Deadly Top 10s (2009) s01e04 Episode Script
Toxic
Welcome to my Deadly Top 10 a chance to choose the top 10 fiercest, fastest, most tactical, toxic and well-armed animals on the planet.
All deadly in their own world, and sometimes deadly to me! Who do you think will be number 1 of my Deadly Top 10? In this countdown, I'm choosing my top 10 toxic animals creatures who are poisonous.
They all have deadly bites, stings, spit Ooh! and even sprays.
Not the kind of critters you want to get too close to let alone try to handle.
Ow! Time to kick off my toxic top 10 countdown.
At number 10 the fat-tailed scorpion.
The creature with a massive sting in its tail.
Scorpions are very well-armed animals.
As well as the sting at the back, they have a pair of claws at the front.
Using their sting, they inject poisonous fluid into their prey to kill it.
This is called venom, and a fat-tail's fat sting is full of it.
Very nasty venom, too.
Ooh! OK.
Got to hold my nerve here.
Cos I'm getting pinched, but the pinch is not the problem.
This is probably one of the most venomous scorpions in Africa.
This one here has a really nasty punch.
And one of the most extraordinary things about this particular species is that it doesn't stop there.
It can actually flick its venom at an attacker, and it can be really, really accurate.
They need this deadly capability as they have formidable predators.
To a scorpion, a meerkat is like a T.
Rex.
Meerkats are deadly scorpion-hunters who can dig down into the earth for their prey.
But this scorpion has fat-tail fire power.
It takes aim with its flicking tail, the venom sac pulses, and the sting squirts venom.
The toxic spray could blind the meerkat who, wisely, backs off.
Trust me, this is not a creature to pick a fight with.
And neither is number 9.
The Sydney funnel-web spider - perhaps the most deadly toxic of all spiders, which lives around the Australian city of Sydney.
Back home in England, if I find a spider in my house, I just pick it up and throw it out in the garden.
But here in Sydney, you have to be a bit more careful, and here's why.
See that? That's certainly the most aggressive spider I've ever seen.
See there? She's standing up with her legs up like this.
It's a classic threat posture.
So she's saying, "Look at me, "I'm big.
I'm dangerous.
Don't mess with me!" They use venom to paralyse invertebrate prey.
But what makes them especially dangerous to us is their habit of wandering about.
In hot, humid weather, lovesick funnel-webs often enter houses searching for a mate.
But there's nothing romantic about their bite.
The one-centimetre fangs can stab through your toenail! It can bite many times, and its venom is especially toxic to humans.
It's one of the most potentially dangerous spiders in the world.
And they like hiding in boots! People sometimes get bitten on the foot.
It's excruciatingly painful.
The venom is so toxic because it gets injected directly into victims' bodies and bloodstreams.
Funnel-web venom affects the human heart and lungs, and victims need a dose of special medicine - an antivenom - to pull through.
This, curiously, comes from other funnel-web spiders.
In special captive-spider-milking centres, venom is sucked off their huge fangs with a mini vacuum.
This is used to make the life-saving antivenom.
A single drop can save a person's life.
But I'd still check your boots if you go to Australia.
So, we've had a scorpion and a spider.
What do you think I've chosen next? They're long, thin, have venomous bites Number 8 is the sea krait - one of the most toxic snakes in the world.
These slinky sea snakes swim and hunt underwater, and live in the tropics.
Now, I know snakes aren't everyone's cup of tea, but watch how elegantly they swim.
Each has enough venom to theoretically kill several people.
Happily, they're not aggressive to humans.
But it would be a different story altogether if I was a fish.
It's a really murky, spooky place, this.
Just the kind of place you expect to find a sea monster.
Or one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
The sea krait is quite easy to find, as it lounges about on rocks, waiting to catch its prey.
The reason the venom needs to be so strong is that fish, once they're bitten, can swim away.
If the venom is powerful enough to work quickly, the fish can't get far away, and he gets a meal.
Toxic snakes have a pair of hollow fangs - teeth which inject venom into their prey.
The venom is stored in special sacs called venom glands inside their heads.
The effect of the sea-krait bite is almost instantaneous, so they can tackle fish as long as they are.
They devour their meal whole, and one like this will last for weeks.
Sea kraits also advertise the fact they're toxic with bright colours.
That banded black-and-white colouration is incredibly pretty.
And it's there for a reason.
These markings show potential predators that it's dangerous.
They're a warning.
Being deadly beautiful is great defence.
Which is perhaps why sea kraits seem so chilled out.
Potential predators avoid them.
Smelly 7 is also one to stay away from - the skunk.
Such a toxic animal, the military are copying its deadly chemistry.
Look at that! Look, he's quite a young one, actually.
Just scampering off into the bushes.
I have to say, I'm secretly quite glad.
