OK, welcome to Mount Surprise everyone. I'm Russell and this is Clancy. Clancy is a blackheaded
python. What makes the blackhead python really special is that in the wild, 90% of what it
eats is other snakes. If you're brave enough to come right in on a blackhead python, he's
going to strike and hit your leg. But at the last minute, he's going to turn his head and
hit you with his shoulder charge. It's a total bluff. He has no intentions of biting whatsoever.
But no one ever hangs around to find out. And to change the behaviour of a snake, all
you have to do is change his surroundings and what you can do with blackheads and most
other pythons. If you can just get the snake in a good position and in one fleur of movement
and pick the snake up, put him around your neck and just keep your head away from your
face. Within three seconds they reassess the situation. All of a sudden they come to Australia
where of the 25 deadliest snakes in the world, Australia's got 21 of the 25 and the top 11
straight up. Because we have so many venomous snakes, it's only natural that people get
bitten. Australian hospitals keep really good records of snakes by treatment. From those
records I've loaded for you interesting things. And the first thing we learned from the medical
records is 90% of the people were trying to catch the snake or kill it when they were
bitten. The second interesting thing is 90% of the bites occur on the limbs. The third
interesting fact is of all the people bitten by venomous snakes, over half receive a dry
bite and that means the venomous snake strikes and bites but doesn't give any venom. Because
what the venomous snake is saying as well is get away, leave me alone on the snake.
The venom of a snake is a very precious protein and the main role of the venom is not necessarily
to kill the prey but to start the digestive process. And luckily about 30 years ago the
doctors and scientists made a very important discovery and that was that the venom is spread
through the lymphatic system which is basically muscle movement. The Aborigines of Central
Australia had a first aid treatment that was scoffed at for recent times. And their first
aid treatment was if they were bitten by a venomous snake they'd go and lay down under
a shady tree and they wouldn't move. They had worked out with living snakes for 40,000
years but the venom was spread through walking and moving. We now know what we call the lymphatic
system. Of all the venomous snakes in Australia there's only two that have ever been recorded
to attack people. And that's the eastern brown on the coastal tight pan. Now they only
attack during mating season and it's some instinctive message they get to attack to
ensure the species continues. Once they've finished mating they turn into shy, solid
animals and they want nothing to do with anyone. They'll flee every time.
