Victims typically die from renal failure, according to the handbook. Some components of the venom related to coagulation can also lead to acute strokes, and in rare cases, symptoms similar to Sheehan's syndrome in which the pituitary gland stops producing certain hormones. The snake's venom can lead to an awful smorgasbord of symptoms: acute kidney failure, severe bleeding and multi-organ damage, researchers reported in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology in 2014 (opens in new tab). In Sri Lanka, where this nocturnal viper likes to rest in paddy fields, they cause high mortality among paddy farmers during harvest time. This species is considered one of the most deadly of the true vipers, researchers reported in 2021 in the journal Toxins (opens in new tab). (Image credit: Rithwik photography via Getty Images) (opens in new tab)Īround 58,000 deaths in India are attributed to snake bites every year, and the Russell's viper ( Daboia russelii) is responsible for the majority of these mortalities, according to research published March 25, 2021, in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (opens in new tab). Russell's vipers are considered among the deadliest of the true vipers. Blood will also start passing through the body via the victim's stools, urine, saliva, and vomit until they die." Luckily, there is antivenom for the boomslang if a victim can get it in time. As Scientific American describes it: "Victims suffer extensive muscle and brain hemorrhaging, and on top of that, blood will start seeping out of every possible exit, including the gums and nostrils, and even the tiniest of cuts. Death from a boomslang bite can be gruesome.
#THE INLAND TAIPAN SKIN#
When threatened, the snake will inflate its neck to twice its size and expose a brightly colored flap of skin between its scales, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute. With an egg-shaped head, oversized eyes and a bright-green patterned body, the boomslang is quite the looker. As in other deadly snakes, this one has hemotoxic venom that causes their victims to bleed out internally and externally, the Museum reported. Such snakes can fold their fangs back into their mouths when not in use. The boomslang, which can be found throughout Africa but lives primarily in Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, is one of the most venomous of the so-called rear-fanged snakes, according to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Like others in the field at the time (1890), Schmidt believed that rear-fanged snakes like the boomslang ( Dispholidus typus) couldn't produce a venom dose big enough to be fatal to humans. The snake had been sent to Schmidt at The Field Museum in Chicago for identification. (Image credit: Alex Hibbert via Getty Images) (opens in new tab)Ībout 24 hours after being bitten on the thumb by a juvenile boomslang (also called a South African green tree snake), herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt died from internal bleeding from his eyes, lungs, kidneys, heart and brain, researchers reported in 2017 in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.
Boomslang snake venom causes victims to bleed internally.
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