The most poisonous animals in Russia are karakurt spiders, toad frogs, scorpions, and, of course, poisonous snakes - vipers. The place of their distribution and habitat is the southern regions of our country. First things first.
Common viper
This is the most common snake in the middle lane of our country, but not the worst for humans. In general, these creatures are found in Africa, Asia and Europe. Entire legends have already been composed about these snakes. Their lion's share is an absolute fiction. For example, people believe that viper venom instantly kills a person. This is not entirely true.
In fact, not all vipers are so ominous, the largest of them - gyurza - poses a serious danger to humans. It is her bite that is considered fatal for sure, the bites of other vipers living in Russia can be neutralized if an antidote is injected in time - a special serum.
How to behave when meeting with a viper?
If you inadvertently met with a viper, then behave calmly, do not make rash and even more abrupt movements. Otherwise, you can provoke a snake to protective measures. Viper bites cause quite painful sensations, and the affected area swells swiftly in a matter of seconds. The most dangerous are bites in the neck and face of a person.
The most poisonous snake in Russia
Speaking of which poisonous animals live in Russia, it is impossible not to say separately about gyurza. This is a species of poisonous snakes representing the genus of giant vipers of the same family. Its second name is the Levantine Viper. Unlike his “colleague” - cobra, gyurza never warns a person about approaching her. She immediately begins to defend herself, so there are much more cases of biting people with these snakes than a bite of the same cobra.
As already mentioned, gyurza is the largest representative of viper snakes living in the Russian Federation. Its dimensions are very impressive: the length of the body of this creature can reach 2 meters, and weight - 3 kilograms! These creatures are found in various biotopes: mountain-steppe, desert and semi-desert zones. The remaining types of vipers prefer to hide in advance so that they are not stepped on. These include the following types:
- Caucasian
- Armenian
- steppe
- nosed
- ordinary.
The most poisonous spiders in Russia
If we talk about which animals are the most poisonous in Russia, then you can not ignore arachnid creatures, namely poisonous karakurt. These are the only Russian spiders whose bites pose a mortal danger to us. Karakurt live, like many other poisonous animals, in the south of the country: in Astrakhan, in the Orenburg region, in the North Caucasus, in the Crimea. Currently, cases of karakurt attacks on people living in the suburbs have been recorded.
What do karakurt look like?
Their sizes, if you do not take into account the length of walking legs, reach a length of 2 centimeters. The color of the body of these creatures is black, and on the large abdomen there may be bright spots of red or orange. It is worth noting that karakurt may not have such spots on its body. Be carefull! It is the females of these spiders that are considered the main threat to humans. Small male karakurt are weak and frail, they will not even be able to bite through the upper layer of human skin.
The hallmark of karakurt
The main sign of the difference between these poisonous creatures and other arachnid relatives is a small pale spot located on the underside of their abdomen. If you look closely at it, you will notice something similar to an hourglass. Note that often such a spot can be painted not in pale, but in bright colors.
A picture of poisoning with karakurt poison
The bite is accompanied by burning pain that spreads within 20 minutes throughout the body. Pain can be felt in the lower back, abdomen and chest. A sharp tension in the abdominal muscles is also characteristic. A person may experience the following common symptoms:
- dizziness,
- shortness of breath
- heart rate
- headache,
- vomiting
- sweating
- pallor of the face
- urinary retention and bowel movements.
What poisonous animals still live in Russia?
One of the most poisonous animals living on the territory of our country is the South Russian tarantula, or misgir. This is a type of spider representing a family of wolf spiders. Like the rest of his poisonous relatives, he inhabits the south of the country. Fortunately, his bites are not fatal to humans, although they pose a certain danger. A mizgir bite resembles a hornet bite.
What does a South Russian tarantula look like?
The size of these creatures can reach 3 centimeters in females and 2.5 centimeters in males. Their body is densely covered with brownish-red hairs above and black - below. This creature prefers a dry climate, therefore it often inhabits steppe, forest-steppe, desert and semi-desert zones. Widely distributed in Central Asia and Siberia.
