7 ms·

Australia: the country where not only the wildlife but even the gravel on the road is out to kill you!

by jfk13 4y ago

AlbertCory 4y ago
Best reply on this thread. Everything in Australia kills you or at least causes horrible pain. Even that cute platypus or that harmless-looking shell on the beach. And now this.
- anakaine 4y ago
  No moose, bears, wolves, cougars, or other alpha predators in Australia though. About the worst are wild dogs / dingos, though they typically won't be a problem unless they're in a pack. I'll take Australian dangers over North American every day of the week.
  - bogeholm 4y ago
    They do have the saltwater crocodile[0], which looks close to alpha. Maybe unless it encounters an orca. I bet is has a great name in Australia - any Ozzies around who can comment? [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile
    - zh3 4y ago
      "Salties"
    - dragonsky 4y ago
      Only if you are stupid enough to go near the water in areas they live. Unfortunately plenty of drunk campers have a habit of doing this.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - lmpdev 4y ago
      Salties are absolutely alpha predators in their distribution Arguably the most dangerous animal on the planet for a human (I think Nile crocodiles and Hippos kill more but that's more to do with them inhabiting areas with humans in them)
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    I've been there three times. How about you? Those megafauna in North America are pretty hard for a human to encounter accidentally. As opposed to these: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/australias-dangerous-animals-the-top-30/ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013...
    - worthless-trash 4y ago
      I agree, but the links ratings are a little funky, I can't fully agree with their ratings, as someone who has lived in the bush in queensland, I'll re-rank these how I imagine someone native to the area has sees it. Irukandji (rarer but more painful) is MUCH nastier than the box jellyfish (painful but more common), I wanted to kill myself with a very mild Irukandji sting. The paralysis tick is much worse than a bull ant, which just hurts quite a bit, but the symptoms/fatality of the tick is worse (which doesn't really hurt, just ends up killing you slowly) The gympie gympie stinging tree(common, but not listed) is much more painful than the bull ant, and people with grass allergies get even more pain from it. Oh and stonefish, fuck stonefish. I've seen a tough bastard get stung and bastard was weeping like a baby for hours even after the anti venom. I think the guy almost died from the shock alone. When you're in the city, a lot of this risk isnt anywhere near you, when you are working on the farm in the country near either the desert or the rainforest , native flora and fauna risks are very real.
      - AlbertCory 4y ago
        Wow. I always thought stonefish was say-your-prayers deadly. Never heard of that tree.
        worthless-trash 4y ago
        Fortunately we were off the coast of cairns at the time, so it was a very, rushed boat trip to the cairns and then police ride to the hospital.
    - anakaine 4y ago
      There, being Australia? I'm Aussie, spent a decade working in remote area exploration. Grew up on/in the bush. I know my way around. There being North America? Been a handful of times. Enjoy snowboarding and hiking. Thankfully I've never run into anything on the trail. The guy below me posted about the Gympie Gympie tree. Been stung by one, twice. First time from a dead leaf. Second time from a very much alive and still on the tree leaf. That tree is rather painful. Both times treated with a cold wax strip. Had to ring around to find one on the second occasion as it was at night.
  - rukuu001 4y ago
    Hello, Australian here. Yes, for 85% of the country, risk is small. Crocodiles are the only major danger, and they're isolated to the far north of the country. But they are truly terrifying, in that they are silent and invisible in the water, intelligent, and capable of watching a human for days to learn their routine and plan an ambush.
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      I was in Cairns & a little north of there for a bit. Certainly never went all the way to Cape York. Although I did go on a kayaking expedition to Dunk Island, where there were only four 2-person kayaks, unusually high waves, and my boat-mate asked, "Are we going to sink?" Obviously we didn't. Of course this is all for laughs, but some HN'ers are incapable of that.
      - worthless-trash 4y ago
