World of the Taipan Trivia Quiz

Answer: 3

The three species of known taipan are the inland taipan, the coastal taipan and the Western Desert taipan. The coastal taipan has two known subspecies.

Answer: Oxyuranus microlepidotus

'Oxyuranus' is derived from the Greek words 'oxis' meaning 'sharp' and 'oura' meaning 'tail' and 'micros' meaning 'small' and 'lepis' meaning 'scale'.

The inland taipan is endemic to Australia. Whilst the scientific name for the inland taipan is is 'Oxyuranus microlepidotus', the Aboriginal Australians named this snake 'Dandarabilla.'

The scientific name for the coastal taipan is Oxyuranus scutellatus.

The scientific name for the Western Desert taipan is Oxyuranus temporalis.

The inland taipan possesses the most toxic venom of any known land snake in the world.

Answer: True

Despite being the most poisonous known land snake in the world, there are no recorded fatalities from the bite of an inland taipan.

The inland taipan's habitat is in the black-soil, semi-desert areas of Australia, between Queensland and South Australia. They are reclusive and shy, rarely coming into contact with humans, because of the remoteness of their natural habitat.

Less venomous snakes of the world, such as vipers and cobras that live in more populated areas such as Africa and Asia, kill thousands of people per year, in contrast.

Coastal taipans are drawn to more populated areas, where they hunt mice and rats, particularly in the sugarcane fields in Queensland.

Answer: The taipan immediately retreats to wait until its prey dies, after biting it

Once a taipan has located its prey, it strikes quickly, biting its victim then immediately retreating to wait, until the venom kills it. The prey dies fast, and the snake only has to travel a short distance for its meal.

Answer: Coastal taipan

As well as being the longest venomous snake in Australia, the coastal taipan also has the longest fangs of any Australian elapid snake, at up to 13mm long. Most toxicologists consider the coastal taipan to be the third-most venomous land snake in the world, after the inland taipan and the eastern brown snake. The eastern brown snake is also of Australia.

Answer: The taipan he captured was used to make the first taipan antivenom

In 1950, Kevin Budden captured a 6 foot long taipan in Queensland, Australia. Although he was successful in catching the snake, it bit his thumb as he was placing it in a bag. Budden was given tiger snake antivenom, as there was no taipan antivenom that had been invented at the time.

Although the tiger snake antivenom stopped the taipan venom from coagulating his blood, it could not counter the effects of the neurotoxins contained in the venom, which paralyzed his nervous system. He died the next afternoon.

Budden's taipan was milked for its venom by David Fleay, which was used to develop taipan antivenom, which was available by 1955.

Answer: Papua New Guinea

Oxyuranus scutellatus canni is also known as the Papuan taipan.

Venomous snakebite deaths are 100 times higher on the island of New Guinea, than in Australia, because of both the quality and availability of treatment for taipan bites.

Answer: 2006

When the Western Desert taipan was discovered, this was the first new discovery of a taipan in 125 years. Its scientific name is Oxyuranus temporalis, and a second species of this taipan was found in 2010, in the Western Desert of Australia - hence why it is known as both the Western Desert taipan, and the Central Ranges taipan.

There are no recorded instances of Western Desert taipans biting humans, but studies suggest that its venom is quite different to that of the other two taipans.

Answer: Their underside is dark blue, green or black

The underside of the inland taipan is cream or yellow. The reason the inland taipan's head being darker contributes to easier basking, is that the darker colour allows the snake to warm itself by simply poking its head from its burrow. The inland taipan becomes much darker in the winter, almost black in some cases.

Answer: Eastern brown snake

The coastal taipan is usually light to dark brown on their backs, with a cream or yellow belly. It looks similar to the Eastern brown snake, also of Australia, also highly venomous.

However, one way to tell them apart is to look at the head. The Eastern brown snake has a short, rounded head, the same colour as its neck. The coastal taipan, by contrast, has a long head, sometimes described as "coffin shaped" and has a patch of cream along the jawline, and nose.