Australian Dangerous Creatures

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OverTheTop

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Are there any creatures in Australia that aren't dangerous?

If you want an informative not to mention funny travelogue about Australia I highly suggest In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.
It is a bit dated having been printed in 2010 but it still holds up well.
 
I have picked up a number of native animals over time. Most of them will try to bite you. If they are small enough you just let them keep biting till they figure out it isn't working and let go. There is usually less damage to me that way. That works for lizards, bats and other small creatures. Some of them are quite sad when they realise the bite doesn't protect them much. You can almost hear them sigh.
 
I have picked up a number of native animals over time. Most of them will try to bite you. If they are small enough you just let them keep biting till they figure out it isn't working and let go. There is usually less damage to me that way. That works for lizards, bats and other small creatures. Some of them are quite sad when they realise the bite doesn't protect them much. You can almost hear them sigh.

Don't let bats bite you. They carry an incredible number of really, really funky diseases.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2018... bite,an iodine-containing antiseptic applied.
 
Don't let bats bite you. They carry an incredible number of really, really funky diseases.
Correct. I found that out after I had one bite me up in the Northern Territory about 30 years back. Obviously a clean bat since I'm not dead yet :).

There are plenty of Flying Foxes (fruit bats) around, and sometimes they can be found during bushwalks. Microbats sometimes get into houses and need to be moved along as well.

I would not let any bat bite me nowadays.
 
There are two things In Australia that really scare me. Crocodiles and Great Whites. I wouldn't want to be eaten alive. That scene in Jaws where the shark is chewing on the Captain really got to me. And the opening scene was bad too. After that movie I would turn the light in the pool on before I went in at night. Had to make sure there were no sharks or alligators in the pool. I was in Florida.
 
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Don't let bats bite you. They carry an incredible number of really, really funky diseases.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2018... bite,an iodine-containing antiseptic applied.
Here in the US, bats are the major vector for human rabies cases. According to the NY Times:
June 12, 2019
Bats are the main cause of human rabies in the United States and have been for several years, responsible for infecting seven of every 10 people who develop the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.
 
Then there's the Box Jellyfish whose long dangling tentacles are lined with thousands of . . . well, really nasty things that act like tiny dart throwers, that when you brush against them, fire their tiny darts into you each with a "Toxin" that seems to be expressly formulated not so much to kill but instead to trigger the pain receptors in the victim.

People who have encountered the Box Jelly have described the pain as having a red hot iron placed against the skin, only it never stops.
 
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