G'day, you mob! What is going on?
Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, I am reacting to 10 Most Dangerous
Animals Down Under in Australia today from the YouTube channel Top
Five Best. And that is why the backdrop light here is blood
red. So we are going to learn a heap about the
deadliest Australian animals.
As you may know, I have a doctorate, a PhD in biology, so I thought I would watch
this and react to it and maybe give you a little bit of reality when we see some of these
animals. So anyway, let's get into it.
If you're an avid traveller, I know you've probably added Australia to the list of places you want
to visit. Only if you haven't already visited it yet.
But I also know a lot of you are probably scared of visiting this massive country due to the bad
reputation a lot of the animals that live there have.
These animals have this bad reputation because of, I would say, nature TV shows
like this that are a bit sensationalist in order to get more views.
After all, a lot of the animals that live in Australia are very unique to that part of the world,
and inexperienced visitors might find a lot of these creatures to be frightening and intimidating.
Today, we're going to be looking at 10 of the most dangerous animals in Australia, so you all can
learn more about these crea-.
The dinosaurs are definitely the worst here in Australia.
They'll get you!
Creatures and know what to do if you ever see one of them.
Stay with me all the way to number one and learn the truth about the most dangerous animal in
Australia. With all that said and done, let's begin, shall we?
Number 10. Sydney Funnel Web spider.
With a size as small as five centimetres, this little spider likes to hide in cool, humid
environments.
That includes rocks, logs and, well, your shoes.
That's a true story.
So yeah, if you are not careful when you come to or live around Sydney and there
is bushland and you leave your shoes outside during, I think I would say
springtime. That is a bad idea.
That is a bad recipe because the male Sydney funnel web spiders are the ones that
go out and about searching, looking for females to mate with, and they tend
to refuge in warm, dark places during the night.
You come to Australia, anywhere you go, and you leave your shoes outside, pick your shoes up, shake
them together, bash them together and, you know, hold them upside down.
Shake anything that would be in there out before you put them back on your feet.
Yes, if you plan to visit Australia, make sure you always check your shoes before you put them on.
It is known that these spiders love to make a home inside of your house with the weather outside is
far too hot for them.
And if you're one of those that like to spray threatening animals with water, I must warn you that
ain't going to work. Who would spray spiders with water?
I'm going to be using insecticide or a shovel.
The devil, where are you?
The other thing here is that these spiders are incredibly
aggressive, so if you attack them, if you come at them, you will see them
give that- were startled, or response where they lift their legs up like this and their fangs come
out, the venom drips from the fangs.
So they are an incredibly fearsome animal.
But the good news is they haven't killed anyone since the 70s, so no
one has actually died from a Sydney funnel web spider bite in what's that over
40 years.
So they are definitely not one of Australia's most dangerous animals.
They have incredibly toxic venom.
Bonus fact for you: The strange thing about their venom is that by evolutionary
chance, it happens to be effective against primates.
So if they were to bite monkeys, apes or humans, we can die.
If they bite dogs or cats, it's harmless.
Doesn't hurt them at all.
So there you go. Funnel webs.
Don't worry too much about them.
They're not going to get you. And you shouldn't try that anyway, because that's, I don't know, kind
of a jerk move. But anyway, these spiders can survive under water for a long time
just by catching air bubbles right next to their skin.
That's another interesting fact about them.
They have hairs on their body, right, so they can trap air against their skin.
And spiders, being invertebrates don't have lungs.
They breathe through their exoskeleton.
They have all these paws on the exoskeleton.
So if they fall into a pool, don't assume- if you see a spider in the pool, that it's dead,
because they can survive for probably hours or days submerged in water
because they can trap air around themselves.
So again, just be careful.
And also gardening. If you do gardening, use gloves.
Really, really thick gloves.
Number nine.
The Great White Shark.
One of Australia's main attractions are its beautiful beaches surrounded by the ocean and the
largest coral reef.
This country-. Great white sharks.
I mean, we have them here in Australia, but I think we lose
maybe one to two people a year to shark attacks.
So if you were to put things into proportion, you should be probably 500 times more
afraid of driving a car than you should be entering the water.
And obviously, if you want to swim in Australia and you're worried about sharks, go to
main beaches where there are surf lifesavers and there's helicopters around, you know, doing shark
checks. And if you hear the shark warning, the siren going off, get out of the water.
But yeah, again, you could probably spend your entire life going to beaches in
Australia and intentionally swimming in these beaches and trying to be attacked
by a shark. And it would never happen.
