No.80 January 2004
Notes from Very venomous but ... the Australia is home to some of the most venomous snakes in the world. Why? Editor It is possible that strong venom may little chance to fight back. There are six main snake families have evolved chiefly as a self-defence in Australia – elapids (venomous strategy. It is interesting to look at the While coastal and inland taipans eat snakes, the largest group), habits of different venomous snakes. only mammals, other venomous colubrids (‘harmless’ snakes) Some, such as the coastal taipan snakes feed largely on reptiles and pythons, blindsnakes, filesnakes (Oxyuranus scutellatus), bite their frogs. Venom acts slowly on these and seasnakes. prey quickly, delivering a large amount ‘cold-blooded’ creatures with slow of venom, and then let go. The strong metabolic rates, so perhaps it needs to Australia is the only continent venom means that the prey doesn’t be especially strong. In addition, as where venomous snakes (70 get far before succumbing so the many prey species develop a degree of percent) outnumber non- snake is able to follow at a safe immunity to snake venom, a form of venomous ones. Despite this, as distance. Taipans eat only mammals – evolutionary arms race may have been the graph on page one illustrates, which are able to bite back, viciously. taking place. very few deaths result from snake This strategy therefore allows the bites. It is estimated that between snake to avoid injury. … not necessarily deadly 50 000 and 60 000 people die of On the other hand, the most Some Australian snakes may be snake bite each year around the particularly venomous, but they are world. By comparison, in venomous snake, the inland taipan (O. microlepidotus), also known as the not the most dangerous for humans, Australia there have been only as the graph below shows. The low 38 deaths from snake bites during small-scaled or fierce snake, tends to live in the burrows of its main prey, the fatality rate, compared with many other the last 23 years – fewer than two parts of the world, is attributed to a year. long-haired rat. Unable to retreat from its prey in this confined space it has a Australia’s sparse population, use of better footwear and better medical Rather than focusing on the greater need to finish it off quickly. Its more risky attack strategy entails treatment, including availability of danger our snakes pose, it is antivenoms. Also, Australian snakes much more interesting to holding its prey with its body and biting repeatedly. However, this snake are shy and comparatively reluctant to concentrate on how fascinating bite, often not injecting venom when these creatures are. can deliver, in one bite, more than 40 000 times the venom needed to kill a they do bite. Indeed, a New South I would like to thank Greg 200g rat and it contains a special Wales study showed that it is humans Watson, Gavin Bedford, Junko component which causes the toxin to who are more aggressive with people Godwin and Brigitta Flick for rapidly invade the body. Its prey has 100 times more likely to attack a snake their help with this issue. than the other way round. 50 45 Contents: 40 Page 1: Very venomous but ... 35 Page 2: Snake venom 30 Page 3: Snake history 25 The next generation 20 Pages 4&5: Scales in the 15 10 savanna 5 Page 6: Questions & answers 0 Facts and stats; Tourist Talk AfricaAus. India Sri Lanka Sth Amer. USA Bush Brian courtesy Graph Page 7: Out and about Page 8: Bookshelf A comparison of annual snakebite fatalities per million people from around the world. To standardise comparisons, published data compiled between 1945-1960 was used. Australia’s current figure is 0.13 per million but during the period used here it was 0.45 per million. Snake venom Venom is modified saliva which is designed, in carnivores, to break down body tissue.
If human saliva was injected causes blood pressure to drop and extracts from cobra venom into another human they are used to lower blood pressure in stroke victims. would react as if affected by a toxin – but people are not Fang design considered a venomous Many snakes, such as pythons, have lots of sharp teeth, species. Saliva simply contains but none dedicated to delivering venom. However, various poisonous compounds. groups have evolved pairs of hollow, elongated teeth Sometimes, however, it has been which are connected to venom glands. As the snake bites, modified further and contains components which cause muscles in this gland contract and venom is squeezed paralysis, blood-clotting and other serious symptoms. When through the teeth. an animal has also developed long teeth attached to storage glands, to deliver the venom deep into its victim, the result is Some snakes have fangs in the back of their mouths where potentially fatal. Nonetheless, while venom is often used by a leverage enables the snake to drive the tooth well into the snake to subdue and kill prey, it is also important for starting victim – as long as it has been caught securely. Rear- digestion – useful when a large animal is to be processed in fanged snakes include the brown tree snake, Macleay’s the stomach of a cold-blooded reptile. This could be the water snake and mangrove snakes. These are not primary function of many snake venoms. considered dangerous to humans.
