Taipan & Co - the most poisonous snakes in Australia:

Australia is the continent with the highest concentration of poisonous snakes on the Earth, a veritable Garden of Eden for scientists. Every year, Dr. Bryan Fry, an Australian biochemist and snake researcher, publishes the latest knowledge regarding the evolution of snake venom: according to his research, over 2700 species of snakes have a more or less dangerous form of venom; not, as previously thought, only 250 species. He knows them all: taipan, death adder, the mulga snake and the many poisonous sea snakes. They are all included in his research. Snake venom acts in many different ways in the body of the victim. Some prevent the muscles responding, others destroy cells or act as like a nerve gas. Bryan is keen to discover more about the complex effects of snake venom and the evolutionary development of the reptiles themselves. The latest news is that Monitors and snakes have a common ancestor – and that ancestor was highly venomous.

One key aspect of Bryan Fry's research work concerns the effects of snake venom on humans and potential medical research. This work leads him to the furthest-flung corners of the Australian continent on behalf of pharmaceutical research to discover new species, catch snakes and analyse their venom. Every year, the young scientists and his wife, Alexia, who accompanies him always, examines up to 2,000 snakes. At that rate, it is hardly surprising that Dr. Fry has often been bitten by snakes. Today, his immune system is weakened to such an extent that a simple bee sting could put him in a life-threatening situation.