        Fun Story time. I grew up in far north Queensland, the risk of crocodials are always one of those real but manageable risks in your life, I was very young and remember a family friend being taken by a large one (Search for Beryl Wruck in Daintree), I am very familiar with the risks, but risks are part of life in that area. I regularly spend time there and was canooing one of the fresh water creeks which lead into the river to the sea. I had done a few different creeks a few times to the mouth of the daintree river, this time my wife wanted to join, she wasnt keen to paddle. She took the first half (~18km) of the trip easy, barely paddling, we got to the main river where the water turned from fresh to brackish a smallish (3m) croc was sunning himself in the winter sun (crocs are more active in hotter months, so he was just chilling). Within seconds of pointing it out I no longer had to paddle, "mrs trash" was inspired to help with her part of the paddling. I know that many people here would be mad about taking risks, but its just part of life living in the country.
        AlbertCory 4y ago
        That's what I found so amusing about Oz and NZ: all kinds of fun things you can do that can kill you.
  - shirro 4y ago
    Same. Also if some small critter bit you in Australia you don't have to worry about rabies though there is a similar virus can be carried by bats. I have a shed full of hundreds of potentially lethal spiders and there are several highly venomous snakes endemic to the area and I don't care. The actual risk is close to nil. Living in inland southern Australia the only place that scares me in the ocean where there are sharks, rips, blue rings and jellyfish. The most dangerous thing here is motor vehicles and the idiots that drive them same as everywhere else.
    - astrange 4y ago
      Have you tried not having a shed full of potentially lethal spiders?
      - dajtxx 4y ago
        Can't do that - the spiders are mandatory and come free with every shed. Snakes are optional though. The lethality of Australia is vastly overstated. I'm guessing North and South America are both much more dangerous than here.
  - slyall 4y ago
    I'm pretty sure the Dropbear counts as an alpha predators. https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/ https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/
  - josephcooney 4y ago
    Crocodiles.
  - Perenti 4y ago
    Australian who has lived in US here. I met a wild mountain lion once, and it was quite scary, less than 3m away, and fortunately as scared of me as I was of it. Conversely, I've been bitten by red-back spiders, by a bat, many large lizards and goannas, a 4m python, by a wobbygong shark and by a red-bellied black snake. I encounter many more dangerous critters here in Oz than I did in California. I do kind of bring it on myself though, 'cos of my penchant for picking up snakes and spiders. And don't forget the Cassowary, a confirmed vegan bird that if startled can disembowel you in one strike. Not only apex predators can kill humans. I wasn't aware moose was an apex predator by the way, although they are plainly dangerous.
- nineteen999 4y ago
  Fortunately, over 85% of us live in the cities, due to much of the rest of the country where most of the dangerous shit is being mostly uninhabitable anyway. The further south you live the safer you are generally speaking. Where I live (far south) the most dangerous creature you're going to run into in the city is probably a redback spider, which is related to a black widow, and there hasn't been a confirmed death from one of those in over 40 years. Or a brown snake, but I don't think I've even seen one in the wild, although I know an area close by where they are reported to live. This capsule has been lost in one of the most remote, uninhabitated parts of the country. The dangers of living in Australia are vastly overblown ...
  - worthless-trash 4y ago
    Tell me you live in the city, without telling me you live in the city ;)
  - lmpdev 4y ago
    I go golf ball hunting in Brisbane Brown snakes are extremely common in cities but you have to enter "their" territory
    - nineteen999 4y ago
      Yeah we have a large park with a lake not far away, my daughter and I went tree planting there together for girl guides once. Signs everywhere warning about them, but I've never seen one there. My experience with snakes in the bush has basically been that they are more scared of us than we are of them, and can generally sense us moving from quite a distance.
  - defrost 4y ago
    > This capsule has been lost in one of the most remote, uninhabitated parts of the country. And we wonder why Western Australian Aboriginal poet and playwright Jack Davis, OBE, OA referred to kartiya as fringedwellers (clinging in fear to the edges of the continent). A quip second only to Kartiya are like Toyotas. When they break down we get another one.