Okay, so again, they're dangerous.
Yeah, if you get bitten by one, you know your odds of surviving are probably pretty low compared to
being bitten by, I don't know, a ferret or a mouse.
But it's going to be very, very rare that you'll ever come into contact with a great white.
He welcomes lots of beach enthusiasts that are ready and willing to swim, surf or just chill by the
water and have a great time.
However, even fun places in Australia come with dangerous animals.
A simple swim or surfing session in the wrong spot can easily turn into a scene out of Jaws,
as the Great White Shark makes his way to the ocean while everyone tries to run out of the water.
But we should make one thing clear.
Hollywood hasn't made justice of these sharks.
Yes, they are dangerous, and yes, they have caused some fatalities.
However, they're not necessarily man-eaters.
When it comes to humans and great white sharks, there are only five deadly encounters per year
around the world. There you go.
Five deadly encounters around the world each year.
The other interesting thing is, yeah, they aren't that attracted to humans.
I think from what I understand, they will bite.
They don't have any hands so they investigate everything with their teeth, right?
So they will give you a nip, which for them is just sort of like a "eh".
And for you, it's your leg coming off.
Help! Help! They may just leave you to bleed out afterwards because they're like, Ugh, this guy
doesn't taste good.
So don't worry about them hunting you down in the water because they have a taste for
human flesh. Again, just- it's just not going to happen.
A lot of the times the innocent shark mistakes surfers for sea lions, but trust me, they wouldn't
attack them if they knew it's just a human trying to stand on a surfboard.
So don't let sharks keep you from enjoying the beach.
Just make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings.
Here's one of those things, though.
Sharks just elicit this primal fear.
I am terrified, as well, of shark attacks.
I can't imagine being in that situation, so I understand why people don't like them and it gives
them the willies. Number eight.
The tiger snake.
A lot of the time-. How did the tiger snake get on here?
Out of all the snakes?
I guess it must be one that humans come into contact with the most in Australia.
But again, I would be very, very surprised if there are even a
single death a year from tiger snakes.
The snake that should be on here is the eastern brown snake, because that's the one that
causes the most number of deaths, which again, is like a one a year.
Times when I talk about snakes, I try to keep you calm and reassure you that snakes are not likely
to hurt you. I mean, some of them actually make for some great pets.
But when it comes to brown snakes in Australia, I can't easily say the same.
So the brown snake is a tiger snake, you just said.
I do have a few snakes on this list, and the first one is, in fact, the tiger snake.
This reptile is found in the southern part of the country, including coastal islands like Tasmania.
These, I have seen about.
Again, you're going to see these if you go hiking and it's late spring,
summer or the end of summer, the start of autumn, they come out on hot days.
If you make a lot of noise and you rustle around, they're going to be wary of you and run away.
And again, they just- they're not going to hunt you down.
So the only way that you would likely be bitten by a snake like this is if you're hassling
it and you try and pick it up.
Or for some reason, you have surprised that snake and stepped on
it, put your hand on it somewhere, and it just feels like it has no other choice but to
attack you. The other good thing is a lot of the time they give you dry bites where they're not
even injecting venom.
And if you do get bitten and you follow the right procedures and then go to hospital, you'll get
the antivenom and you'll be- you'll be sweet, you'll be laughing.
They get their name from the fact that a lot of them have banded colours on their skin, just like a
tiger. Their venom is filled with neurotoxins, coagulants, hemolysins, and
mycotoxins. But what does all that mean?
That I'm pretty sure I just mispronounced.
What can they cause?
Well, their bite can produce symptoms such as tingling, numbness, sweating and localised pain
around your foot in your neck.
From there, the pain can turn into breathing problems and ultimately, a paralysis.
Yeah, so I've had a family friend who's been bitten by one of these.
I think it was over in Perth, and he was on a farm, owned a farm and was in the shed
looking for something up on a shelf and put his hand around and ended up being
bitten by what he thought was a rat because it was just felt like a small bite.
He ignored it and ended up getting very, very sick, having some breathing issues and having to go
to hospital. And I think he may have actually had his eyesight affected, too as a result of the
bite permanently.
But yeah, it's not a fun experience.
Most of the untreated bites result in death, but you can receive treatment to avoid such a tragic
end. Just like how many of us learn first aid at some point in our lives, I am sure many
Australians do too.
Along with a proper course in how to respond when a snake's venom has entered someone's system-.