Venom is thought to have evolved when snakes began to The more dangerous snakes, from an Australian point of attack and eat the first small, primitive mammals. It has long view, are those with fangs at the front of their mouths. The been thought that this happened several times in different fangs of almost all dangerous Australian snakes are fixed – snake species. However, following analysis of venom from they cannot move – so their length is determined by the snakes all over the world, Dr Bryan Fry*, of the University of need to fit in the mouth. The longest fangs are found in the Melbourne, says evidence indicates that it evolved only once, taipan, with the mulga, western brown, death adder and a few hundred million years ago, in a large swamp monster Collett’s black snake coming close. similar to today’s anacondas. Dr Fry argues that it was the different fang designs which evolved separately, developing Vipers, found outside Australia, have the longest fangs, only when there was something useful – venom – to deliver. hinged to fold back into the mouth. Only one Australian species, the death adder, has fangs which fold back, but On the positive side, there is potential for snake venom to be only to a limited extent. used in drug design, just as the deadly venom from cone shells has been used to create pain killers. Snake venom often *See Bookshelf, p.8, for a link to Dr Fry’s work. Toxicity ratings The toxicity of snake venom is gauged because of their temperament and strike by the amount required to kill 50 percent rate are considered one of the most of a sample of mice. However, this does dangerous snakes. The brown snake Safety first not necessarily relate to the effects in group (several species) is blamed for 22 In Australia, more than 80 percent of humans and different individual humans of the 38 human deaths recorded bites occur when people try to catch vary in susceptibility. When determining between 1980 and 2003. or kill snakes. The golden rule is not how dangerous a snake really is, other to corner or attack a snake. As factors need to be taken into account. The mulga (king brown) snake injects identification is often difficult, people How much venom does the snake inject? more venom in one bite than any other are advised not to handle a snake How long are its fangs? Is the snake snake – but it is of comparatively low even if they believe it is non- likely to attack? How often are people toxicity and few human deaths have venomous. likely to encounter the snake? been blamed on this species. Australia’s venomous snakes are When dealing with a snake bite the relatively shy and reluctant to bite. Bite stats priority is to prevent the poisons from North Queensland has the highest moving from the bite site into the Although the venom of the inland taipan number of reported snake bites in general circulation. is almost four times as toxic as that of its Australia. A report recently released • Do not try to catch a snake, or kill it. cousin, the coastal taipan, when all other from the Cairns Base Hospital** • Do not apply a tourniquet or suck factors are taken into account it is the showed that 264 people were treated at the wound. coastal taipan which tops the list of the hospital for snake bites over a five- • Do not wash the wound. Traces of Australia’s most dangerous snakes. That year period (1 January 1996-31 venom help medical authorities is because the inland taipan lives in a December 2000). Of those bitten, identify the snake. sparsely populated area, is shy and does 61 percent tested positive for venom, • The victim must keep calm and as not have long fangs or deliver a large but only 10 percent showed clinical still as possible. amount of venom. The coastal taipan, symptoms. Antivenom was administered • Wrap the affected limb firmly with however, has long fangs, injects more to 20 patients (7.6 percent). One patient an elastic bandage or clothing, venom, lives in populated areas and is died of a bite from a brown snake. starting from the toes or fingers and more likely to attack. Perhaps the most disturbing finding moving towards the trunk. Splint the from this study was that only two limb to prevent movement. Do not Eastern brown snakes, with the second patients had received correct first aid remove the bandage. most toxic venom, deliver only small following their bite. (See Safety first.) • Call an ambulance or transport the amounts and have small fangs but **See Bookshelf, p.8. victim to hospital. 