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Africa's deadliest snake, the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) can kill a person with just two drops of venom, Live Science reported. Named for the dark, inky color inside of their mouths, black mambas are actually brownish in color. They average around 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length, and can move at 12 mph (19 km/h).
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A bite from a fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper) can turn a person's body tissue black as it begins to die, according to a 1984 paper published in the journal Toxicon(opens in new tab). These pit vipers, which live in Central and South America and are between 3.9 and 8.2 feet (1.2 and 2.5 m) long and weigh up to 13 pounds (6 kg), are responsible for about half of all snakebite venom poisonings in Central America, according to a 2001 study published in the journal Toxicon. Because fer-de-lance venom contains an anticoagulant (a substance that hinders blood clotting), a bite from this snake can cause a person to hemorrhage.
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About 24 hours after being bitten on the thumb by a juvenile boomslang (also called a South African green tree snake), herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt died from internal bleeding from his eyes, lungs, kidneys, heart and brain, researchers reported in 2017 in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. The snake had been sent to Schmidt at The Field Museum in Chicago for identification. Like others in the field at the time (1890), Schmidt believed that rear-fanged snakes like the boomslang (Dispholidus typus) couldn't produce a venom dose big enough to be fatal to humans. They were wrong.
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About 24 hours after being bitten on the thumb by a juvenile boomslang (also called a South African green tree snake), herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt died from internal bleeding from his eyes, lungs, kidneys, heart and brain, researchers reported in 2017 in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. The snake had been sent to Schmidt at The Field Museum in Chicago for identification. Like others in the field at the time (1890), Schmidt believed that rear-fanged snakes like the boomslang (Dispholidus typus) couldn't produce a venom dose big enough to be fatal to humans. They were wrong.
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Around 58,000 deaths in India are attributed to snake bites every year, and the Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) is responsible for the majority of these mortalities, according to research published March 25, 2021, in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases(opens in new tab). This species is considered one of the most deadly of the true vipers, researchers reported in 2021 in the journal Toxins(opens in new tab).
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The saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) is the smallest member of the "Big Four" in India — along with Russell's viper, the common krait (Bungarus caeruleus) and the Indian cobra (Naja naja) — thought to be responsible for the most bites and related deaths in the country.
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The banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus) is a slow mover during the day and is much more likely to bite after dark. The snake's venom can paralyze muscles and prevent the diaphragm from moving, according to a 2016 study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases(opens in new tab). This stops air from entering the lungs, effectively resulting in suffocation.
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The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake, measuring up to 18 feet (5.4 m), according to the Natural History Museum(opens in new tab) in London. The snake's impressive eyesight allows it to spot a moving person from nearly 330 feet (100 m) away, according to the Smithsonian Institution(opens in new tab). When threatened, a king cobra will use special ribs and muscles in its neck to flare out its "hood" or the skin around its head; these snakes can also lift their heads off the ground about a third of their body length, according to the San Diego Zoo(opens in new tab)
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You could be bitten multiple times before becoming aware of the coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), thanks to its incredible speed, according to the Australian Museum(opens in new tab). When threatened, this snake, which lives in the wet forests of temperate and tropical coastal regions, will lift its whole body off the ground as it jumps fangs-first with extraordinary precision and injects venom into its enemy. Before 1956, when an effective antivenom was produced, this snake's bite was nearly always fatal, according to Australian Geographic(opens in new tab)
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The inland taipan is one of the most venomous snakes, according to the International Journal of Neuropharmacology(opens in new tab), meaning just a teensy bit of its venom can kill prey (or human victims). They live tucked away in the clay crevices of Queensland and South Australia's floodplains, often within the pre-dug burrows of other animals. Living in more remote locations than the coastal taipan, the inland taipan rarely comes into contact with humans, the Australian Museum(opens in new tab) reported. When the taipan does feel threatened, the snake coils its body into a tight S-shape before darting out in one quick bite or multiple bites.
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