
• Worrell, E., Song of the Snake, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1958, xii + 210 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

• Barrett, C., 'Dangerous to Man', in Reptiles of Australia, Crocodiles, Snakes and Lizards, Cassell, Melbourne, 1950, pp. 127-148. [ Details... ]
• Denson, K. W. E., '[Title not recorded]', in The Use of Antibodies in the Study of Blood Coagulation, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1967, pp. 142, 180-185, 195. [ Details... ]
• Morgan, F. G., 'The Australian Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus (Peters)', in Buckley, E. E. and Porges, N. (eds), Venoms, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, 1956. [ Details... ]
• Trethewie, E. R., 'Chapter 24: The Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Venoms of the Snakes of Australia and Oceania', in W. Bucherl and E.E. Buckley (eds), Venomous Animals and Their Venoms, vol. 2, Academic Press, New Yprk/London, 1971, pp. 79-101. [ Details... ]
• Werler, J. E. and Keegan, H. L., 'Venomous Snakes of the Pacific Area', in H.L. Keegan and W.V. Macfarlane (eds), Venomous and Poisonous Animals and Noxious Plants of the Pacific Region, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1963, pp. 219-325. [ Details... ]

Journal Articles

• Benn, K. M., 'A Further Case of Snake-bite by a Taipan Ending Fatally', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1951, pp. 147-149. [ Details... ]
• Campbell, C. H., 'The Taipan (Oxyuranus Scutellatus) and the Effect of Its Bite', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1967, pp. 735-738. [ Details... ]
• Chisholm, E. C., 'Snake Bite', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1929, p. 468. [ Details... ]
• Dempster, F. J., 'Anti-venenes For Snakebite - History and Development', Producer's Rev., vol. 47, 1957, pp. 48(D) -49. [ Details... ]
• Denson, K. W. E., 'Coagulant and Anticoagulant Action of Snake Venoms', Toxicon, vol. 7, 1969, pp. 5-11. [ Details... ]
• Denson, K. W. E., Borrett, R., and Biggs, R., 'The Specific Assay of Prothrombin Using Taipan Snake Venom', British Journal of Haematology, vol. 21, 1971, pp. 219-226. [ Details... ]
• Doery, H. M. and Pearson, J. E., 'Haemolysins in Venoms of Australian Snakes Observations on the Haemolysins of the Venoms of Some Australian Snakes and the Separation of Phospholipase A from the Venom of Pseudechis Porphyriacus', The Biochemical Journal, vol. 78, 1961, pp. 820-827. [ Details... ]
• Doery, H. M. and Pearson, J. E., 'Phospholipase B in Snake Venoms and Bee Venom', The Biochemical Journal, vol. 92, 1964, pp. 599-602. [ Details... ]
• Fleay, D., 'Adventures With a Taipan', Animal Kingdom(s), 1953. [ Details... ]
• Flecker, H., 'Snake Bite in Practice', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 2, 1940, pp. 8-13. [ Details... ]
• Flecker, H., 'More Fatal Cases of Bites of the Taipan (Oxyuranus Scutellatus)', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 2, 1944, pp. 383-384. [ Details... ]
• Garde, H. C., 'Notes of Three Cases of Snake-Bite Treated by Subcutaneous Injections of Strychnine', Australasian Medical Gazette, vol. 9, 1890, p. 157. [ Details... ]
• Kamenskaya, M. A. and Thesleff, S., 'The Neuromuscular Blocking Action of an Isolated Toxin from the Elapid (Oxyuranus scutellactus)', Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, vol. 90, 1974, pp. 716-724. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H. and Holden, H. F, 'The Peripheral Action of the Australian Snake Venoms I. The Curari-Like Action on Frogs', The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, vol. 10, 1932, pp. 167-179. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H., 'The Specificity of Active Immunity Against Snake Venoms', The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, vol. 33, 1930, pp. 157-173. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H., 'Venomous Land Snakes in Australia', Bull. Antivenin. Inst. Am., vol. 5, 1932, pp. 53-58. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H. and Eades, T., 'Field Notes on the Common Australian Venomous Snakes', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 2, 1929, pp. 249-257. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H. and Williams, F. E., 'The Venoms of Oxyuranus Maclennani and Pseudechis Scutellatus', The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, vol. 6, 1940, pp. 155-174. [ Details... ]