22 Snake history Snakes are generally believed to have evolved from lizards. Queensland – they started to decline only about 15 million Why they lost their legs (though pythons retain traces of legs years ago. It is thought that some of these impressive animals in the form of small spurs) has been disputed. Originally this were still around within the last 100 000 years so it is possible was thought to have happened to allow these creatures to that Aboriginal people encountered them when they arrived. slide more easily along narrow burrows. However, studies of There may, in fact, be links to the Rainbow Serpent Dreamtime the features of early snakes suggest they were not burrowers beliefs, widespread among Aboriginal people. but may instead have developed from swimming, eel-like, marine goannas called mosasaurs. It is believed that venomous snakes – the elapids – arrived here from Asia about 20 million years ago when Australia, We know about Australia’s earliest snakes only from fossils. moving north, collided with the Asian plate thus allowing a Many of these belonged to the Madtsoiidae group, some of number of animals to island hop to Australia for the first time. which are thought to have been enormous – 6-10m in length They are thought to have spread quickly and now inhabit the with the girth of a telegraph pole. Remains of these snakes entire continent. Pythons, also widespread, may have come have also been found in Africa and South America suggesting with the venomous snakes or may have already evolved here. they evolved before the ancient continent of Gondwana The colubrids arrived much more recently and have spread began to break up about 180 million years ago. Curiously, only as far as the coastal and tropical fringes. Many species although they became extinct on all other continents about 55 are also found in New Guinea and Asia, having evolved little million years ago, in Australia – where their remains are in the short time particularly abundant, especially at the Riversleigh Australian they have been in Fossil Mammal Site in Boodjamulla National Park in Australia. The next generation At breeding time, male snakes, particularly pythons and elapid (venomous) snakes, can be quite competitive over their mates. They sometimes engage in wrestling matches when each tries to push its head higher than its rival. Male snakes (and lizards) have two penises which are stored, inside out, within sheaths at the base of the tail. Only one, Shivering pythons usually the one on the appropriate side, is used at a time. Each The eggs of most Australian snakes take from two to three species has a different design, with various ornaments, spines months to hatch at 30deg., but an increase of just a few and hooks, the latter used to ‘lock’ the pair together during degrees in temperature can reduce the time required. mating. Sperm can be stored in special parts of the female’s Python mothers take steps to ensure that their eggs are reproductive system and not used until the eggs are released kept as warm as possible, even into the uterus, sometimes months or years after mating. generating heat with their own bodies, a feat almost unheard of in Many Australian snakes lay eggs. This reduces the time the ‘cold-blooded’ reptiles. pregnant mother needs to carry around heavy offspring, which can equal a quarter of her body weight. Eggs are Most female pythons coil usually laid within a few weeks of fertilisation but live births themselves tightly around their eggs, take one or two months longer. Live-bearing probably evolved which are soft shelled and stick to as eggs were retained for longer and longer periods in cooler each other. During the day, the areas, where temperatures were too low for the eggs to hatch mother may leave her eggs and successfully. Certainly, in Australia, the cooler the climate, the bask in sunshine, returning to more likely snakes (and lizards) are to produce live young. wrap her warmed body around the However, some snakes in the tropics, such as death adders, eggs. When temperatures fall to a give birth to live young. Many of the live-bearers – mangrove certain level, many species act snakes, filesnakes and some seasnakes – live in water. like mammals – their muscles Although this must be more convenient in a water contract rhythmically and they environment, it is thought that since many of these are recent shiver. This serves to warm their arrivals, their live-bearing habit actually evolved in a cooler eggs. climate elsewhere. Studies have shown that pythons use two types of Most snakes in temperate zones give birth in summer when shivering. Species in cooler, temperate areas shiver more temperatures are highest, but those in the tropics have like mammals, with more prolonged muscle contractions. variable seasons. Some may reproduce all year round or their This is the most efficient method. Diamond pythons have preferred season may be determined by wet or dry seasons. been recorded exceeding air temperature by almost 7deg Females do not necessarily reproduce every year. Arafura and carpet pythons can raise their body temperatures by filesnakes probably produce young only every 10 years, on over 3deg. above the surrounding air. Pythons in tropical average. Since female snakes often stop feeding while areas use a less efficient periodic pulsing method. Water pregnant, it may take them some years to recover sufficiently pythons studied gained only 2-2.5deg. above air to do so again. temperature.
