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Animal profile

Inland Taipan

Oxyuranus microlepidotus

ReptiliaCracking clay floodplains and black-soil plains of arid inland AustraliaLeast Concern

Field profile

The inland taipan is a slender elapid of Australia's dry interior, seldom encountered by people because its range is remote and sparsely settled. It shelters in soil cracks and abandoned rodent burrows and preys almost entirely on native rats. Its coat darkens in winter and lightens in summer.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-02-16

Inland Taipan

The most toxic snake venom has killed nobody

By the standard laboratory measure the inland taipan's venom outranks every other snake tested. No human death has been recorded from its bite, because the snake lives where almost nobody does and retreats rather than confronts.

Read with evidence →

Inland Taipan | Daily Animal Facts