Skip to content

Venomous animals

Venomous animals deliver venom through a specialised structure, such as a fang, sting or spine. They use it to capture prey or defend themselves; this differs from being poisonous when touched or eaten.

Which venomous animals are featured here?

Examples include cobras, rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, jellyfish, stingrays, honey bees and wasps. Their venoms, delivery structures and effects differ.

bee

BeeApis (honey bees)

Black mamba with raised head and the dark interior of its open mouth visible

Black mambaDendroaspis polylepis

Glossy black widow spider with a red hourglass mark on its abdomen

Black widow spiderLatrodectus

cobra

CobraNaja and other hooded elapid snakes

Coiled European adder among grasses, showing its zigzag pattern

Common European adderVipera berus

Common toad with warty skin and copper eyes sitting on a rock

Common toadBufo bufo

Large European hornet with a yellow-red head, big eyes and a brown and yellow body on a plank

European hornetVespa crabro

jellyfish

JellyfishCnidaria: Scyphozoa, Cubozoa and jellyfish-form Hydrozoa

Lionfish with red and white stripes and long feather-like fins on a dark background

LionfishPterois

Monarch butterfly with orange wings, black veins and white dots on a purple and white flower

Monarch butterflyDanaus plexippus

Brown nose-horned viper with a dark dorsal zigzag resting on rock

Nose-horned viperVipera ammodytes

Blue poison dart frog with black spots on the ground

Poison dart frogDendrobatidae

rattlesnake

RattlesnakeCrotalus and Sistrurus spp.

Scolopendra cingulata with a yellow-brown segmented body, yellow legs and reddish antennae

Scolopendra centipedeScolopendra

scorpion

ScorpionScorpiones

European garden spider, Araneus diadematus, viewed from above on its web, showing white abdominal spots and eight walking legs

stingray

StingrayMyliobatiformes; Dasyatidae includes whiptail stingrays

Inland taipan with a dark head and brown body curved across sandy ground

TaipanOxyuranus

tarantula

TarantulaTheraphosidae

Yellow-and-black wasp on a twig

WaspHymenoptera: several wasp families, including Vespidae