Apart from pythons, most Australian snakes desert their eggs When python eggs hatch the mothers, their work done, as soon as they have been laid although there have been slide off and leave their offspring to fend for themselves. reports of eastern brown, mulga and keelback snakes being Having invested up to six months and two-thirds of her found with their eggs and maternal care may be more body weight in this enterprise, it is time for the female to widespread than thought. look after herself. 33 Scales in the savanna Elapids There are at least 65 species of elapid snakes in Australia, though further study is likely to increase this number considerably; some scientists currently recognise 90. They are all characterised by fixed front fangs and are all venomous, though only about 20 are considered potentially fatal to humans. Many are small. Most elapids are ground dwellers – only three species are regularly found in trees, although some others will climb up, especially when threatened by flooding. Brown snakes Not all brown snakes are brown. Indeed, they are very variable in appearance. Members of the same species can be orange or almost black, striped or plain and even hatchlings from the same clutch of eggs can look different. Their most distinctive feature is their pronounced brow ridge. Brown snakes are the cause of most snake bite fatalities in Australia. The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) which Thewestern brown snake inhabits most of the eastern half of the continent, is one of (Pseudonaja nuchalis) is Australia’s most dangerous snakes. It is common in farming found widely throughout areas, towns and suburbs – it is fond of house mice – and Australia in arid, semi-arid and even wet sclerophyll becomes very aggressive when threatened. However, its areas, but is absent from much of the east coast. However, offensive temperament has probably been overstated. Like all there are thought to be at least seven distinct groups and snakes, it prefers to quietly disappear. A study in New South because at least three cannot interbreed, they are almost Wales found that half of all eastern brown snakes retreated certainly different species. Colours are variable and these when people came near, many others remained stationary and snakes tend to be darker in winter and paler in summer. only three percent moved towards the intruder. Less than one percent behaved aggressively, usually after being touched or The western brown is active by day, but nocturnal in hot trodden upon. Nonetheless, when cornered this snake is weather, and eats lizards and small mammals, such as house impressively assertive, hissing, rising up and striking rapidly. mice, birds and small snakes. It is shy and reluctant to bite humans unless cornered. Although it has long fangs and delivers a large amount of venom, it is less toxic than that of The mulga snake (Pseudechis the eastern brown. australis) is also commonly known as the king brown. It is not one of the Death adders (Acanthophis spp) are the closest brown snake group but instead belongs thing we have to vipers in Australia. In addition to to the ‘black snake’ genus (not all of their teeth (see p.2) they also resemble these which are black!). It is Australia’s most dangerous snakes in shape, behaviour and widespread snake and can be found ecology – but they are not related. Death throughout much of the continent. It is adders are ambush predators which hide, a large snake; individuals in the curled, in leaf litter. The end of a death adder’s Northern Territory and Cape York tail abruptly narrows to a worm-like lure and Peninsula grow to almost three metres. when potential prey such as lizards, birds, The mulga snake feeds on other snakes, mammals or frogs come near the snake flicks this quickly killing them with its venom lure. Mistaking it for a tasty morsel, for example an although it is apparently not vulnerable insect larva, the duped animal often pounces, only to find itself swiftly to their toxins. It also eats lizards, small pounced upon. This ambush habit of the death adder means that it does not, like mammals, birds and frogs. Numbers other snakes, retreat when people come near. However, it seems reluctant to bite appear to be dropping in areas people, even when gently trodden upon. Nevertheless, a bite from a death adder is a colonised by the poisonous cane toad. very dangerous one and should be avoided. Mulga snake There are three species of death adders in Australia. They vary in colour with grey ones more abundant in cooler areas where their colour may help them to warm up quickly. Reddish coloured ones are more common in hotter areas.
