What country are you from?

[Thor.]

That's me written all over :teehee: :teehee:

[RedVexHK]

*Smiles* I like to think Canadians by default are all naturally free spirited expressive and quirky... especially quirky.

[TheCalliton]

(really corny northern accent) so are us minnesotans, dontchya know!

[dragon6510]

http://0c.img.v4.skyrock.net/0c0/nikolina89/pics/1885106255_small_2.jpg Croatia

[Aranox]

Im to lazy to fetch me a flag xD belgium here !

[monkybuttface]

I've never heard if a death linked to water moccasins.

 

But Steve Irwin was not killed on dry land. A whipray impaled him through the chest with a very large poisoned barb. And you can find those pretty much anywhere with warm shallow oceans.

 

And you'll have to forgive me but I really dont understand patriotism-or nationalism. As far as Im concerned we're all human till we start shooting at other humans simply for diagreements. Some people very easily stand up and go into a raving fervour about their homeland. I dont understand this. It's most common in america and europe-and in very small countries. So I often wonder if those patriots would be half as zealous had they been born in somalia, or cambodia.

 

I just can not empathise with it at all, this hyper possesiveness over a patch of rock you didnt even evolve on. Especialy when it's a puny rock. The one's I understand the least are nations like north korea. Pitifuly weak militarily, with an outdated military and a seemingly rather unreliable nueclear program as liekly to blow themselves up as us, but still constantly howling imposible threats and raving about their "undending might".

 

I feel absolutely no patriotism towards australia. I was born here, but I may not always live here. I only give out my loyalty to groups and people. And on the whole, though I live there, I feel little more than a vague contempt for australia is a nation and an organisation.

 

The only group I feel loyal to without any treatment or reason are my ancestors, out of respect them, and even then, that's something I've been taught, not developed naturaly.

 

 

Well, water moccasins are still no fun to be bit by :( and honestly it is not so much this "rock" as you call it (which is a rock I call home so.... I still love it) but it is patriotism in the form of a love for my fellow Americans (even when I think they are idiots) If we were to all have to move to another place for some reason, I would still call myself a patriot, because I would still consider myself an American, It is just who I am.

[RedVexHK]

Canada has only 2 venomous beasties at least native.... Black widow.. but they RARELY cause death. the bite is hideously painful but unless you allow one to bite repeatedly it can not inject in a single bite enough to kill. Only a total idiot... or someone VERY unlucky would take multiple bites. The Massasauga or Prairie Rattlesnake. No known deaths in recorded history from this little blighter... the bite is nasty and can result in painful swelling and discoloration. untreated can also result in dangerous muscle necrosis. but it is a slow acting venom ...almost water in comparison to the Western Diamondback. North America however has no truly DEADLY snakes other than the Water Moccasin and Copperhead... only aggressive species here... Australia has less venomous snakes... but they are QUITE aggressive and deadly poisonous. The few deadly AND aggressive species in North America are native to very remote areas with minimal human presence.

Spiders and Scorpions however..... I'll not deny N.A. has a LOT!!!!! most are not deadly.... but MANY are dangerously venomous. The Brown Recluse is dangerous not deadly..... but very dangerous. it's aggressive and territorial ,Oddly....... their bite has been responsible when left untreated for serious life threatening complications. the bite is mildly painful and often ignored. left untreated however it can develop into Necrotizing Fasciitis. A rare but possible complication.... one that can kill in very short order. My favorite is the Wolf Spider fearsomely aggressive poisonous but considered no more dangerous than a wasp sting VERY unpleasant nonetheless ....Tarantula like appearance if diminutive in comparative size . and an attitude of it being 3 times bigger.

http://severinghaus.org/gallery/nature/fauna/arthropoda/arachnida/P6104715_wolf_spider_unscaled_sm.jpg.html

[Lehcar]

Haha OP, nobody lives in Antarctica. ;):tongue:

[Vindekarr]

You got that right.

 

Wolf Spiders-Lycosas in particular, I'm torn between liking them and having the bejesus scared out of me by them. I've only ever been bitten by one once, and even then I dont blame the spider, I accidently tripped over her nest, and she bit my foot-it didnt go through my boot, but it still gave me a fright because matriach australian Lycosa wolves are ENORMOUS, and she was very angry indeed. I stepped back as I'd been taught, and she didnt follow, being defensive, but still, if you go near their eggs, they are truly ferocious. I dont blame them though, if someone was risking killing my infants, I'd be ferocious too. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wolf_spider_attack_position.jpg They dont pack much venom, but with Chels that big, this girl could REALLY give you a sore hand if you stuck it too close-it's not the spider I saw, but she looks just like it, similar size too.

 

Here though, we've got just a few key killer beasties. namely it's this spider type. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victorian_funnelweb_side.jpg The ferocious Funnel web(Atrax genus). Now, Recluse are dangerous and deadly, but not a lot of people have died to them. Brazilian Wandering Spiders are the most venomous, but they arent common ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wandering_spider.jpg ) Funnel webs are comon, very agressive (they'll sometimes chase you!) and they've been known to be lethal, quickly. Funny thing is though, more people are killed by lightning bolts than by these. because in 100 years 13 deaths have occured. And none since people worked out how to cure the vemon. Nonetheless, it's Atrax I owed my former fear of spider to, they're frickin horrible.

 

Snake wise we DO have some nasty ones, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Bellied_Black_Snake.jpg Reddies, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pseudechis_australis_2.jpg Taipans, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Death-Adder.jpg Deathers and the very pretty but really quite horrible Brownies http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_snake_-_victoria_australia.jpg.

 

All of those can kill you can probably would like to, but the thing is snakes dont kill many people here. I so often here from tourists "arent you scared of the ____s!?" well I'm not because frankly snakes and spider's have all been documented and hospitals here keep large supplies of antivenom so even if you do get bitten you'll just be in pain till you're hospitalised.

 

Crocodiles are a real danger if you're stupid and swim alone, but really, what kind of moron jumps into a river they cant see the bottom of anyway as opposed to a swimming pool. The only deaths from crododiles are usualy tourists too stupid to heed given warnings. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kakadu_3620.jpg

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dingos.jpg Dingos can kill too, but it's in the same situations. They're strong, hunt in packs, and should be treated like the wild wolves they're directly related to. Two recent deaths, both children, both criminaly unsupervised and left to wander alone in a hostile forest by their idiotic parents. both mauled to death and eaten.

 

All in all you're more likely to be struck by lightning or spontaneously combust than be killed by the wildlife here, unless you purposely do something stupid like try to hand feed a dingo(they're really shy and would feel cornered by that, a cornered dingo is a cornered wolf, and a cornered wolf fights like you wouldnt believe) or jump into a river(they dont all have crocs in em, but you may as well asume they do, jumping in a river = IDIOT! )

[Deleted1217574User]

Haha OP, nobody lives in Antarctica. ;):tongue:

 

Yeah, I know... Except apparently that one user... =P