Dangerous animals Australia
- Exploriris Travel
- Feb 3
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 16
"Omg Australia, I would NEVER go there because of all the spiders and snakes!"
You have probably heard this phrase, or something similar, before. It is funny to me because:
1. The Australians are so extremely lax about the wild life.
2. The people anywhere else are so extremely paranoid.
Is it really THAT SCARY in the land down under? Do you have to fight a kangaroo to get into the supermarket? 😜Or is it all a bit exaggerated by horror stories and the media?
Let me tell facts and personal experiences you about these much feared spiders, snakes, kangaroos and other "dangerous animals in Australia".
Australians VS European views on wildlife (Warning: scary spider picture next)
One morning I woke up in Darwin and while sipping my coffee I heard some awful news: there had been a crocodile attack on a little girl, 2 hours down south of Darwin. This made me research the Darwin wildlife a bit more and led up to interesting conversations between me and my host family.
So, I learned that the Northern territory has the most salt water crocodiles (yes, the dangerous ones!). Current estimated population is around 100000 salties in the NT state.(¹) Needless to say, swimming is only recommended on patrolled beaches, at least in my eyes....
Before I started my hike from nightcliff to Leepoint my host family gave me some recommendations. They always swim at the nightcliff beach and it is really nice, so they said. I looked around me searching for flags... PLOT TWIST: the flags weren't there. "I don't know if you worry about the crocs, we personally don't so much" , the mom added. This attitude is just the "Australian way" I noticed during my Australia travels. I saw people fishing next to "danger, crocodiles" signs numerous times and in Kakadu (at the famous Fitzroy crossing) people climbed over the fences and stood just centimeters away from the waters edge to take that perfect crocodile selfie.😧
When I talked to my host family that morning about the animals I also asked them about the second most feared animal... right, snakes! Because: what is the most dangerous snake? What to do when you see one? What identifies a toxic snake? When do they come out? Their response was actually the same as my Australian tour guide once said " I don't know, I just stay away from all". Gotta love that Australian "don't worry mate" attitude.😉
So now, back to the more European attitude. Whenever I tell people I travel Australia, they seem to think you have to fight a kangaroo in order to get in to the supermarket. Oh and those big hairy spiders are crawling around everywhere, all the time, right?.
I had travelled Australia for approximately four months in total and I saw numerous kangaroos in the wild and only 1 big hairy spider (at a farm). I also hiked A LOT and saw only three snakes in total. To conclude, the expectations are quiet exaggerated. Now, for your European folks, let's sum up some facts about those feared & dangerous Australian animals. Because yes, there are some dangerous animals out there and it is good to have knowledge.
- Snakes.
"Brown snake seen here, watch out!", is what the sign read in Byron Bay. The brown snakes (eastern, western) are responsible for the most fatal snake bites in Australia, resulting in around two to three deaths a year, which is also the total of average fatal bites a year. The eastern brown snake is so extremely dangerous because it can kill you in under 30 minutes. ² The eastern version can be found in the eastern half of the mainland of Australia, the western version lives in the mainland and wetter fringes of the eastern and south western Australia.
The kings brown snake, or Mulga, is the second largest Australian snake (can get up to three meters long) and has the largest venom output out of all snakes. King Browns can be found everywhere in Australia except for the east and south coastline.
The mainland tiger snake has the most bites on its name. This is mainly because the snake can be found in more populated areas along the east coast all the way to Melbourn and up to Tasmania.
Most snakes only come out during the warmer months so october till april. Anything above 21 °C is the ideal temperature for snakes to come out to party. I now think back on all those freezing days (literally 0°C) in Uluru when I was sleeping in a swag, so worried about the snakes. Because of the freezing cold, it was very unlikely a snake would have crawled over my SWAG while sleeping, feww! If only I knew beforehand.. 🥴 (⁴)
Australia is home to some , so they say, "friendly snakes" . I mean "non venomous snakes" such as Pythons and blind snakes. I actually saw a Python while I walked on my flipflops in the high grass in Byron Bay (on a tour). Very scary. I learned to wear proper hiking shoes and avoid high grass areas from that day on.
Overall, I would like to adapt the Australian mindset here and "just stay away from all" . 😉
- Crocodiles
We can differentiate crocodiles into two categories: the more friendly and less friendly species; the freshwater crocodiles (aka "freshies") and saltwater crocodiles (aka "salties").
The salties are the more aggressive kind, they are very territorial and will even eat a freshwater crocodile if threatened. A "big and mighty" saltwater crocodile will have multiple woman. Its territorium can be as big as a circle with a diameter of 2 kilometers. Salties are very good swimmers. They can swim up to 29 kilometers an hour, where as the fastest human can swim 8 kilometers an hour. Salties can run 7,5 meters per second. So to be honest, stay away not just (the advised) five meters from the shore, but make that 10 m. Because with 5 meters, the crocodile is less than a second away from you. (⁵).