Filesnakes There are only three species of filesnakes in the world, two of them found in Australia. Sharp, pointed scales give them the rough texture for which they are named and undoubtedly help them to grasp slippery fish prey as they constrict it before swallowing. They can even anchor themselves by the tail when catching large fish. Their skin hangs loosely on their bodies giving them a baggy appearance. Filesnakes are non-venomous and completely aquatic. The little filesnake is confined to coastal fringes of northern Australia and has a salt-excreting gland. The Arafura filesnake (Acrochordus arafurae) lives further inland, in freshwater billabongs and slow-moving rivers across the Top End and around the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was not described as a separate species until 1980. It is estimated that individuals manage to catch only about one fish a month, on average. This is a slow-growing snake which is also slow to mature, females not reproducing until they are about nine years old, and even then infrequently. 64 Colubrids Colubrids are also known as the ‘harmless’ snakes, although some of them do produce venom. However, this is delivered through fangs in the rear of the mouth and is not of a strength considered dangerous to humans. Most of the snakes in this group live either in water or in trees. Although this family dominates most parts of the world, in Australia colubrid snakes are well-outnumbered by the elapids. The common tree snake (Dendrelaphis The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) does punctulata) is a slender, agile snake living not belong to the same genus as the other tree in tropical and temperate forests, and in snakes. It is similar in its tree-dwelling habits but vegetation close to water, along eastern possesses venom glands associated with fangs at the Australia and across the north. Although it is back of its mouth. This is a nocturnal hunter and has often known as the green tree snake, this remarkably large eyes, to help its vision at night. It eats species can vary in colour from black, brown or lizards, small mammals and birds, including eggs and grey to bright green, yellow and turquoise. It is nestlings. Since its accidental introduction into the Pacific fond of frogs but also eats small reptiles, fish and island of Guam, in the 1940s, the population of this snake has tadpoles. It hunts on the ground and in the trees, exploded and is blamed for the extinction of 12 bird species. where it climbs and moves rapidly. This is a very feisty snake which, if confronted, reacts in a The northern tree snake, which is very similar in frighteningly aggressive manner. Although it is not appearance, apart from a dark stripe along the considered harmful to people, many small children in Guam side of its head, inhabits the east coast of have been treated for bites. Queensland, north from Townsville. Brown tree snakes are found across northern Australia and in the east, north of about Sydney. Those west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, tend to be strongly banded, whereas Thewhite-bellied mangrove snake (Fordonia those in the east have much less distinctive leucobalia) inhabits the coastal fringe of Australia, markings and are considered, by some, to be a living in crab-holes in the mangrove mud. It crawls around different species. the mud at night feeding largely on crustaceans. Mangrove snakes are the only snakes known to The slatey-grey snake (Stegonotus dismember prey before eating. When catching a crab, cucullatus) is rather unusual for a this snake leaps over it and presses it down against the colubrid in that it is most often found mud, or a harder surface. It bites its prey, using venom on the ground, where it searches for from the fangs in the rear of its mouth to immobilise it frogs and small mammals. It is a plain and then, keeping its victim pinned down, tears off its dark grey or brown above with a pale legs. Small crabs are swallowed whole. This snake is white or yellow belly. Particularly active very variable in colour ranging from black and white to after rain, it is found near water and White-bellied red, yellow and brown, even at the same location. mangrove often near houses, moving around at night. This snake is not venomous. Pythons snake Pythons have been in Australia for a long time and may have evolved here. No pythons are venomous, instead using a very effective constriction method for killing their prey, usually a mammal or bird. With lightning speed, a python coils its body around its victim. As the animal breathes out, the coils are tightened. The animal is unable to breath in, and quickly suffocates. Pythons generally hunt at night and most have heat-sensing pits around their mouths which help them locate warm-blooded prey. They also flick their tongues in and out to ‘smell’ it. When prey is caught, a python disengages its lower and upper jaws in order to swallow it. Although non-venomous, pythons have sharp teeth and can deliver a nasty bite. Theblack-headed python ( Aspidites Thewater python (Liasis fuscus) is The children’s python (Liasis childreni) melanocephalus) is found throughout found around water across the top of (named after a Mr Children) is found the savanna region. Its shiny black head Australia, sometimes in very large from the Kimberley east to the Gulf of contrasts with its paler, banded body. numbers. Studies in the floodplains of Carpentaria. The similar spotted python Considered a member of the more Humpty Doo, in the Northern Territory, (L. maculosus), once