A boldly banded Australian elapid of cool, wet southern habitats, responsible for a steady share of the country's serious snakebites.
Description
The tiger snake is a robust elapid usually 1 to 1.5 m long, with a flat head only slightly distinct from the neck. Most populations show alternating broad dark and pale crossbands resembling tiger stripes, but black, brown, and grey individuals also occur, depending on locality.
Behavior
Tiger snakes hunt frogs and small mammals in marshes by day and dusk. When threatened they flatten the neck broadly and rear up before striking. Their potent neurotoxic and coagulant venom can kill an adult within hours without antivenom, but timely treatment is highly effective.
Range
Distributed widely across cooler parts of southern and southeastern Australia, including Tasmania and several offshore islands. Island populations, including some on Bass Strait islands, are notably larger and may form distinct ecotypes.