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[moominmuppet]

How had I never before heard of these? Sole-less Sandals. *want*

Texas ed board adopts social studies standards *weeps for the future*

Sexist Ad of the Day: Your Vagina is a Void

Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating

A breath of fresh air in China: Is the government of China easing up a bit on its official prudery toward

Comments

[jajy1979]

The tiger snakes are a group of snakes, a whole genus, and they range from moderately aggressive to moderately docile. The inland taipan is actually exceedingly docile for a venomous species. Exceptionally deadly but very docile. Part of what makes a snake dangerous is a group of factors that go beyond just the toxin's lethality, and if you want my professional opinion the Black Mamba wins for most dangerous snake. Though Golden Lancehead wins for habitat control. It only lives on a single island and the square footage vs. lethal snake on that island is mind boggling.

Wandering spiders are known to be aggressive, yes.

Box is the vulgar name for the group cubozoa, which includes 19 species. All are exceedingly dangerous, with four particular species being the most lethal. The Sea Wasp is actually two species just as the Irukandji is actually two species. Man-o-war isn't actually a jelly, but a communal organism that looks like one. Sea nettles are also dangerous because they come in swarms.

All octopi to my knowledge have some level of venom. The lethality of it to humans is only clearly documented in the Blue Ring, though that isn't to say that others may not be dangerous. Some of them have never been encountered by people swimming in the wild (dumbo octopus) and most are shy (mimic octopus).

Cone shells and stonefish I'm familiar with. Just as I'm familiar with the spines on the spiny dogfish (mild poison), lion fish, scorpion fish, and a host of other random animals. The area along your eastern flank includes the great barrier reef and reefs in general have a high percentage of toxic creatures including the coral itself. Hell there are an estimated 1,200 species of venomous fish wandering around and a good number of them are in the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Australia often seems like it has more venomous critters, and toxin for toxin I'd wager it's worse, but that's because people think readily of snakes. On the other hand North America has lizards, snakes, fish, sharks, frogs, salamanders, mammals, and invertebrates of their own which range from very mild (can't harm humans) to dangerously lethal. In the end you're just like the rest of us and your niches as filled with a variety of venomous and non-venomous creatures.

I'd not seen that shirt before but I've got a tardagrada shirt that I got when doing research on the critters. Much cooler animals, albeit smaller.

Mother nature is not nice, but it'd rather not have to waste energy killing you.

Trivia, poisonous bird species:
Hooded Pitohui (New Guinea)
Variable Pitohui (New Guinea)
Brown Pitohui (New Guinea)
Blue-capped Ifrita (New Guinea)
Little Shrike-thrush (New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia)