Since time immemorial, humans have consistently displayed a bizarre and frankly foolish fascination

with dangerous animals. Creatures with the ability to injure, maim and straight up kill

us in a variety of fun and unusual ways have beguiled humankind for millennia, but it’s

one particular method of mayhem that we’ll be looking at today; venom. But which of the

animal kingdom’s stabbiest, snappiest critters is the most venomous of them all?

I’m Stu, this is Debunked, and we’re here to sort the truths from the myths, and the

facts from the misconceptions. First off, we’re gonna need to figure out

exactly what we mean by a ‘venomous animal’.

The word ‘venomous’ is often mixed up with the related term ‘poisonous’, though

both words are used to refer to animals that produce toxins, there is an important distinction

between the two.

Turns out, it’s all in the delivery. Venomous animals administer their harmful payload by

biting or stinging their target, while poisonous animals merely secrete toxins passively.

Put simply, if you bite it and you die, it's poisonous.

If it bites you and you die, it's venomous.

It's also worth pointing out that some particularly fearsome animals, such as certain species

of snakes and frogs, are both poisonous and venomous. So that’s fun.

Now that we know exactly what it takes to be a venom-injecting monster, which animal

scurrying around out there in the dense jungles, scorching deserts, and treacherous oceans

of the world can lay claim to the chilling accolade of...

...the most venomous of them all?

Well, once again we run into even more bureaucracy, as we are forced to ask ourselves what exactly

makes an animal the ‘most venomous’? Is it the venom’s potency? The amount of venom

that a particular animal can deliver? Or do we just look at the beastie that’s racked

up the most kills in the all time venom-killer scoreboard?

If we’re looking at the most potent venom on Earth, we need to learn a little about

something called the median lethal dose, also known as the ‘LD50’, an abbreviation of

‘lethal dose, 50%’.

This refers to the amount of venom needed to kill half the members of a tested population,

meaning the lower the score, the stronger the venom.

However, the strength of the venom also depends on several other factors, including who or

what the venomous animal is attacking, and where on their body they are bitten or stung.

What may be extremely toxic to humans may have little or no effect on other animals,

and different toxins behave very differently when administered to the various parts of

a victim’s body.

For instance, the slippy boi APARASPHENODON BRUNOI [uh-PAH-ruh-SVEN-uh-don broo-NOY] a.k.a

Bruno's casque-headed frog, a recently discovered species of frog endemic to the forests of

Brazil, has been found to possess venom with an LD50 as low as 0.16 milligrams per kilogram

of body weight. Scaled up, that means that 1 gram of this lil’ rascal’s venom could

theoretically kill as many as 80 people.

But before we throw the book at this murderous scallywag, we must also consider the fact

that its venom only manages to achieve this level of carnage when it is injected directly

into the victim’s abdominal cavity, or ‘intraperitoneally’ [IN-truh-PEH-ruh-tuh-NAY-uh-lee].

In the real world, this species of frog delivers its potent injection of venom through tiny,

bony spikes on its skull, which it pokes into its victims using adorable little headbutts.

This method of delivery only manages to administer the venom just underneath the skin, or ‘subcutaneously’,

which makes the deadly cocktail of toxins over 10 times weaker. Ultimately, despite

its ability to produce extremely potent venom, the delivery method and small dosage make

it unlikely that this species of frog could ever kill a human.

Still, we certainly can look at which animals produce the most potent death-inducing juices,

and my my, what a motley crew of assassins we have before us.

We have animals like the black mamba, so called for the inky black inside of its mouth, which

possesses venom that can kill humans in less than 15 minutes and also happens to be the

world’s fastest land snake, capable of moving at speeds of almost 20 kilometres (or about

12 miles) per hour, with the average human running speed varying from 10 to 25 kph I’ll

let you decide whether you could out run this killer.

Or, we could talk about the snazzy blue-ringed octopus, a tiny little cephalopod decorated

all over in hypnotic flashing blue rings, that uses an often painless bite to deliver

a venom over 1,000 times as toxic as cyanide.

Perhaps we could talk about the deathstalker, which, despite being one of the world’s

deadliest species of scorpion, possesses a venom found to be helpful in the treatment

of brain tumours in humans.

Ultimately, most sources identify the winner in the ‘most potent venom’ pageant as

the gelatinous blob of “hell no” known as the box jellyfish.

Individuals of this species possess an extremely dangerous venom that works by opening up holes

in their victim’s red blood cells, causing potassium to leak out into the bloodstream.

"THE LEAKAGE OF MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF POTASSIUM FROM RED BLOOD CELLS IS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS

THAT COULD HAPPEN IN THE BODY," As a result, not only does the venom of the

box jellyfish produce excruciating pain in its victims, it also prompts cardiac arrest

that can lead to death in as little as 2 minutes.

In some cases, swimmers unfortunate enough to be stung by a box jellyfish have drowned

before they could even make it back to shore.