Australia: the country where not only the wildlife but even the gravel on the road is out to kill you!

by jfk13 4y ago

Australia: the country where not only the wildlife but even the gravel on the road is out to kill you!

Best reply on this thread. Everything in Australia kills you or at least causes horrible pain. Even that cute platypus or that harmless-looking shell on the beach. And now this.

anakaine 4y ago
No moose, bears, wolves, cougars, or other alpha predators in Australia though. About the worst are wild dogs / dingos, though they typically won't be a problem unless they're in a pack. I'll take Australian dangers over North American every day of the week.
- bogeholm 4y ago
  They do have the saltwater crocodile[0], which looks close to alpha. Maybe unless it encounters an orca. I bet is has a great name in Australia - any Ozzies around who can comment? [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile
  - zh3 4y ago
    "Salties"
  - dragonsky 4y ago
    Only if you are stupid enough to go near the water in areas they live. Unfortunately plenty of drunk campers have a habit of doing this.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - lmpdev 4y ago
    Salties are absolutely alpha predators in their distribution Arguably the most dangerous animal on the planet for a human (I think Nile crocodiles and Hippos kill more but that's more to do with them inhabiting areas with humans in them)
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  I've been there three times. How about you? Those megafauna in North America are pretty hard for a human to encounter accidentally. As opposed to these: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/australias-dangerous-animals-the-top-30/ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013...
  - worthless-trash 4y ago
    I agree, but the links ratings are a little funky, I can't fully agree with their ratings, as someone who has lived in the bush in queensland, I'll re-rank these how I imagine someone native to the area has sees it. Irukandji (rarer but more painful) is MUCH nastier than the box jellyfish (painful but more common), I wanted to kill myself with a very mild Irukandji sting. The paralysis tick is much worse than a bull ant, which just hurts quite a bit, but the symptoms/fatality of the tick is worse (which doesn't really hurt, just ends up killing you slowly) The gympie gympie stinging tree(common, but not listed) is much more painful than the bull ant, and people with grass allergies get even more pain from it. Oh and stonefish, fuck stonefish. I've seen a tough bastard get stung and bastard was weeping like a baby for hours even after the anti venom. I think the guy almost died from the shock alone. When you're in the city, a lot of this risk isnt anywhere near you, when you are working on the farm in the country near either the desert or the rainforest , native flora and fauna risks are very real.
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      Wow. I always thought stonefish was say-your-prayers deadly. Never heard of that tree.
      - worthless-trash 4y ago
        Fortunately we were off the coast of cairns at the time, so it was a very, rushed boat trip to the cairns and then police ride to the hospital.
  - anakaine 4y ago
    There, being Australia? I'm Aussie, spent a decade working in remote area exploration. Grew up on/in the bush. I know my way around. There being North America? Been a handful of times. Enjoy snowboarding and hiking. Thankfully I've never run into anything on the trail. The guy below me posted about the Gympie Gympie tree. Been stung by one, twice. First time from a dead leaf. Second time from a very much alive and still on the tree leaf. That tree is rather painful. Both times treated with a cold wax strip. Had to ring around to find one on the second occasion as it was at night.
- rukuu001 4y ago
  Hello, Australian here. Yes, for 85% of the country, risk is small. Crocodiles are the only major danger, and they're isolated to the far north of the country. But they are truly terrifying, in that they are silent and invisible in the water, intelligent, and capable of watching a human for days to learn their routine and plan an ambush.
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    I was in Cairns & a little north of there for a bit. Certainly never went all the way to Cape York. Although I did go on a kayaking expedition to Dunk Island, where there were only four 2-person kayaks, unusually high waves, and my boat-mate asked, "Are we going to sink?" Obviously we didn't. Of course this is all for laughs, but some HN'ers are incapable of that.
    - worthless-trash 4y ago
