Dylan Zdravkovic is on the road again – this time on an epic journey to find
an iconic species in one of the most inhospitable parts of the country.
or as long as I can remember there has been
one snake that I have had a burning desire to
find in the wild – the Inland Taipan or Fierce
Snake (Oxyuranus microlepidotus). Supposedly the
most venomous snake in the world, the Fierce
Snake has an LD50 count of 0.025mg/kg. This
testing is conducted on mice, however, and there
simply have not been enough bites to accurately
assess the effects on humans. Obviously this
species is extremely dangerous nonetheless, and
you wouldn’t want to get bitten. Fierce Snakes are
found in very harsh habitat between Coober Pedy,
in South Australia, and South West Queensland. To
remain in this environment for even just a few days
is testing, as there are minimal signs of life, and the
landscape is just flat, with little flora. Most of the
animals are burrowing species that can escape the
extremes of summer heat and winter cold.
In October 2018 I set off in a broad loop, starting
from Newcastle, NSW, and travelling up through
Queensland, and then south to Alice Springs and
South Australia, before turning for home. My main
objective was to find the Fierce Snake, but I also
intended to stop at a variety of locations to search
for other snake species.
My first stop was at Gunnedah in north-eastern
NSW; a region renowned for producing cotton, beef,
lamb, pork and coal. The town also claims to be the
‘koala capital’, but I was there to look for Blue-
bellied Black Snakes (Pseudechis guttatus), or
Spotted Black Snakes, as I prefer to call them. This
species is a member of the ‘black snake’ genus
(Pseudechis) which also includes the Red-bellied
Black Snake (P. porphyriacus) and the King Brown
Snake (P. australis), or Mulga Snake, which is
ironically not a ‘brown’ snake at all. These snakes
have myotoxic/necrotic venom which causes severe
muscle damage. Black snakes also have large
venom glands, enabling them to produce and inject
large quantities of venom.
The day after my arrival was cold and overcast. I
went to search around a local dam at about 2pm
and within seconds found a black snake basking on
a rock next to the water. Unfortunately I spooked it,
as I very nearly trod on it, but I did manage to get
some photos. It was a rather large snake and the
Above: based on an LD50 test, the Inland Taipan or
Fierce Snake is the most venomous snake in the
world.
Above right: Spotted Black Snake found basking
next to a dam near Gunnedah.
Right: hatchling Spotted Black Snake - ‘one of the
nicest-looking snakes I have ever seen’.
All images by Dylan Zdravkovic.