Deadly Animals

    Aren’t they adorable?

When thinking about Australia, most people visualize marvellous beaches ready to be surfed, the extraordinary colourful Great Barrier Reef, funny jumping kangaroos or cute cuddly koalas. Nothing could be further from what Australia’s fauna has to offer…

Australia has quite an interesting number of deathly animals beyond Dingoes or Tasmanian Devils. Below there is a small sample of three of Australia’s most dangerous species and the consequences of their stings and bites. In spite of that, the Land Down Under is a wonderful country absolutely worth visiting!

                                                             Funnel Web Spider

It receives its name from its web, which takes the shape of a funnel. It has got two large fangs full of venom with which it repeatedly bites the enemy.  Without applying antivenom, the bite of a Funnel Web may kill a human being within 15 minutes (in the case of children) and up to 3 days (in the case of adults).

                                                             Blue-Ringed Octopus

They are believed to be one of the world’s most venomous marine animals. They are recognizable by their blue and black rings and yellow skin. Its venom is powerful enough to kill humans. There is no antivenom available and death is usually caused by suffocation due to the lack of oxygen to the brain.

                                                                  Box Jellyfish

Their venom is considered to be among the most deadly in the world, attacking the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. It is so painful that human victims have been known to go into shock and drown or die of heart failure before even reaching shore. Survivors can experience considerable pain for weeks and often have significant scarring where the tentacles made contact.

 

In order to end this post, here you have a comic song (“Come to Australia”) by an Australian band, “Scared Weird Little Guys”, singing about deadly animals. They have no official videoclip so the image composition is fan made and hasn’t got the best quality and taste, but still gives you an idea. Enjoy!

"Thanks very much. Well, the Australian Tourist Commission has asked us to come up with a song that we can perform overseas. A song that helps bring the tourists back to Australia. That’s right. So we focused on the wonderful wildlife and the fabulous fauna that Australia has to offer…"

Redback, Funnel-Web, Blue-Ringed Octopus,

Taipan, Tigersnake and a Box Jellyfish,

Stonefish and the poison thing that lives in a shell

that spikes you when you pick it up.

Come to Australia,

you might accidentally get killed.

Your life's constantly under threat.

Have you been bitten yet?

You've only got three minutes left

before a massive coronary breakdown.

Redback, Funnel-Web, Blue-Ringed Octopus,

Taipan, Tigersnake and a Box Jellyfish,

big shark just waiting for you to go swimming

at Bondi Beach.

Come to Australia, 

you might accidentally get killed,

your blood is bound to be spilled,

with fear your pants will be filled,

because you might accidentally get killed.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.