第 0153 號，共 1 402 號

Coastal taipan

Oxyuranus scutellatus

致命地球上最致命的動物之一。如果牠咬了你，要立刻求救。快速救援和抗毒血清能救活大多數人。立刻打緊急電話。

咬吃：肉

The coastal taipan is one of the most feared snakes in Australia. It is a large, fast snake with a powerful venom, and it lives along the coasts of northern and eastern Australia and on the island of New Guinea. It is one of the reasons snake bite safety matters so much in these areas.1

分布在

Northern and eastern Australia (north-western Western Australia, Northern Territory, Cape York, eastern Queensland, northern New South Wales) and southern New Guinea1

澳洲與大洋洲

首頁

It lives in warm, wet coastal regions, monsoon forests, open woodland and grassy areas, including grazing paddocks and disused rubbish tips. It has adapted well to sugarcane fields, where it feeds on rodents. It shelters in abandoned animal burrows, hollow logs and piles of vegetation and litter.1

長度

1,5 m 到 2,9 m (4,9 ft 到 9,5 ft)1

體重

6,5 kg (14 lb)1

最高速度

大約 8,7 km/h（5,4 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

It mainly eats rats, mice and bandicoots, and will take birds when it has the chance. It scans for prey with its good eyesight, freezes when it finds a target, then strikes with several quick bites and releases the prey, which staggers away. This keeps the snake safer from retaliation by rats.1

Coastal taipan 的照片 — Coastal taipan。照片：Sardaka。 CC BY-SA 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Light olive or reddish-brown upperparts, sometimes dark grey to black1
Paler sides and a creamy-white to pale yellow belly, often marked with orange or pink flecks1
Long, narrow head with an angular brow and a lighter-coloured face1
Large, round, light brown or hazel eyes with large pupils1
Typically about 2.0 m long as an adult, with a slender body1

常被誤認為： It is often confused with the eastern brown snake, northern brown snake and king brown snake. The coastal taipan has a larger head and a narrow neck, and a lighter face and snout. In the other species, the head and neck are the same width.1

毒液力量

咬

咬的時候，毒液會從毒牙或牙齒出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

Its venom is mainly neurotoxic, which means it attacks the nerves, and it is also coagulopathic, which means it disturbs blood clotting. In a recorded bite case, the victim became unwell within 15 to 30 minutes, with drooping eyelids, nausea and difficulty breathing. Some victims have also lost their sense of smell for a time.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 致命世界上最危險的動物之一。

It is considered one of the most dangerous snakes in the region and is classified by the World Health Organization as a snake of medical importance. Several deaths were recorded from its bites in the 1930s and 1940s, and more were added later as historical cases.1

好消息：醫生有藥（抗毒血清）或治療方法。1

牠害怕時會做什麼？

It tends to avoid confrontation but becomes highly defensive if provoked.1

如果牠咬人

Any suspected bite needs urgent medical care. In one recorded case, the bitten man was taken to hospital, where he was given fluids and tiger snake antivenom, and he recovered after 19 days in hospital.1
加壓固定法：用彈性繃帶緊緊包住咬傷處，再往上包住整條手臂或腿，用夾板固定，並讓傷者完全不動，直到救援抵達。
不要清洗咬傷處：醫院可以檢驗留在皮膚上的毒液，選出正確的抗毒血清。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠咬了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

牠有多重？

跟 1,5 隻家貓一樣重

跟 3 隻狗從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 16 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長大約跟一隻家貓一樣重可以在 41 秒內跑完 100 公尺（最快的人類需要 9.6 秒）

Coastal taipan 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一個正在走路的人 大約 5 km/h (3,1 mph)

Coastal taipan 大約 8,7 km/h (5,4 mph)

騎腳踏車的小朋友 大約 12 km/h (7,5 mph)

值得知道

小知識

The longest recorded coastal taipan was 2.9 m long and weighed 6.5 kg, and larger specimens of up to 3.3 m are widely believed to exist.1

Its hunting method, freezing, striking and releasing prey, is similar to that of the African black mamba.1

It is the second-longest venomous snake in Australia, after the king brown snake.1

Newly hatched young grow quickly, reaching about 1.0 m in their first year.1

It may have become more common since cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935.1

破解迷思

迷思： The snake hides in trees and drops onto people, and it chases people for hours.

真相： Stories of it hiding in trees and dropping on victims were spread in newspapers and books, but snake handlers say it is shy and avoids confrontation. It only becomes highly defensive when provoked.1

給毒液專家

學名: Oxyuranus scutellatus
類群: 澳洲的蛇
家人: Elapidae2
排序: Squamata
各大洲: 澳洲與大洋洲
寶寶: It lays a clutch of 7 to 20 eggs. The eggs take 60 to 80 days to hatch, and the young are 30 to 34 cm long.1
牠在野外的狀況: Least Concern (IUCN)1
對人的危險: 5 / 5: 致命3