When you are in the wild and happen to come across a species of snake you’ve never seen before, you can’t help but wonder whether it is poisonous, venomous, or if there is a difference between the terms after all.
Generally speaking, both revolve around the fact that the animal has dangerous toxins, but technically they are not the same.
Poisonous and venomous animals have toxins that can cause harmful physiological effects even at small doses – to defend themselves against predators and subdue prey. What sets them apart is how the poisons are delivered.
Poisonous animals administer their toxins passively, usually by secretion through the skin when another creature touches, bites, or ingests them.
In contrast, evil creatures deliver toxic cocktails by attacking other animals via fang, spine, stinger, etc.
For example, snakes are venomous, whereas poison dart frog is poisonous, as the name suggests. We are here not to create the distinction but rather to list the world’s most potent animal’s toxins.
10 /10 Indian Red Scorpion
About 1,500 species of scorpions are found in all continents except Antarctica. Of all those species, only a few dozen have toxins potent enough to kill an adult human.
One that takes the prize as the most lethal of them all is the Indian red scorpion. Due to Indian red scorpion stings, clinical fatality rates range from 8 – 40%, most commonly in India and Nepal.
Indian red scorpion sting symptoms include severe pain at the site of the sting, sweating, vomiting, alternating high blood pressure, breathlessness, and irregular heart rate.
9 /10 Sydney Funnel-Web Spider
Anyone who’s been bitten by a Sydney funnel-web spider requires immediate medical intervention within the first 15 minutes.
Otherwise, the person could die from respiratory distress and cardiac arrest. Sydney funnel webs are relatively easy to spot thanks to their glossy blackheads, dark brown bodies, and massive fangs.
They are native to Australia and found in abundance on the eastern coast of the continent. Male funnel-webs have five-times more potent toxin than female.
Their toxins can reach the human circulatory system within two minutes. Symptoms may include profuse drooling, muscle spasms, twitching tongue, mouth-tingling, and watery eyes.