considered to be ‘primitive’ python line, it lacks the heat- found hundreds per hectare, one of the the same species, is found on the east sensitive pits on its mouth which would highest densities of predators on earth. coast to northern New South Wales. not be useful for detecting its main prey, other snakes. Males can be very This snake feeds on rats and other These pythons live largely among rocks, aggressive towards each other during mammals, and waterbirds. It is flexible in caves and in termite mounds, eating the mating season. its lifestyle, hunting on dry land or in lizards, particularly geckos, frogs and the water depending on prey small lizards. They also frequent caves It is not only pythons which constrict abundance. Although it generally stays where insectivorous bats roost, using their prey. Many venomous snakes, at ground level, it does occasionally quick reflexes to catch the including all brown snakes, as well as climb; one was found several metres up bats on the wing or mangrove, slatey-grey and brown tree a tree attracted by a flying fox colony. at rest. snakes also do so. It is an important This snake lacks the markings of many method for subduing prey often while pythons and is a plain dark colour with a venom takes effect, thus reducing beautiful sheen in good light. injury. 75 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Facts and stats Q If the growing tops of multi- suffer if over-harvested. Palm cabbage branched pandanus palm species are was eaten by early European settlers, Russell’s viper, widespread in Asia, harvested for palm heart bush tucker including Cook and his crew. They fed certain pit-vipers from South America, or leaves for hat-making, will the on them at Endeavour River while and the saw-scaled vipers of northern health of the tree be threatened? repairing their ship. Africa, the Middle East, India and Sri Lanka are together blamed for tens of A Despite their resemblance, Q Is there any chance that the sex of thousands of deaths a year. The saw- pandanus plants are not palms. The brush-turkey and scrub-fowl chicks is scaled viper probably causes the most fruits of some pandanus species are determined by the temperature in the fatalities. eaten, but the hearts are not harvested mound as is the case with crocodiles for food. The inner core has a bitter and turtles? It has been calculated that there is taste but is sometimes taken from a enough venom in just one bite of an young tree and eaten to treat diarrhoea A It is extremely unlikely. The sex of inland taipan to kill more than 100 men and stomach cramps. The upper inner birds’ eggs is determined at the time of of average size. core is eaten as a treatment for colds fertilisation. However, as far as can be and a white substance, pounded from determined, the influence of If fatalities are used as an indicator, the the inner wood, is used for toothache, temperature on eggs in a megapode deadliest animal in Australia, apart from mouth sores and wounds. Pandanus mound has not been tested, so this the human, is the horse: in one year an plants tend to have a multi-stemmed cannot be ruled out entirely. average of 21 people die in riding-related growth habit so careful harvesting Acknowledgements to Clifford Frith. accidents. Our deadliest venomous should not kill the plant. animal is the introduced honeybee, Q Does the northern brown bandicoot responsible for up to 10 deaths a year. Pandanus leaves are used widely have a pouch for its babies or are they around the world to weave baskets, kept in a ground nest? A female Tasmanian tiger snake mats, dilly bags, arm-bands, rope and produced 109 youngsters – the highest so on. The leaves of screw palm A The mother has a pouch, which recorded litter from any Australian (Pandanus spiralis) are commonly opens to the rear. She gives birth 12.5 snake. used, harvested from the tops of the days after mating – the shortest tree where the new tender leaves gestation period known for any The flowerpot snake seems to reproduce sprout. They are then stripped, the mammal. Between one and seven (four, without mating. Only females have ever sharp thorny edges removed and on average) tiny, pink, 13mm-long been found. This tiny blindsnake is prepared for weaving. Harvesting of babies crawl into her pouch and attach found in the Torres Strait and the leaves should not kill the plant. themselves to some of her eight teats. Darwin region (possibly introduced) as At eight and half weeks of age, the well as in New Guinea and Asia. The growing hearts of babies are evicted from the pouch to Parthenogenesis – reproduction without many species of make way for the next generation. male sperm – is also found in some palms are a Within two or three months they are lizards and enables one transported traditional mature enough to become parents. female to start a new population. staple food, They live for only 18 months (females) earning the or two years (males). During the day, The amethystine python is Australia’s name cabbage bandicoots shelter in nests composed longest snake. The official record is of palm for of ground litter covering a depression a 5.7m specimen found north of Cairns, Livistona spp. However, in the ground. In wet weather, they but there is an unofficial record of one removing the core of the may scrape soil on top of this for measuring 8.5m found near palm tree kills the plant and waterproofing. Gordonvale, south of Cairns. The palm populations can world’s longest snake is the reticulated Pandanus python of South-east Asia which can grow to about 10m.
