The ten most common, most dangerous and most venomous snakes in the wild in our country. If you encounter them, you must avoid them at all costs "don't court death"! The cobra only ranks fifth!
The most common ten most dangerous snakes in the wild in our country. If you encounter them, you must avoid them “don't court death”!
Snakes are distributed in every province of our country, but most snake species are concentrated in the provinces south of the Yangtze River and in the southwest. There are 174 known snake species, 48 of which are venomous. Among the common terrestrial venomous snakes there are 10 main species, and there are more than 10 species of marine venomous snakes. Today I will introduce to you the ten most dangerous and most venomous snakes in China. Since these venomous snakes are all common snakes, you must never provoke them when you encounter them in the wild!
1. Many-banded krait: the most venomous snake in China
It is the most venomous snake in China. The many-banded krait has very small venom glands, but its venom is extremely potent, making it the most venomous species in the genus Bungarus. In fact, it is the fourth most venomous snake on land after the inland taipan, the eastern brown snake and the taipan, and it also ranks among the top eight in the world's overall ranking of the most venomous snakes (including sea snakes). The LD-50 of the many-banded krait is 0.08 to 0.108, making it the most venomous snake on land in the world outside Oceania. However, because this snake is timid by nature and gentle in temperament and does not actively attack people, there are not many cases of people being injured by it.
When bitten by a many-banded krait, the wound generally does not turn red, hurt, swell or bleed; if there is occasional bleeding, it is extremely slight, with only a slight ant-bite-like itching and numbness. One to four hours after being bitten, or at the latest nine hours, symptoms such as headache, dizziness and blurred vision, chest tightness and shortness of breath, a foreign body sensation in the throat, reluctance to speak and drowsiness, fatigue and weakness of the limbs may appear; in severe cases there may be drooping eyelids, difficulty opening the mouth and constricted pupils; difficulty breathing, along with lockjaw, and the lips and the whole body may become cyanotic, with muscle paralysis, and finally death is often caused by sudden stopping of breathing. If you encounter it, run away quickly.
2. Sharp-nosed pit viper: the hundred-pace snake
The leading figure among blood-circulation-type venomous snakes in China. Its venom destroys blood circulation and causes death from organ failure. Even if the snake is made to discharge venom in time, without injection of specific antivenom, the venom's destruction of cells and tissues can still lead to necrosis of the limbs and amputation. This snake is extremely aggressive; once it opens its mouth and bites a person, it will give chase, with a posture of not stopping until it bites. If you encounter it in the wild, you should stand still and face it off, then slowly back away, and only after retreating a certain distance should you quickly run away. Never make too large a movement, and even more, do not turn around and run, as this can easily anger the snake and trigger a chasing bite.
The famous hundred-pace snake is probably the one that has killed the most people in China. It is said that five steps mean certain death. If the human body survives for half an hour without dying, then for the time being it will not flare up, but in the end the whole body will ulcerate and the person will die.
3. Round-headed pit viper: the night stalker
This thing has a triangular head, and most venomous snakes have triangular heads. If you encounter this kind of snake, just scatter and run. One bite from it, and even if you do not die, you will be in agony. Its head length is about 1.5 times its width. The neck is slender, the top of the head is covered with many fine scales, the snout is relatively narrow, and the scales between the two nostrils are relatively small, separated by several even smaller scales. Between the supraocular scales of the left and right eyes there are 14 to 16 small scales in a horizontal row. Between the nasal scale and the front edge of the loreal pit scale there are 1 to several small scales. The body length is about 1 m.
The body is brownish on the back, with parallel dark brown markings on both sides of the midline of the back, connected left and right into a chain-like pattern; the belly is grayish brown with many spots. It is nocturnal. It is basically hard to see during the day, so it is best to be careful when walking on small paths at night.
4. King cobra: the king among snakes
It is the king among snakes, not only fourth on China's venomous snake ranking, but also on the list of the world's ten most venomous snakes. It is also the snake species with the strongest snake-eating tendencies among snakes.
