6 ms·

Stories like this make me wonder why anyone lives in Australia, since virtually everything seems to want to kill you. Or perhaps Aussies are tougher than the re

Stories like this make me wonder why anyone lives in Australia, since virtually everything seems to want to kill you. Or perhaps Aussies are tougher than the rest of us.

llamaLord 3y ago
To be fair... There are at least... 3... Animals here that aren't explicitly trying to kill us. It's really not that bad. Just don't go into the warm water or the box jellyfish will get you. Keep an eye out for Sting-rays too... Nobody wants to go out like old-mate Steve. Oh and don't go into the cold water either, blue-ringed octopus... Nasty buggers. Rivers too... Not a great idea... Crocks are pretty nippy when they're hungry. Creeks are pretty safe... Except for those duck-billed, beaver looking mother-fuckers with their poisonous spurs everywhere... (platypus). Best to avoid the dessert too... Taipan's are pretty nasty. Oh and the fire ants... Come to think of it, the bush has Tiger Snakes... Probably should avoid that too... Just stay at home... ... Oh... And keep an eye out for the spiders... They really like being indoors where you sleep... Will also kill you... The main thing to remember though... The true threat... Our sworn enemy for all eternity... Our nations true oppressors... Those fucking Emus.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
  You missed out the deadly drop-bears
  - llamaLord 3y ago
    And the Combat-Emu https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary
    - techdragon 3y ago
      never heard it called a combat emu… But also, these guys are like… A+ proof of dinosaur’s evolution into birds… you can pretty much picture Cassowaries in place of the raptors in Jurassic park… Some extra Cassowary info. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/10/jungle-royalty-the-enigmatic-cassowary/ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019... https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/how-dangerous-are-cassowaries-really/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/how-da...
      - llamaLord 3y ago
        "Combat Emu" is my personal contribution to the Aussie lexicon (at least as far as I'm aware). I figured it's appropriate...
  - zabzonk 3y ago
    luckily, the really deadly cassaworys have not yet learned to swim
    - mojo74 3y ago
      And forgotten how to fly
      - zabzonk 3y ago
        should have thought of that :-) annecdote: i once went for a job at edinburgh university zoology department (i would have been about 19 at the time), and was confronted with a mostly disected mess. interviewer: what do you make of that? me: it looks like a badly disected cassowary. it was a cassowary (where from, who knows - they don't roam wild on arthur seat) and i didn't get the job (good).
- salgernon 3y ago
  I love Terry Pratchett’s description of XXXX - the Australian analogue in his book “The Last Continent”. While a book on deadly native animals would encompass several volumes, the “book” of safe animals was a single page that listed “some of the sheep.”
- nirav72 3y ago
  Don’t forget the dangerous snails. https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/natural-and-built-environments/articles/killer-snails-working-with-deadly-sea-creatures https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/natural-and-built-environ...
- llamaLord 3y ago
  Oh one really important one I forgot to mention... The Eagles that LITERALLY RAIN FIRE FROM THE SKY... https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/viral/australian-birds-spreading-fire-catch-prey/a6f2efdc-25b1-4ff9-b50e-5b9a79ef86a3 https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/viral/australian-birds...
tonetheman 3y ago
[dead]
tomhoward 3y ago
It's often said, but really, the way it's reported in international media is very sensationalist; the things that are deadly are just not common in areas where people live and travel. Yes, sure, we have some deadly snakes, spiders, crocodiles, a few plants like in the OP, etc. But so do many other countries/regions around the world, including the USA. In practice, the vast majority of Australians never have any contact with them, and actual cases of people being killed or seriously harmed by these things are extremely rare, and are much less common than fatalities/serious injuries from traffic accidents, which also have quite low rates by international standards. Australians like to think of themselves as tough, but, I dunno, we're pretty much like most other people around the world in my experience :) Edit: Some actual data: There were 541 animal-related deaths reported to an Australian coroner between 2001 and 2017, with an average of 32 animal-related deaths reported per calendar year. Land mammals comprised the majority (71.0%) of deaths, followed by reptiles and amphibians (10.7%) and insects and invertebrates (8.7%). ... Nearly one third (31.8%) of animal-related deaths involved horses. https://www.ncis.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NCIS-fact-sheet-Animal-related-deaths.pdf https://www.ncis.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NCIS-fact... --- In the same period, nearly 25000 people died in traffic accidents, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_Australia_by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...
- llamaLord 3y ago
  The US has bears and mountain lions and shit, which are legitimately pretty dangerous. That being said, they never lost a war against their wildlife...
  - giraffe_lady 3y ago
    Kudzu has entered the chat.
    - DoreenMichele 3y ago
      On the upside, it's edible, not deadly. (Not that Americans seem to eat it.) At least not deadly to humans. Not sure what impact it's having on, say, other plant species in The South.
zabzonk 3y ago
my little nephew went to australia for a year, travelling and working. my poor (late) mother was on the edge of her seat the whole time, convinced that he was going to be bitten, stung, dehydrated etc. we used to (perhaps unforgivably) tease her by showing her david attenborough sort of films featuring box jellyfishes.
adamsmith143 3y ago
Is it any better in the US where corporations, cars, trucks, alligators, wolves, bears, rattlesnakes, and most of all other people all want to kill you?
- greedo 3y ago
  Rattlesnakes are rarely deadly unless you get bit in a vulnerable part and can't get medical attention. About 10-15 people die a year from rattlesnakes. Bears kill about 50 people a year, cougars rarely kill anyone (something like 27 in 100 years). Gators while terrifying have only killed 26 people in over 70 years. Cars and humans are far worse. The thing about Australia's flora and fauna is that Australia has such a low population density. I think that if it matched the US, far more people would die from it's creepy animals etc.
BeFlatXIII 3y ago
There's a reason why Britain transported its convicts there.

