Tiger snakes

There are no tigers at Mt Best, but there are tiger snakes here. Tiger snakes are quite deadly, rated as 5-th most poisonous snakes in the world.

They are called "tigers" because of their striped skin patterns.

The appearance of tiger snakes is variable. Colors of their patterns vary in various shades of silver, gray, brown and green so that they camouflage quite well.

If you look a tiger snake close in the eye you will find that its eyes are camouflaged too, so that birds like eagles and cookaburras have less chance of spotting them.


Cobras are famous for being able to "flatten" a part of the body behind their head. Tiger snakes can flatten 80% of their bodies and then stripes on their skin become highy visible. In such a state a tiger snake looks like ~10cm (4") wide flat "ribbon".

A flattened tiger snake can actually fly. When it attacks - it jumps up about 1m high in the air and then glides down to bite their victim. My dog was killed by such an attack.