Northern territory counts around 100000 salties (5 crocs per square kilometer!). Queensland and the northern are of WA is also inhabited with saltwater crocodiles. When visiting those areas, be croc wise! Fatal accidents happen about 1-2 times a year.
Freshwater crocodiles are a little less aggressive than their big salty brothers. A fatal saltwater crocodile has never occured, ever. They are usually pretty shy and timid towards humans. However, the can cause injury. Most recently this happened in 2022. At Lake Argyle a woman was attacked while swimming ⁶ ... and in Queensland a canoeing woman got bitten probably because she accidentally hit the animal on the head ⁷. A bit less aggressive and slower than their big brother. Nonetheless, they are still wild animals. So better be safe than...Dea- uuhh I mean "sorry". Stay away 10 meters from the shore, and only swim in patrolled areas between the red & yellow flags and "you'll be fine" * read in ozzie accent * .
- Spiders
Oke, lets calm your nerves here. Although Australia got deadly spiders, there are more deaths from allergic reactions to bee stings than from spider bites. I have travelled Australia for over 6 months now and saw only ONE of those feared big hairy spiders (want to see a picture?). This while gardening in a rural area around Katherine. So yea, almost like I was asking for it, spitting through a pile of compost on a farm. Farms, rural areas and forests, that is where spiders tend to hide. In the commonly travelled (city) areas you are way less likely to see these big hairy spiders crawling around everywhere (yes, I know what you're all thinking 😜).
Now, in theory, Australia is home to a total 10,000 species of spiders, two of them who can actually kill humans.
The first one is the Sydney funnel web spider. Like the name suggests, this spider lives in NSW and is the deadliest spider in Australia. The total of six species funnel web species in Australia bite around 30-40 people a year.
The second deadly species is the red back spider. Luckily for both funnel webs and redbacks, anti venom is available and it works! (¹⁰,¹¹)
-Cane Toad
Officially brought to Australia to kill the plagues, the cane toad became a plague of its own.
Back in the 1880's farmers experienced a big agriculture problem. Little white larvaes, from 13 different species of beetles, ate the roots the sugar cane. This caused the plants to die and farmers to lose a lot of their harvest. One day in 1935 Reginald Mungomery had enough. He had researched different solutions and came up with a plan. He would solve this plague by bringing in the Cane Toad, just like other countries like Hawaii and the Philippines had done. The toad would eat all the larvaes, et voilá, problem solved. So, Mungomery brought 102 Hawaiian cane toads into Australia. In less than 2 months Australia counted 4802 cane toads. Nowadays more than 200 million cane toads dominate the Northern parts of Australia and New South Wales. They "dominate" , kill and damage native Australian species and ecosystem, hence they are now a plague of its own. (¹²)
- Kangaroos
And last but not least.. those big, muscly creatures that are taking over the world!! Kangaroos. Just kidding about that taking over the world part but... Did you know there are 42,7 million kangaroos living in Australia versus 26 million people?? (2022, ⁸)
Kangaroos are strong, with only their tail comparing to the same strength as a human leg. You have probably seen the videos of the kangaroos kicking their opponent. With their actual legs they can jump as far as 8 meters! (furthest ever measured) they can run as fast as a car, 72 km per hour. Very impressive, interesting animals to observe.. from a big distance. ⁹
-Dingo's
Looking cute, but actually dangerous: the dingo. You'll see lots of them on K'Gari and in the outback (around Uluru, for example). There is a reason you had to take a so called "dingo stick" if you went to venture on your own at Fraser island. Dingo's normally won't bother groups and tend to be afraid of things bigger than them. That is why you take a stick to make yourself look taller when your out exploring on your own.
Now lets talk about some actual cute animals.
Unique cute animals
Australia is also home to one of the cutest creatures of this earth (not to be dramatic or something😜) called quokkas. These animals almost only distinctively live on rottnest island. Rottnest lends its name to these animals actually. Because a Dutch explorer saw the animals and thought it were rats (Dutch word "ratten" ) the island got called "ratteneiland" (rats island) which translates to "rottnest island" nowadays.
Okay I also just quickly have to mention the wombat and koala in here. With the koala being my absolute favorite.
TIP: you can see many wild koalas on magnetic island!
There is another GREAT animal we haven't talked about yett, which in Australia got second worlds largest population of. Curious which animal this is? You can read it in my blog about Broome..
So, to conclude. Australia is home to a lot of unique, different animals, some are cute, some are dangerous. The kangaroos hop along side the road but are not awaiting you in the city centre in front of that supermarket.😉(and neither are those big hairy spiders). You do not have any reason to be afraid 24/7 about these dangerous species. Just use common sense (NO you can not pet that little snakey 😉), be aware in rural areas like farms, swim only in patrolled areas between the red & yellow flags and educate yourself a bit on the wildlife (which I'm assuming you just did if you read this article).
Resources
3. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2012/07/australias-10-most-dangerous-snakes/
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