Something interesting you may know.
Now, I may be wrong about this.
Snake experts, let me know in the comments.
I believe that elapids, these- this group of snakes,
including tiger snakes, are actually related to.
Are they called- I'm having a total brain fart here.
Cobras, that's what I'm thinking of - cobras.
So the cobras you see in South East Asia, King Cobras and everything, how they can flatten their
throat out. You'll see that this tiger snake in this footage right here is doing the
same aggressive defence display where it's splaying its neck out and
trying to look as big as possible.
And again, not just striking you and hunting you down.
It wants you to go away.
So don't worry about snakes.
Don't believe the hype about them chasing humans down and viciously trying to
savage them. Snakes
will ninety nine times out of 100 bail.
The moment they hear you, see you, or smell you because you're so big, you're probably
more likely to kill the snake than the snake is to kill you.
It's going to bail.
And you can see here this is exactly when the snake has an opportunity to bite me, but it doesn't
choose to do so.
What it does is as I pull my foot back, it gets a bit scared.
It flinches to the side and heads for its last known safe point, which is in the soil cracks
on the side of the road.
Now, if I can get the general public to take away one piece of information from this video, it's
that snakes are not aggressive and they're not trying to chase you with intent to bite you.
Number seven, the brown snake
. That should have been- well, I guess it's higher up on the list.
So fair call. But two snakes in a row?
And again, another snake on this list.
And if you were scared about the tiger snake, wait until you hear about this one.
Hoo!
Doo doo doo! Wait till you hear about this one, guys.
Brown snakes are the second most venomous terrestrial snake in the world.
In the case of Australia, Again, this test is kind of B.S., though.
I've had Ross McGibbon, who's an Australian photographer of venomous
snakes, on the podcast a few times, and he's talked about how the test that was done, I think, back
in the 70s to decide which snakes were most venomous.
One was done on mice and, you know, working out the
lethal dose for whatever it is, the LD50, right.
Lethal dose to kill 50 miles out of 100, and it was never done on humans.
So we have no real idea of how deadly any snake is on humans in comparison
to when it's been done on mice.
But yeah, that's the difficult thing.
So a lot of the time when they have these top ten deadliest, they'll pick things that are very
venomous and that's kill a lot of mice in research studies.
But then they don't compare it to snakes that are likely to kill more human
beings, you know.
So if you really want to find snakes that are deadly, quite often they're not very venomous and
you'll find them in South East Asia, in places like India, where they're killing farmers because
the farmers can't get to a hospital.
Clearly are they are responsible for snake bite deaths more than any other snake in the country.
There were 19 snake bite related deaths in the decade between 2005 and 2015.
There you go 2005 2015 there were 19 deaths so about two per year.
And 15 of those deaths were caused by a brown snake.
15 by brown snakes. The reason for this is probably because brown snakes are found all up the east
coast of Australia where are you going to find farming country.
And so they probably come in contact with a lot of people in these suburban and rural
areas more than other snakes, say the tiger snake down south.
And the other four? Well, those were caused by the tiger snake.
You can find them in the eastern and central part of Australia.
The blue-tongue's just like, No, you don't get me.
You don't get me.
Too late, mate. Around the city of Adelaide.
And you can also find them in some other cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
This is an interesting video here.
The brown snake is being eaten by a red bellied black snake, so red bellied black snakes
obviously are opportunistic, and they'll eat a lot of different animals.
Not just, say, small rodents or lizards, they'll eat other snakes as well.
And this brown snake is obviously crapping itself.
Canberra, which is the capital of this country.
Some of the symptoms of a venomous attack include heart arrests, kidney injuries and seizures and
intracranial bleeding.
Luckily, anti-venom is available, but still, I would rather avoid getting bitten by one of these
. Again, go and check out Ross McGibbon's videos.
He's done quite a few on brown snakes, and you'll see that when he's doing these videos showing you
the behaviour of these snakes, nine times out of 10, they're bailing.
They're trying to get out of the way.
They want you to leave them alone.
So don't worry about snakes, just give them the respect they deserve and give them time to
waddle off. Well, crawl off.
So as you've probably worked out, this video was running a little long, so I have split it into
two videos.
Make sure to hit that subscribe button and the notification button.
So next week, you'll be notified when the second half of this video comes out and we talk
about the real five most dangerous Aussie animals.
In the meantime, if you are learning Australian English or you are interested in the world Down
Under, check out this video here!
See ya!