Inland taipan
The inland taipan is the most venomous snake in the world. Based on the median lethal dose value in mice, its venom, drop for drop, is by far the most toxic of any snake – much more so than even sea snakes – and it has the most toxic venom of any reptile when tested on human heart cell culture. Unlike most snakes, the inland taipan is a specialist mammal hunter so its venom is specially adapted to kill warm-blooded species. It is estimated that one bite possesses enough lethality to kill at least 100 fully grown men, and, depending on the nature of the bite, it has the potential to kill someone in as little as 30 to 45 minutes if left untreated. It is an extremely fast and agile snake that can strike instantly with extreme accuracy, often striking multiple times in the same attack, and it envenoms in almost every case.
List of dangerous snakes
Mortality (often determined by measured toxicity on mice) is a commonly used indicator to determine the danger of any given venomous snake, but important too are its efficiency of venom delivery, its venom yield and its behavior when it encounters humans. Many snake experts have cited the black mamba and the coastal taipan as the world's most dangerous, albeit not the most venomous snakes. Both species are elapids, and in several aspects of morphology, ecology and behaviour, the coastal taipan is strongly convergent with the black mamba. Black mamba and coastal taipan bites require very rapid and vigorous antivenom therapy as without such intervention they are almost always fatal. The venoms of both species are exceptionally quick acting.