Blindsnakes and mangrove snakes are TOURIST TALK the only Australian species to feed on ENGLISH GERMAN JAPANESE invertebrates (ants and termites, and crustaceans, respectively). snake Schlange hebi venomous giftig yuudoku na A dangerous rumour persists in many places that pythons can breed with non-venomous nicht giftig mudoku na venomous snakes such as taipans, saliva Speichel daeki mulgas or brown snakes, producing a fang Giftzahn doku no kiba venomous hybrid. This is absolutely impossible, since they belong to prey Beute ejiki completely different families, as to bite beißen kamu different as dogs and whales. One man died as a result of this myth, some time to constrict würgen shimetsukeru ago. Having been bitten by a python, to shiver sich schütteln furueru which he was told was a dangerous bandage Verband houtai hybrid, he received antivenom – which caused a fatal allergic reaction. 66 Out and about Fruit ripens on the branches In response to a plea in of tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis Tropical Topics 78 for first- anacardioides) during hand reports of kites – ‘fire summer/wet season hawks’ – transporting burning months. This tree grows sticks to spread fire, two in rainforest, monsoon readers have responded with forest and vine-thickets, in very interesting observations. coastal areas (where it is very tolerant of Both mentioned having been salt-laden winds), rocky areas and told about it by Aboriginal people woodlands. It is found on much of the before witnessing it themselves. east coast of Australia and across the north. Growing to over 10m in sheltered Denise Angelo said she had “personally areas, it may remain a low dense shrub (and often) witnessed ‘fire hawks’, in Kookaburras in exposed coastal areas. the Katherine region of the Northern nest during Territory, picking up smouldering sticks the summer months. They like to use Small white, or greenish-yellow, flowers and dropping them further ahead of a cavities in trees or, like many fire front.” She also mentioned that the kingfishers, termite mounds. They lay are produced in August to September. The fruits appear as massed bunches bush fire brigade in Katherine is one to four eggs. Kookaburras are co- reluctant to predict the spread of a fire operative breeders. Instead of being which turn yellow when ripe. These capsules, which are hairy and velvety due to the activities of the “blasted fire chased from the parental territory when hawks”. they are independent, the young hang on the outside and the inside, open up around the family home for up to four to reveal shiny black seeds surrounded years helping supply food to the new with a red or yellow aril. The contrast of Dick Eussen, when working as a team nestlings. the yellow capsule, the red aril and the leader in a fire department in Kakadu in black seed presumably attracts birds, the 1980s, recalled an occasion when they were trying to restrict a fire to one This extended type of family life is which love the seeds of this plant. Currawongs, fig birds and other fruit- side of a road. Kites were swooping on relatively common in Australian birds, insects and other animals as they and is practised by at least 80 different eating birds flock to the tree when they escaped the fire but then Dick noticed a species. It is thought that a lack of kite flying across the track with “what seasonal food abundance is the reason, are available. The fruits are not edible resembled a smoking stick in one of its the young also learning valuable child- claws. It dropped the object on the other rearing skills while helping to promote for humans, however. side of the track and smoke began to their genes (the aim of all breeding) in curl up from the dry grass.” Dick noticed the form of brothers and sisters. The that at least two other kites were adept bigger and noisier the group, the more at picking up smouldering sticks, up to likely they are to claim a good territory. 