Because you really wouldn't want to get sprayed by a skunk.
There is nothing funny about it at all.
If a skunk sprays you, you are in a world of pain.
Um, I remember being with a dog who got sprayed a few years back, and everything it sat on, everything it even went close to had to be thrown away.
The smell was so powerful it made you want to vomit just being close to it.
Skunk-size mammals are often on the menu for all sorts of predators.
But one spray from the skunk's under-tail glands, and they soon learn.
This young mountain lion is about to be taught a valuable lesson.
The mountain lion is ten times the size of our hero.
But eau de skunk is nature's most unstomachable stench - a grizzly cocktail of garlic, burnt rubber and rotten eggs.
This horrific smell is so effective, it's used to disperse crowds of people.
Now, did you know there are deadly toxic snails? Like my number 6, the cone shell.
A marine mollusc with a shocking weapon.
It lurks in coral reefs, and sometimes hangs out in rock pools.
The size of a small carrot, this is one seashell you never want to pick up.
For all its sluggish behaviour, it has a lightning strike.
You won't believe how! Watch closely.
The cone shell glides into range.
This alert little fish has no idea of what's going to hit it.
Now, the cone shell extends its lethal weapon - a snake-like harpoon.
The sinister piece of spaghetti reaches the fish and fires a toxic spear! The venom is so strong, the fish is paralysed immediately.
Game over.
OK, I think it's time for a toxic recap.
We've had a squirting scorpion, the fearsome funnel-web, slinky sea kraits, a super-spray skunk and the chilling cone shell.
Which toxic animals do you think are still to come, as we count down towards number 1? It's a clash of the titans next, fighting for position 5.
The water monitor and the Komodo dragon.
Both of them are so awesome and so toxic, I can't quite choose between them.
See what you think.
I got too close for comfort to a massive water monitor in the Philippines, a seriously impressive reptile with a seriously toxic bite.
I'm going to sit very, very still now.
Nose-to-nose with a living dinosaur.
This is a bit closer than I would really be comfortable with.
Inside that mouth is one long line of teeth that are, honestly, razor-sharp, backwards-curving and covered with He's tasting my face! He just stuck his tongue in my eye! OK, this is where I start to get a little bit nervous.
He can move very, very fast.
From there, he could have my arm in his mouth in a second.
Look at him tasting my hand! As I was saying, the mouth has razor-sharp teeth which are covered in bacteria.
And those bacteria, once they actually get into a wound, once he cuts you open, will almost instantly start to become infected.
Any bite from a monitor lizard is very, very serious indeed.
Wow! He is utterly, utterly beautiful! Pretty awesome, isn't it? But if you think he was impressive, wait till you meet his bigger, badder and venomous cousin, the Komodo dragon.
They can be three metres long and twice as heavy as me.
These huge lizards evolved in Australia, where their even bigger ancestors developed venom to attack megafauna - giant mammals.
Those monsters are extinct, but the Komodo dragon survives.
It's now the largest lizard on Earth, and it's the biggest venomous animal alive.
It's like a dinosaur fight when two of these three-metre monsters clash.
Their lethal weapon is killer drool.
It's laden with a venom which many snakes would be proud of.
Administered with a savage bite, the venom induces a critical drop in blood pressure and helps the victim bleed to death.
So, who to crown at number 5? The magnificent monitor or kingly Komodo? Well, even though I had such a tense encounter with the water monitor, for sheer size, weight and its savage toxic bite, the Komodo dragon steals the show.
Now, time to go from my biggest to my smallest candidate.
Number 4, the paralysis tick.
These sneaky blood thieves are found in Australia.
And sometimes in towns and cities.
They put more children in hospital and kill more pets than venomous spiders and snakes put together.
But they're really hard to find, so a vet's is a good place to try.
- Hello.
- Hello! Hi.
I understand you've got an animal in here that's suffering from a paralysis tick.
Yes, we do, it's actually this gentleman, Lindsey.
Yeah.
I'm not a paralysis tick.
I'm sorry, I was expecting a dog or something! After all, this is a vet's.
- It's here.
- Oh, wow! That is absolutely tiny.
It is about the size of a pinhead.
I think there's no way you'll see it on the big camera.
Have we got one of the? Ah, here we go.
This is a lipstick camera, which magnifies anything small.
Sorry, Lindsey, do you mind if I just kind of poke around behind your ear? - Knock yourself out.
- OK.
It's just there.
Absolutely tiny.
The head of the tick is buried into the flesh.
And it's just pumping Lindsey's blood into it.
But they actually have, in their saliva, in their spit, almost like a venom, really, which can totally paralyse the creature that they're feeding on.
It's not just people, and it's not just people's pets that are affected, there's a lot of wild animals that suffer from paralysis ticks too.
The tick lurks in the undergrowth and lies in wait for a fresh blood meal.
