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Comment by bitL | Hacker News Reader

Australia? Who could have thought...

Reminds me of that joke website (is it poisonous?). The first question was "Are you in Australia?" and if you confirmed you are, the answer was automatic "YES"...

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I was thinking the Australian stuff is a bit over the top, then I had a think, within an hours drive of me is the Gympie Gympie tree http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-enviro..., there's a river where every now and then fishermen get attacked by flesh eating bacteria, someone down the road got bitten by a deadly snake the other day, there's snakes in the bush down the road, and of course spiders, so yeah, there's that.

Australians like their badass reputation of surviving on a continent full of deadly animals, but the biggest killers in Australia, by far, are horses and cows.

http://www.bobinoz.com/blog/12250/australias-most-dangerous-...

One of the remarkable things about the country is how few people die from the many venomous species there.

Most Australians never encounter these creatures in real life because work and television. But I do get out and snakes are everywhere (in Brisbane). Also redback and trapdoor spiders.

I'd be supprised if a red back spider has ever killed anyone? I'd guess maybe toxic shock or infection or some thing at some stage.

I'd imagine they do hurt thought, but so would a dog bite I guess.

At least 14 deaths pre-antivenom according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider#Prognosis

Until you mentioned Australia I thought this was Brighton in the UK

I thought it was Brighton, SA until I read this particular article. Didn't realize Vic also had a Brighton...

Every Australian state (but not the Territories) has a 'Brighton'

Brighton, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane

Brighton, South Australia, a coastal suburb of Adelaide

Brighton, Tasmania

Brighton, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne

Brighton, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth

Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton,_Australia

> Reminds me of that joke website (is it poisonous?). The first question was "Are you in Australia?" and if you confirmed you are, the answer was automatic "YES"...

I think Australia must be unique in having at least one venomous/poisonous species of fish, amphibian, reptile and mammal.

Maybe you mean venomous in a way that threatens a human.

That's true of every continent.

Are there venomous mammals in North America? I can't think of one.

Apparently the northern short-tailed shrew, native to North America, has venom:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_short-tailed_shrew

mmhn not. Europe has examples in all those categories for example. Venomous mammals are rare in any case, but a few shrews have poison.

I wonder if in the case of the guy with wounded legs there was more than one actor involved.

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