Features and habitat snake Taipan
Taipan (from the Latin Oxyuranus) is a genus of some of the most venomous and dangerous reptiles on our planet from the order of scaly, family of asps.
There are only three types of these animals:
— Coastal Taipan (from the Latin Oxyuranus scutellatus).
— Cruel or desert snake (from the Latin Oxyuranus microlepidotus).
— Taipan inland (from the Latin Oxyuranus temporalis).
Taipan is the most toxic snake in the world, its venom is about 150 times stronger than a cobra. One dose of this snake’s poison is enough to send to the next world more than a hundred adults of medium build. After being bitten by such a reptile, if an antidote is not administered within three hours, then the death of a person occurs in 5-6 hours.
In the photo coastal taipan
Doctors have recently invented and began to produce an antidote to Taipan toxins, and it is made from the very poison of these snakes, which in one decanting can produce up to 300 mg. In this regard, in Australia, there were a sufficient number of hunters for these types of asps, and in these places you can quite simply buy a Taipan snake.
Although it is not enough in what zoos of the world it is possible to meet these snakes due to the danger to the life of the attendants and the complexity of keeping them in captivity. The habitat of the taipan snake is closed on one continent — these are Australia and the islands of Papua — New Guinea.
The territorial distribution can be easily understood from the very names of the species of these asps. So desert taipan or ferocious snake, as it is also called, lives in the central regions of Australia, while coastal taipan is spread on the northern and northeastern coast of this continent and the nearby New Guinea islands.
Oxyuranus temporalis lives in the depths of Australia and was identified as a separate species quite recently, in 2007. It is very rare, because to date it is very poorly studied and described. Taipan snake lives in bushy areas not far from water bodies. The fierce snake chooses dry soils, large fields and plains.
Externally, the types are not very different. The longest body of coastal taypanov, it reaches sizes up to three and a half meters with a body weight of about six pounds. Desert snakes are a bit shorter — their length reaches two meters.
The color of taipan snake scales varies from light brown to dark brown, sometimes individuals with a brown-red tint come across. The belly is always in bright colors, the back has darker colors. The head is several tones darker than the back. The muzzle is always lighter than the body.
Depending on the time of year, these species of snakes acquire the color of scales, changing the shades of the surface of the body with another molt. Special attention should be paid to the teeth of these animals. In the photo of the taipan snake, you can see the wide and large (up to 1-1.3 cm) teeth with which they put deadly bites to their victims.
In the photo the mouth and teeth of taipana
When swallowing food, the snake’s mouth opens very widely, almost ninety degrees, so that the teeth go to the side and upwards, thereby not interfering with the passage of food inside.
Character and way of life taipana
In general, individuals taypanov are diurnal. Only in the midst of the heat they prefer not to appear in the sun, and then their hunt begins in the evening after the sun sets or from the very early morning, when there is still no heat.
They spend most of their waking hours in search of food and hunting, most often hiding in the bushes and waiting for the appearance of their victim. Despite the fact that a huge amount of time, these species of snakes spend without moving, they are very frisky and agile. With the appearance of the victim or feeling the danger of the snake can in a matter of seconds, moving sharp attacks on 3-5 meters.
You can see lightning-fast maneuvers of movement of these creatures during the attack on the video of the snakes Taypan. Often, when the family of snakes of taypans dwell not far from the dwellings of people, on human-cultivated soils (for example, plantings of sugar cane), as mammals live in such an area, which go on to feed these poisonous asps.
But any type of aggression does not allow taypans, they try to avoid a person and can attack only when they feel danger to themselves or their offspring coming from people.
Before the attack, the snake in every way shows its displeasure, tugging with the tip of its tail and lifting its head high. If these actions began to occur, then it is necessary to immediately withdraw from the individual, because otherwise it is quite possible to get a poisonous bite in the next instant.
Taipan Snake Eating
The poisonous snake Taipan, like most other asps, eats small rodents and other mammals. Frogs and small lizards can also go to feed.
When searching for food, the snake carefully examines the nearest terrain and, thanks to its excellent vision, notices the slightest perturbations on the soil surface. After finding its prey, it approaches it in a few quick movements and makes one-two bites in sharp drops, after which it is removed to the visible distance, allowing the rodent to die from the poison.
The toxins contained in the venom of these snakes paralyze the victim’s musculature and respiratory system. Later on, a taipan or a cruel snake approaches and swallows the dead body of a rodent or frog, which is quickly digested in the body.
Reproduction and life expectancy of the snake Taipan
By the age of one and a half, male taypans reach sexual maturity, whereas females become ready for fertilization only after two years. By the mating season, which, in principle, can occur all year round, but has a peak in the spring (in Australia, spring July-October), ritual battles of males occur for the right to have a female, after which the snakes break up in pairs to commit conception.
On photo taipana nest
Moreover, an interesting fact is that for mating the pair is removed to the shelter of the male, and not the female. The pregnancy of the female lasts from 50 to 80 days by the end of which she begins to lay eggs in a pre-prepared place, which, more often, are the burrows of other animals, soil breaks, stones or grooves in the roots of trees.
On average, one female lays 10-15 eggs, the maximum record recorded by scientists is 22 eggs. Throughout the year, the female lays eggs several times.
Two or three months after that, young cubs begin to appear on the light, which start growing rather quickly and soon leave the family for independent living. In the wild, there is no fixed life span of Taipans. In the same terrariums, these snakes can live up to 12-15 years.