Poison scorpions
If we talk about what poisonous animals live in Russia, then it should be noted scorpions. Poisonous scorpions inhabit Dagestan and the Lower Volga region of our country. Fortunately, humans are attacked by humans only in the event of self-defense. It is worth noting that these creatures are small, but quite worthy opponents. As you know, the scorpion venom is located at the tip of its tail.
As already mentioned, these poisonous animals (the names of the Latin nature of scorpions and other poisonous creatures considered in this article are not mentioned) are attacked only for the purpose of self-defense, trying to quickly hide. However, if all the escape routes are cut off, the scorpions begin to desperately defend themselves. As in the case of karakurt, it is the females that are especially dangerous among these creatures, since their poison can lead to death.
Scorpion venom
The venom of these creatures in its composition contains substances that can destroy blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets) and adversely affect the human nervous system. Especially dangerous is the poison of young scorpions. Individuals with a light color have a fairly strong poison, and scorpions painted in dark colors, on the contrary, have a weaker poison. The former are usually found in the desert areas of our country, and the latter in wooded areas.
Wasps and bees
It is hard to believe, but these insects are from time to time included in the TOP 10 most poisonous animals in our country. And this is no accident! The fact is that in themselves, bees or wasps do not pose a mortal danger to humans: a bite of such an insect otherwise can only cause an allergy that does not harm our health. However, venom of bees or wasps obtained in multiple sizes, for example, when a person was simultaneously stung by a swarm of these insects, can lead to death.
Poisonous toads
Another poisonous animal (photo presented in the article) that lives on the territory of the Russian Federation is poisonous frog frogs. In abundance they can be found in the Krasnodar Territory. They differ from their harmless relatives by a very bright abdomen of orange color in a dark speck. Their body length does not exceed 7 centimeters, there are no eardrum in the ear canals, and the pupils of the eyes have a triangular shape.
Swimming membranes are only between the toes of the hind legs. In general, the skin of these poisonous frogs has a tuberous structure and dirty green (sometimes brownish-gray) color. These creatures are active during the day, at night they sleep. The toads overwinter not in water, but on land, occupying pits, holes, or adjustments. The poisonous foamy secret produced by the skin glands, and, of course, the warning bright color, saves from the predators of these frogs.
Toad Venom
The poison of the toad is isolated using its own skin, literally mottled with poisonous glands. As already noted, it has a foamy structure. When this poisonous mucus enters any mucous membranes of a person, a certain pain, burning sensation is felt. In some cases, a person suddenly gets chills and his head starts to hurt a lot.
Poisonous animals of Crimea
The territory of Crimea is inhabited by poisonous spiders and snakes, such as the steppe viper or karakurt, as well as ticks, which themselves are looking for a person. If we figured out vipers and karakurt above, then we still do not know anything about ticks. A distinctive feature of these arachnids is that, unlike poisonous snakes, spiders or other insects, they attack people first!
What is the danger of Crimean ticks?
Their harm lies in the fact that these arachnids can tolerate diseases that are dangerous to us, such as tick-borne encephalitis or Lyme disease. Most often, such diagnoses are made by doctors after the fact, because people until the last moment do not realize that they were bitten by an infected tick.
So, in this article we talked about what poisonous animals live in Russia. In conclusion, I would like to briefly familiarize ourselves with the poisonous creatures that inhabit the territory of Ukraine adjacent to us.
Dangerous animals in Ukraine
In principle, the same poisonous snakes and spiders are found on the territory of our neighboring state. One of the most striking creatures of this kind is the tarantula spider. Like in Russia, in Ukraine there are karakurt spiders, we talked about them above. Another Ukrainian poisonous eight-legged predator is the argiope spider. Gyurza also lives there. In general, the poisonous animals of Ukraine are not much different from their Russian relatives.