Stories like this make me wonder why anyone lives in Australia, since virtually everything seems to want to kill you. Or perhaps Aussies are tougher than the rest of us.

llamaLord 3y ago

To be fair... There are at least... 3... Animals here that aren't explicitly trying to kill us. It's really not that bad. Just don't go into the warm water or the box jellyfish will get you. Keep an eye out for Sting-rays too... Nobody wants to go out like old-mate Steve. Oh and don't go into the cold water either, blue-ringed octopus... Nasty buggers. Rivers too... Not a great idea... Crocks are pretty nippy when they're hungry. Creeks are pretty safe... Except for those duck-billed, beaver looking mother-fuckers with their poisonous spurs everywhere... (platypus). Best to avoid the dessert too... Taipan's are pretty nasty. Oh and the fire ants... Come to think of it, the bush has Tiger Snakes... Probably should avoid that too... Just stay at home... ... Oh... And keep an eye out for the spiders... They really like being indoors where you sleep... Will also kill you... The main thing to remember though... The true threat... Our sworn enemy for all eternity... Our nations true oppressors... Those fucking Emus.

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
You missed out the deadly drop-bears
- llamaLord 3y ago
  And the Combat-Emu https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary
  - techdragon 3y ago
    never heard it called a combat emu… But also, these guys are like… A+ proof of dinosaur’s evolution into birds… you can pretty much picture Cassowaries in place of the raptors in Jurassic park… Some extra Cassowary info. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/10/jungle-royalty-the-enigmatic-cassowary/ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019... https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/how-dangerous-are-cassowaries-really/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/how-da...
    - llamaLord 3y ago
      "Combat Emu" is my personal contribution to the Aussie lexicon (at least as far as I'm aware). I figured it's appropriate...
- zabzonk 3y ago
  luckily, the really deadly cassaworys have not yet learned to swim
  - mojo74 3y ago
    And forgotten how to fly
    - zabzonk 3y ago
      should have thought of that :-) annecdote: i once went for a job at edinburgh university zoology department (i would have been about 19 at the time), and was confronted with a mostly disected mess. interviewer: what do you make of that? me: it looks like a badly disected cassowary. it was a cassowary (where from, who knows - they don't roam wild on arthur seat) and i didn't get the job (good).
salgernon 3y ago
I love Terry Pratchett’s description of XXXX - the Australian analogue in his book “The Last Continent”. While a book on deadly native animals would encompass several volumes, the “book” of safe animals was a single page that listed “some of the sheep.”
nirav72 3y ago
Don’t forget the dangerous snails. https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/natural-and-built-environments/articles/killer-snails-working-with-deadly-sea-creatures https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/natural-and-built-environ...
llamaLord 3y ago
Oh one really important one I forgot to mention... The Eagles that LITERALLY RAIN FIRE FROM THE SKY... https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/viral/australian-birds-spreading-fire-catch-prey/a6f2efdc-25b1-4ff9-b50e-5b9a79ef86a3 https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/viral/australian-birds...

tonetheman 3y ago

[dead]

tomhoward 3y ago

It's often said, but really, the way it's reported in international media is very sensationalist; the things that are deadly are just not common in areas where people live and travel. Yes, sure, we have some deadly snakes, spiders, crocodiles, a few plants like in the OP, etc. But so do many other countries/regions around the world, including the USA. In practice, the vast majority of Australians never have any contact with them, and actual cases of people being killed or seriously harmed by these things are extremely rare, and are much less common than fatalities/serious injuries from traffic accidents, which also have quite low rates by international standards. Australians like to think of themselves as tough, but, I dunno, we're pretty much like most other people around the world in my experience :) Edit: Some actual data: There were 541 animal-related deaths reported to an Australian coroner between 2001 and 2017, with an average of 32 animal-related deaths reported per calendar year. Land mammals comprised the majority (71.0%) of deaths, followed by reptiles and amphibians (10.7%) and insects and invertebrates (8.7%). ... Nearly one third (31.8%) of animal-related deaths involved horses. https://www.ncis.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NCIS-fact-sheet-Animal-related-deaths.pdf https://www.ncis.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NCIS-fact... --- In the same period, nearly 25000 people died in traffic accidents, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_Australia_by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...

llamaLord 3y ago
The US has bears and mountain lions and shit, which are legitimately pretty dangerous. That being said, they never lost a war against their wildlife...
- giraffe_lady 3y ago
  Kudzu has entered the chat.
  - DoreenMichele 3y ago
    On the upside, it's edible, not deadly. (Not that Americans seem to eat it.) At least not deadly to humans. Not sure what impact it's having on, say, other plant species in The South.

zabzonk 3y ago

my little nephew went to australia for a year, travelling and working. my poor (late) mother was on the edge of her seat the whole time, convinced that he was going to be bitten, stung, dehydrated etc. we used to (perhaps unforgivably) tease her by showing her david attenborough sort of films featuring box jellyfishes.

adamsmith143 3y ago

Is it any better in the US where corporations, cars, trucks, alligators, wolves, bears, rattlesnakes, and most of all other people all want to kill you?

greedo 3y ago
Rattlesnakes are rarely deadly unless you get bit in a vulnerable part and can't get medical attention. About 10-15 people die a year from rattlesnakes. Bears kill about 50 people a year, cougars rarely kill anyone (something like 27 in 100 years). Gators while terrifying have only killed 26 people in over 70 years. Cars and humans are far worse. The thing about Australia's flora and fauna is that Australia has such a low population density. I think that if it matched the US, far more people would die from it's creepy animals etc.

BeFlatXIII 3y ago

There's a reason why Britain transported its convicts there.