The king cobra is also known as the mountain ten-thousand snake, the mountain-crossing storm, the large flat-necked snake, the large cobra, the large flat-headed wind, the flat-necked snake, the large swollen neck, the blowing-wind snake, the mountain-crossing mark, and so on. It also has most of the characteristics of cobras, only its body is larger and longer, and when the neck expands it is relatively narrow and long, and it lacks the unique markings of cobras. But its temperament is fiercer, its reactions are also extremely agile, its head and neck turn flexibly, and it discharges a large amount of venom, making it the most dangerous snake species in the world.
5. Zhoushan cobra / Bengal cobra: the rice-paddle head
In China, when venomous snakes are mentioned, the first thing everyone thinks of should be this guy. The fact that an entire snake family and genus can be named after it shows that the cobra is by no means an ordinary creature. China's most venomous snake, the many-banded krait, belongs to the family Elapidae. It should be noted here that although the king cobra also has the word "cobra" in its name, the king cobra belongs to its own separate family, Ophiophagidae. There are several subspecies of cobra in China, but only the Zhoushan and Bengal ones are the most common and have the highest rate of injuring people.
6. White-browed pit viper: bites quite a few people
Everyone, recognize this guy clearly. It bites quite a lot of people every year, and without timely treatment, life is hard to save. It can also be seen in the north, generally living in plains, hills or mountainous areas. It mainly inhabits broad fields and rarely goes to dense forest areas. In summer it generally moves about in hilly areas, and when it is hot it likes to rest in shady, ventilated places. When startled, it does not flee, but coils its body into a circle and makes a huffing, puffing sound, continuously contracting and expanding its body, lasting as long as half an hour. It is also a sneaky one, just waiting for you to step on it.
7. Gray-blue flat-tailed sea snake: highly venomous sea snake
Sea snakes are usually extremely venomous, but their overall ranking is basically not high; judging by toxicity alone, it might move up several places. Whether you recognize this snake or not does not matter much, because you basically will not encounter it. The gray-blue flat-tailed sea snake possesses strong neurotoxins, but because its mouth is small and its aggressiveness is relatively low, its threat to humans is not especially serious.
8. Banded krait: does not actively bite people
This is the shyest snake in the world, and it basically does not actively bite people. The poisoning symptoms of the banded krait are all obvious neurological symptoms: drooling, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headache, muscle paralysis, uncoordinated movement, weak breathing progressing to failure, and finally death. However, its toxicity is far inferior to that of the many-banded krait.
9. Green pit viper: people turn pale at the sight of it
When some people mention this thing, they blindly shout that it is the most venomous snake, right? Then you might as well go wash up and sleep. I think it is already going too far for it to make the top ten! There are 6 species in our country in total, among which the most widely distributed and most common are the Fujian green pit viper and the white-lipped green pit viper. The white-lipped green pit viper is relatively venomous. Although one bite is not necessarily fatal, its toxicity should not be underestimated. In addition, its whole body is green, giving people a sensory sense of fear and making people fear it by three parts. Some sources list it as one of China's ten most venomous snakes.
10. Russell's viper: the kidney-deficiency snake
Mentioning it makes people angry. It generally hides in vegetable plots, and its build is small. The key point is that it basically does not move, and unless you step on it or touch it, it is very hard for people to notice it. Generally, by the time it is discovered, most people have already been bitten. Because its body is covered with round spots, it is also called the leopard cat and the ancient coin window. In China it is mainly seen in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, and other places. Russell's viper mainly moves about in plains and hilly areas, and can often be seen in the fields during the autumn harvest, so accidents of being bitten by it mostly occur in September and October.
Russell's viper discharges 72 mg of dry venom at a time, and 42 mg is enough to cause death. In addition, the venom of this snake causes relatively great damage to the kidneys. Although the bite can be cured, the evil consequence of kidney failure may accompany the rest of one's life.