And so, with an LD50 as low as 0.04 milligrams per kilogram, numerous scientists, as well

as jellyfish expert Dr Angel Yanagiharat have claimed

“THE BOX JELLYFISH IS THE MOST VENOMOUS ANIMAL IN THE WORLD,”

You’d think that would be the end of it, discussion over, but perhaps not, unsurprisingly,

there remains some disagreement within the scientific community regarding the winner

of the ‘most potent venom’ accolade.

By some estimates, the venom of Australia’s inland taipan boasts an LD50 as low as 0.025

milligrams per kilogram of body weight, simultaneously making it the MOST TOXIC SNAKE VENOM ON EARTH,

and nudging this snake species just slightly ahead of the box jellyfish in terms of potency.

However, some research suggests that the world’s most powerful venom actually comes from an

entirely different and perhaps unexpected creature. Say hello to the geography cone

snail, a small species of sea snail that produces a truly terrifying venom with an LD50 as low

as 0.012 milligrams per kilogram. At this level of toxicity, the venom found within

a single geography cone snail is enough venom to kill roughly 700 people.

Indeed, the venom of the geography cone snail is so extremely toxic that it's even been

identified as a danger to public safety due to its potential use in Biological Weapons

of Mass Destruction.

Regardless, there’s more to venom than its potency, as another important factor in how

dangerous a venomous animal might be is the sheer amount of venom it can inject into their

victims. The king cobra, for instance, is capable of injecting its victims with as much

as 7 milliliters - or roughly one and a half teaspoons - of venom in a single bite.

Considering the fact that these snakes, which are found throughout much of India and Southeast

Asia, often bite 3 or 4 times in a single attack, the amount of venom it could potentially

inject into its unlucky target may well trump the more toxic bites of other species.

Even so, the king cobra doesn’t have to rely on quantity alone; while its venom lacks

the extreme potency of those produced by the most toxic nope-ropes,

a single bite’s worth of venom is still enough to kill 20 people, or even a fully-grown

elephant in as little at three hours.

But, when it comes to which animal produces the largest amounts of venom, unfortunately

the answer is far from definitive.

FMost sources list some species of snake as the likely record-holder, offering up candidates

such as the eastern diamondback rattlesnake found in the Southeastern United States, as

well as aforementioned species such as the king cobra and the inland taipan.

Regardless, it’s believed that the world’s number one venom-creator is the gaboon viper,

a menacing serpent found throughout a large region of central Africa that carries around

up to 9.7 millitres of venom in case it needs to envenomate some fools.

Not only that, the gaboon viper also has the largest fangs of any snake, measuring up to

5 centimetres (or about 2 inches) in length.

Ultimately however, producing extremely potent venom

or extremely large amounts of it doesn’t necessarily make an animal the most deadly.

Statistically speaking, many of the uber-venomous creatures we’ve mentioned on this list are

responsible for relatively few human deaths; this is partly because of advances in medical

science that have prevented envenomated individuals from dying, but also simply because we may

not encounter these animals particularly often in the first place.

For example, if we go back for a moment to our old friend the geography cone snail, it

is interesting to note that despite its ability to produce probably the most potent animal

venom on the face of the planet, there are less than 40 recorded cases of people dying

after having been stung by one. Like, ever.

Similarly, the previously mentioned inland taipan, producer of the world’s most potent

snake venom, actually very rarely kills humans. Despite the fact that they possess venom that

kills 80% of untreated human victims,

inland taipans are, generally-speaking, exceedling shy, reclusive, and non-confrontational snakes,

that will almost always slither away from disturbances than throw down. That’s right

- the most potently venomous snake on Earth is an introvert.

On the other hand, between the year 2000 and 2017, stings from members of the insect order

Hymenoptera - which includes bees, wasps, hornets, and ants - led to the deaths of well

over 1,100 people in the United States alone.

This is both because stings and bites from insects are obviously far more common, and

because although the venoms that these animals produce is relatively weak, they can sometimes

trigger life-threatening allergic reactions. As a result, most of the venomous animals

that pose the biggest threat to humans possess relatively wimpy venom.

With that in mind, we can really open up the question and simply ask which venomous creature

kills the most humans using venom, regardless of said venom’s potency.

Without zeroing in on a specific species, once again the serpents reign supreme; according

to the World Health Organisation, snakebites cause up to a staggering 140,000 deaths worldwide

every single year.

Of the venomous snakes, the species that racks up the most human kills is the very observantly-named

saw-scaled viper. Found throughout northern Africa, the Middle East, and India,

the saw-scaled viper is thought to be responsible for more human deaths than all other snake

species combined, primarily because of its aggressive nature and its frequent presence

in populated areas.

And so, the search for the world’s most venomous animal throws up a number of deserving

winners, each capable of killing you in mere minutes if you so much as look at them funny.

As it turns out, the animals that produce the most venom and have the highest body counts

are snakes,

which perhaps isn’t all that surprising given their formidable reputation,

but in terms of the species that produces the most powerful venom on Earth, legitimate

evidence points towards the geography cone snail, despite facing tough competition from

yet another serpent and the world’s most dangerous floating box of goo aka the box

jellyfish.

So whether we crown an ornery ophidian or an entirely unnecessarily toxic snail, we

hope you’ve enjoyed learning all about the interesting and highly lethal world

of venom.