Are there dangerous Australian snakes in the rainforest?

Australian snakes have a bad reputation, but the ones in the rainforest are not so bad...

Snakes probably evolved from lizards and into a very specialized group with a distinctive elongate form and no limbs. This form has obviously been very successful, as 2,700 different species swim, climb and burrow through a range of habitats, from the ocean through forests and grasslands, to deserts.

Because of their wriggling locomotion and their often shiny appearance, many people think of snakes as slippery, however, their bodies are dry to the touch, and larger Australian snakes, such as pythons, are much like feeling a long muscular arm. They have some internal adaptations for their long body, including a long and thin liver, kidneys one after another rather than side by side, and a severely reduced left lung.

Almost all snakes feed on other animals, with prey often being large and alive, and they have evolved various unusual features to accommodate these habits. Because snakes have a relatively thin body and are eating large animals, they have a very elastic head and body for engulfing their prey. The jaws can open very wide, and in many species the jaws literally separate from the skull to swallow the victim whole. Once inside, the lack of full encircling girdle and ribs enables the body to stretch considerably to accommodate the animal. To actually kill the prey so it doesn’t tear the inside of the animal apart, snakes either constrict and suffocate their victims, or inject venom into them. This latter feature has resulted in the evolution of some of the most venomous animals on the planet. This probably accounts for much of the fear humans have of these creatures, however, they are usually reasonably shy animals, and most slide away when they hear humans thumping along a track.

Despite the fears of many casual visitors, snakes are not encountered that often in the tropical rainforest. They are generally shy and blend in fairly well with their environment. Also fortunate is the fact that most of the more commonly seen species in the Australian tropical rainforest are not deadly to humans. Instead, it is groups such as the rear-fanged tree snakes (pictured below) and the non-venomous pythons that are observed in this habitat. The most dangerous snakes in tropical and subtropical Australia, region, such as Brown Snakes and Taipans, are rarely found in the rainforest itself, but rather in the adjacent savanna woodlands and sugar cane fields (so you are actually safer from snakes inside the forest than outside!).

The best chances of observing snakes in the Australian tropical rainforest is probably on boat cruises, such as on the Daintree River and Lake Barrine.