• Kellaway, C. H., Cherry, R. O. and Williams, F. E., 'The Peripheral Action of the Australian Snake Venoms 2. the Curari-Like Action in Mammals', The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, vol. 10, 1932, pp. 181-194. [ Details... ]
• Kinghorn, J. R., 'A New Genus of Elapine Snake from North Australia', Records of the Australian Museum, vol. 14, 1928, pp. 42-45. [ Details... ]
• Kinghorn, J. R., 'Some New Guinea Reptiles', Aust. Mus. Mag., vol. 8, 1943, pp. 112-117. [ Details... ]
• Lester, I. A., 'A Case of Snake-Bite Treated by Specific Taipan Antivenene', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 2, 1957, pp. 389-391. [ Details... ]
• MacKay, R., 'The Taipan', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, vol. 1950-51, 1952, pp. 24-25. [ Details... ]
• MacPherson, J., 'Snakes and Snake Bite', Sydney University Medical Journal, vol. 18, 1924, pp. 175-187. [ Details... ]
• MacPherson, J., 'The Largest Venomous Australian Snake', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1929, p. 609. [ Details... ]
• Minton, S. A., 'Protection by Elapid and Sea Snake Antivenins', Toxicon, vol. 5, 1967, pp. 47-55. [ Details... ]
• Oliver, J. A., 'The Taipan, Australia's Deadliest Snake', Animal Kingdom(s), vol. 61, 1958, pp. 23-26. [ Details... ]
• Rawlinson, P. A., 'Reptiles of the Victorian. Mallee', Proceedings of the Society Victoria, vol. 79, 1966, pp. 605-619. [ Details... ]
• Reid, C. C. and Flecker, H., 'Snake Bite by a Taipan With Recovery', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1950, pp. 82-83. [ Details... ]
• Reilly, J. A., 'Three Poisonous Brown Snakes', N. Qd. Nat., vol. 28, 1960, pp. 9-10. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., 'A Brief Account of the Snakes of the Fort Moresby Area', Pagua New Guin. Scient. Soc. a. Rep. Proc., 1954, pp. 51-56. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., 'On the New Guinea Taipan', Memoirs of the National Museum, Victoria, vol. 20, 1956, pp. 1-5. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., 'Incubation of New Guinea Taipan Eggs', The Australian Zoologist, vol. 12, 1959, pp. 306-307. [ Details... ]
• Slater, K. R., 'Reptiles in New Guinea', Aust. Territories, vol. 1, 1961, p. 51. [ Details... ]
• Thomson, D. F., 'Notes on Australian Snakes of the Genera Pseudechis and Oxyuranus', Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1933, pp. 855-860. [ Details... ]
• Thomson, D. F., 'Preliminary Notes on a Collection of Snakes from Cape York Peninsula', Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1935, pp. 723-731. [ Details... ]
• Thomson, D. F., 'Snakes from Australia', Discovery, vol. 16, 1935, pp. 3-6. [ Details... ]
• Trinca, J. C., 'Report of Recovery from Taipan Bite', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1969, pp. 514-516. [ Details... ]
• Tu, A. T. and Toom, P. A., 'The Presence of a L-Leucyl-(3-Naphtylamide Hydrolyzing Enzyme in Snake Venoms', Experientia, vol. 23, 1967, pp. 439-440. [ Details... ]
• Tu, A. T. and Toom, P. M., 'Hydrolysis of Peptides by Snake Venoms of Australia and New Guinea', The Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, vol. 45, 1967, pp. 561-567. [ Details... ]
• Tu, A. T., Chua, A., and James, G. P., 'Peptidase Activities of Snake Venoms', Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, vol. 15, 1965, pp. 517-523. [ Details... ]
• Tu, A. T., James, G. P., and Chua, A., 'Some Biochemical Evidence in Support of the Classification of Venomous Snakes', Toxicon, vol. 3, 1965, pp. 5-8. [ Details... ]