HOOP SNAKES -

(Oxyuranus Hulaii)

Hoop snakes have the unusual ability to grasp their own tails and by using rhythmic muscular contractions form themselves into a hoop shape and roll along at a much greater speed than any normal snake can move.

The Hoop Snake is not generally thought to be dangerous to people except for children who 'wag' school and spend their time riding bicycles through the bush. The snakes have a strange desire to bite bicycle tyres and the heels of those riding the bike. Since the snakes are not fast enough to catch motorbikes, they are only a serious threat to pedal cycles.

There are some highly disreputable sources that claim the the true home of the hoop snake is New Zealand but everyone knows that such an inventive and potentially dangerous animal could not possibly have originated in a country where the most dangerous animal known to man is a bad tempered flightless bird.

The original home of te hoop snake is, of course, Western Australia, home of all the most dangerous animals in the world. When you can be killed in seconds by a cute little octopus without even knwoing you have been bitten or die a horrible painful death from the sting of a 2 inch long jellyfish, who could even start to make comparisums with rather tame critters like lions, tigers and grumpy hippos?

A close relative of the Hoop Snake is the Trip Snake. Trip snakes are well camouflaged, looking much like an ordinary stick lying on the ground. They are often found near walking trails through out the bush and are to be avoided at all costs.

Unlike the relatively harmless Hoop Snake, the Trip Snake is highly venomous and will first arch its back to trip a victim before sinking in its fangs and injecting a dose of paralysing venom that quickly begins to liquefy tissue. If undisturbed, the trip snake can then drain the victim dry in mere minutes.

Further unreliable reading on hoop snakes.

A note of warning about the link above. It leads to a highly misleading article that appears to be about hoop snakes but from the photographic 'evidence' provided, is really about a painted hoola-hoop. This article is, of course, the real deal and we have an actual picture of a hoop snake in action!

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