Venom

Snake venom is adapted saliva which contains up to 90% proteins. The role of these proteins are either to act as toxins or to begin digestion of their prey. Every year there are 1-2 million snake bite incidences world wide (including non-venomous attacks), 50-60,000 of which are fatal. Generally speaking the most toxic families of snake are the cobras (elapidae) and vipers (viperidae). Not all snakes are venomous, but most have fangs, other snakes employ other ways of killing their prey for example Boa constrictors use their body to asphyxiate their prey before they eat it.
Taken from http://www.kgv.edu.hk/science/molecule_of_the_month.htm

Most Dangerous Snake

When considering how dangerous a snake is it is not the toxicity of the venom that is important but the aggression of the snake that is important as it determines how likely it is to attack. In the U.S the rattlesnakes tend to be the most dangerous as they hold their ground and are not afraid to bite. In Africa the Egyptian cobras and the saw-scaled viper are the most dangerous for the smae reasons. In Asia specifically in Sri Lanka there are more deaths per million per year than anywhere else in the world, the main dangerous snakes are the common cobra (naja naja) and Russels's Viper (vipera russelli-pictured on the right), these two snakes kill the most people annually worldwide but are not amongst the worlds top ten deadliest snakes.


Taken from www.no-pest.com/kingcobra.htm
Taken from http://www.engin.umich.edu/
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Most Deadly Snake

This is the snake that delivers the most toxic bite which is not only determined by what is contained within the venom ie. the toxins but also the quantity of venom they are capable of delivering at a single biting. These snakes are not always considered to be 'dangerous' in terms of their aggression this is clear as none of the most dangerous snakes appear on the top 5 deadliest list 

           Top 5 Most Deadly Snkaes
Rank Snake Location
1st Inland Taipian Australia
2nd Brown Snake Australia
3rd Malayan Krait South East Asia
4th Tapian Australia
5th Tiger Snake Australia