20cm long, and dropping them on the The majority of water-rat litters are born other side of the track. Seven spot fires, While laughing kookaburras live in the in the warmer months. Females can which could not be explained in any east, blue-winged kookaburras (above) reach maturity at the age of four months other way, had to be extinguished. are present across the savannas. Their and may produce up to five litters a Although initially sceptical, two predominantly blue wings and the blue year. Most nests are built in tunnels in members of his team subsequently tail of the male distinguish this species banks. Three or four young are reported this behaviour on different as well as their particularly unpleasant produced and stay with their mothers occasions. Dick later observed a kite howling, raucous call which is quite for about two months. successfully carrying a lit stick across unlike laughter. They also form larger the Arnhem Highway. family groups, numbering up to 12. This With broad, partially webbed feet, this species prefers termite mounds and animal is well-suited to a semi-aquatic Dick Eussen says that the birds he saw boab trees for nesting. lifestyle. (Marsupials do not live in exhibiting this behaviour were whistling water because their pouches would get kites but Denise Angelo thought they Bruce Henderson is seeking flooded.) In poor light it is sometimes were black kites. It is possible that both information about Clyde Coleman, mistaken for a platypus, but the white species are involved. Most reports have arachnologist and former president of tip to its tail reveals its true identity. The come from the Arnhem Land to the North Queensland Naturalists water-rat feeds on any suitably sized Katherine region of the Northern Club, who died in Edmonton, south prey found in or near water – including Territory, with one from Lakefield cane toads. It deals with these toxic of Cairns, in April 1981. He is National Park in Queensland. Scepticism pests by flipping them over and eating has been expressed about whether the particularly interested in items from the internal organs without contacting birds are actually deliberately spreading scrap books and/or old newspaper the poisonous skin on the back, leaving fires, but it is difficult to explain their clippings, particularly for 1960-1981. disembowelled corpses at behaviour in any other way. They If you have any information please the sides of certainly are not collecting nesting contact Bruce Henderson, 27 waterholes. material! They choose sticks which are Crichton Drive, Port Augusta, West smouldering, rather than actively SA 5700; Ph: (08) 8642 5930; Mob: burning, and drop them quite quickly, as 0400 103 898; e-mail: soon as they reach an unburnt area. [email protected] Observers do not believe that they have mistaken the sticks for burnt prey. 77 BOOKSHELF
Australian snakes A natural history Nature Australia Vol 26 No 9 Papers Richard Shine Snake penises White, J. (1991) Snake bite: an Australian Reed Books (1994) Scott Keogh perspective Review Journal of Wilderness Medicine 2, pp219-244 Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia Nature Australia Vol 26 No 10 Harold G. Cogger A coil to account (brown tree snakes) **Barrett, R. and Little, M. (1993) Five Reed New Holland (2000) Steve van Dyck years of snake envenoming in far north Queensland. Emergency Medicine 15(5-6): A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia Nature Australia Vol 27 No 3 500. S. Wilson and G. Swan The Serpent Dreamtime (snake evolution) Reed New Holland (2003) John Scanlon and Michael Lee Gavin S. Bedford and Keith A. Christian The energetics of brooding in Australian Encyclopedia of Australian Animals: Nature Australia Vol 27 No 9 pythons Reptiles Crab-cracking snakes (submitted) Journal of Thermal Biology Harald Ehmann Angus & Robertson (1992) Ecos 103 April-June 2000 Web links Walking with snakes Australia’s Venomous Snakes: The Australian Tropical Reptiles and Frogs Steve Davidson Modern Myth or Are You A Man Or A Clifford and Dawn Frith An article on human responses to snakes. Mouse? Brian Bush
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