Right - the blue spotted octopus and the cuttlefish. And sea snakes.

So ... if I should ever travel to Australia, should I invest in a wide range of antivenins?

Right - the blue spotted octopus and the cuttlefish. And sea snakes.

Box jellyfix. shudder

Do not want!

Right - the blue spotted octopus and the cuttlefish. And sea snakes.

And the stonefish (though by no means limited to Australia). And the box jellyfish, which is likely the most venomous creature of all.

So ... if I should ever travel to Australia, should I invest in a wide range of antivenins?

It's generally pretty easy to avoid getting bitten or stung by any of our venomous critters (except possibly the stonefish). Don't pick stuff up, watch where you step, wear decent shoes and trousers when in the bush. Don't swim in northern waters during jellyfish season, and take vinegar with you if you do. Basically, you're more likely to be killed by an animal in the US than here. Wait, scratch that. Americans are more likely to be killed in America than Australians are in Australia. Tourists do have a distressing habit of swimming in northern waterholes without regard for croc warning signs. (Don't do that either, if you visit.)

And if you hit Canberra, visit the Reptile Centre. They have an inland taipan.

Is she, perhaps, waiting for you to break out the six-piece Limoges place setting?

She already won't eat out of people food dishes. So you can see the spot this puts her in.

Basically she will eat (some) things that are handed to her, I guess because it's the only way to be sure.

One thing's for sure. Somebody did a number on her, big time. And I'd like to kick their teeth in.

Americans are more likely to be killed in America than Australians are in Australia.

Are Australians less likely to poke poisonous things with sticks?

I fear for BillyTea. When the zombies attack, I fear his spicey brains will be a prime target. Until then, I will bask in his enlightenment.

They'll have to get through all the poisonous stuff first. And if anywhere has things poisonous to affect zombies...

Awww, man, Toola the otter who fostered pups for years at Monterey Bay Aquarium died.

We saw her taking care of one of her latest charges when we last visited.

Kind of a sniff inducing story. Would make a good Pixar movie.

Oh man. I was just watching something on her (or another foster otter, can't remember the name) yesterday.

Holy cow the screaming when the pup was taken away to get examined. Like he was being maimed and tortured. And then they plunged him back into the pool and they were clinging together and whoa. Excuse me for a second.

Are Australians less likely to poke poisonous things with sticks?

The ones that make it to puberty at least.

Generally speaking, I suspect the answer is yes, but not by a huge amount. (I think we're more likely to take "it might be venomous" as the default setting for things we don't recognise. Because it is more likely to be venomous.) However, bear in mind too that most of our venomous stuff stays comfortably out of the way, so though we have lots of venomous species, that doesn't necessarily translate to a lot of one-on-one encounters.

What swings it, to me, is that I didn't limit it to being poisoned by an animal. We have venomous stuff; we don't have much that will kill you for food. You have genuine land predators that could take a human. (We have crocs, and they truly are dangerous, but they stay in the sparsely populated far north.)

My maths, then, is: chances of a toxic death are pretty similar in either country (rattlers for you, brown snakes, tiger snakes and taipans for us), but chances of a mauling death are greater over there. Not that either country is exactly seeing epidemic levels. Not like, say, the many thousands of snakebite deaths in India each year.