      Fun Story time. I grew up in far north Queensland, the risk of crocodials are always one of those real but manageable risks in your life, I was very young and remember a family friend being taken by a large one (Search for Beryl Wruck in Daintree), I am very familiar with the risks, but risks are part of life in that area. I regularly spend time there and was canooing one of the fresh water creeks which lead into the river to the sea. I had done a few different creeks a few times to the mouth of the daintree river, this time my wife wanted to join, she wasnt keen to paddle. She took the first half (~18km) of the trip easy, barely paddling, we got to the main river where the water turned from fresh to brackish a smallish (3m) croc was sunning himself in the winter sun (crocs are more active in hotter months, so he was just chilling). Within seconds of pointing it out I no longer had to paddle, "mrs trash" was inspired to help with her part of the paddling. I know that many people here would be mad about taking risks, but its just part of life living in the country.
      - AlbertCory 4y ago
        That's what I found so amusing about Oz and NZ: all kinds of fun things you can do that can kill you.
- shirro 4y ago
  Same. Also if some small critter bit you in Australia you don't have to worry about rabies though there is a similar virus can be carried by bats. I have a shed full of hundreds of potentially lethal spiders and there are several highly venomous snakes endemic to the area and I don't care. The actual risk is close to nil. Living in inland southern Australia the only place that scares me in the ocean where there are sharks, rips, blue rings and jellyfish. The most dangerous thing here is motor vehicles and the idiots that drive them same as everywhere else.
  - astrange 4y ago
    Have you tried not having a shed full of potentially lethal spiders?
    - dajtxx 4y ago
      Can't do that - the spiders are mandatory and come free with every shed. Snakes are optional though. The lethality of Australia is vastly overstated. I'm guessing North and South America are both much more dangerous than here.
- slyall 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure the Dropbear counts as an alpha predators. https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/ https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/
- josephcooney 4y ago
  Crocodiles.
- Perenti 4y ago
  Australian who has lived in US here. I met a wild mountain lion once, and it was quite scary, less than 3m away, and fortunately as scared of me as I was of it. Conversely, I've been bitten by red-back spiders, by a bat, many large lizards and goannas, a 4m python, by a wobbygong shark and by a red-bellied black snake. I encounter many more dangerous critters here in Oz than I did in California. I do kind of bring it on myself though, 'cos of my penchant for picking up snakes and spiders. And don't forget the Cassowary, a confirmed vegan bird that if startled can disembowel you in one strike. Not only apex predators can kill humans. I wasn't aware moose was an apex predator by the way, although they are plainly dangerous.
nineteen999 4y ago
Fortunately, over 85% of us live in the cities, due to much of the rest of the country where most of the dangerous shit is being mostly uninhabitable anyway. The further south you live the safer you are generally speaking. Where I live (far south) the most dangerous creature you're going to run into in the city is probably a redback spider, which is related to a black widow, and there hasn't been a confirmed death from one of those in over 40 years. Or a brown snake, but I don't think I've even seen one in the wild, although I know an area close by where they are reported to live. This capsule has been lost in one of the most remote, uninhabitated parts of the country. The dangers of living in Australia are vastly overblown ...
- worthless-trash 4y ago
  Tell me you live in the city, without telling me you live in the city ;)
- lmpdev 4y ago
  I go golf ball hunting in Brisbane Brown snakes are extremely common in cities but you have to enter "their" territory
  - nineteen999 4y ago
    Yeah we have a large park with a lake not far away, my daughter and I went tree planting there together for girl guides once. Signs everywhere warning about them, but I've never seen one there. My experience with snakes in the bush has basically been that they are more scared of us than we are of them, and can generally sense us moving from quite a distance.
- defrost 4y ago
  > This capsule has been lost in one of the most remote, uninhabitated parts of the country. And we wonder why Western Australian Aboriginal poet and playwright Jack Davis, OBE, OA referred to kartiya as fringedwellers (clinging in fear to the edges of the continent). A quip second only to Kartiya are like Toyotas. When they break down we get another one.