Why do so many dangerous animals live in Australia? Australia has the most animals with the most deadly venom. The box jellyfish, cone snail, blue-ringed octopus and stonefish are in the top ten most venomous animals in the world, and all live in Australia. Even more impressive, Australia is home to 20 of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world, including all of the top 11!
To find out why this is so, we need to go back 180 million years. Back then, Africa, South America, India, Australia and the Antarctic were all joined together. This land mass gradually split apart, because of continental drift. The animals living in Australia were cut off from other populations, and evolved in isolation, sometimes becoming more dangerous.
However, some of the most deadly creatures in Australia, including the great white shark, saltwater crocodile and the blue-ringed octopus, don’t really belong to Australia at all, and can be found in many other places. Moreover, very few Australian animals actually cause deaths in humans. So even though Australia has some of the most deadly species in the world, it's unlikely that you will be harmed by them, especially as they only bite humans in self-defence. Australia’s animals aren’t out to get you. Many snakes and spiders will run and hide before you get close enough to spot them.
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