It senses the vibration and tastes the carbon dioxide from its victim's breath.
As the animal brushes past, the tick jumps on and clings to the fur, or clothes, if it's a human.
Finally, it's guided by heat down to the skin, and begins to feed.
Large fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are very badly affected.
As the tick bites, it injects its deadly saliva.
The flying fox starts to become paralysed and, without treatment, they'll die.
But some bats get lucky.
They're taken to a bat rescue centre and given tick antivenom until they get better.
This one is nearly strong enough to be released.
You've got to say, an animal the size of a pinhead that can bring down a human, a dog, even a flying fox? The paralysis tick truly is a toxic terror.
Two more are jostling for number 3.
I've got two toxic centipedes to choose from.
The scutigera and the giant centipede.
It's a tough call, as I really, really don't like scutigera centipedes.
They live in caves full of bat poo in places like Borneo.
Of all the horrors that live in this absolutely nightmarish place, down here is perhaps the most frightening.
Oh, crumbs! I have to say, I absolutely hate them! That one just ran over my hand.
OK, right, I'm going to be more gutsy this time.
Careful, there's one the other side of that rock.
This is scutigera, or the long-legged centipede.
I think there's another one on the other side of the rock as well.
So I'm being very careful about how I handle this.
It is quite venomous.
One of the guys who was living in the area here was bitten by one of these centipedes not so long ago and spent a week in hospital, so I'm taking a lot of care not to get bitten.
They actually have, like most centipedes Eugh! It just ran over my arm! Ugh! You see, as it moves, it'll stop and tap some of those legs over the rock surface.
What it's doing is using each and every one of those feet to feel everything about the surface it's moving on, building up a real mental picture of its environment, and if there's anything there that it might be able to eat.
It can grow to be as long as my foot, has a very venomous bite and with those long legs, there's nothing down here that can escape it.
Its toxic rival, the giant centipede, looks very different, with shorter legs and a far chunkier body.
It's 35 centimetres long and is as strong as a small snake.
The poison in its black-tipped fangs is lethal.
It hunts in the dark bat-caves of Venezuela.
It uses its antennae to feel for its prey.
It's not after the swarming beetles.
It's after far bigger quarry.
And it knows it can find that by climbing.
It's heading for the ceiling.
Now, in the darkness, it can sense bats flying past it.
It reaches out into their flight path.
No! I can't believe it's gonna Yes! It's got one! Look at that! An injection of venom from its fangs kills the bat almost instantaneously.
It might take it an hour or so, but it will eat all of the bat's flesh.
They're both supremely toxic and pretty creepy, but who wins? Scuttling scutigera or bat-eating giant centipede? Ugh! Well, although the scutigera really creeped me out for me, its bat-battering venom and superior strength means I have to crown the giant centipede at 3.
Toxic 2, though, is even more awesome.
The king cobra, the largest venomous snake on Earth.
It can reach a length of five and a half metres.
That's as long as a lorry! It can rear up as high as I am tall and has enough venom to kill an elephant.
Not a snake to mess about with.
I'm assisted by Mr Koom, who's been working with snakes since he was ten years old.
And it's just as well.
Even though this is a snake with incredible capabilities, you can see all it really wants to do is escape from danger.
Its first instinct is to flee, to get away.
But when it realises that Mr Koom here doesn't want to let it go, it's putting on a big display to make itself seem larger, make it seem more threatening - and it is absolutely unimaginably vast! This snake is getting on for four metres long.
His head is the size of my hand and the fangs are long, thin needles that can inject huge amounts of venom even deep into the muscle.
That's what allows it to work so quickly and why it's so potentially dangerous to people.
He really is just figuring me out and just making sure that I keep my distance.
As long as I'm exactly where I am now, I'm safe.
If I got a few inches closer, he'd be able to bite me.
The king cobra needs to be very venomous.
And that's down to its prey.
The king isn't interested in warm-blooded animals.
It hunts far, far more dangerous quarry - other snakes, like this Indian cobra.
This is a stand-off between toxic superpowers.
Between them, these two snakes have enough venom to kill a platoon of soldiers.
The king cobra strikes first.
Its ultimate-strength venom paralyses and kills the other cobra.
This is why the king cobra is toxically armed to the hilt.
It's a poison predator of some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Not only is its venom terrifyingly toxic, but it also has a degree of immunity to the bites of other snakes too.
The king cobra, the most magnificent regal snake in the world.
But it's going on my list because it's the ultimate killer of other snakes.
Utterly magnificent.
So, if the king cobra isn't my number 1, can you guess who is? Time for the top 10 toxic countdown.
Tail-spraying 10, the fat-tailed scorpion.
Noxious 9, the Sydney funnel-web.
Elegant 8, the sea krait's great.
Super-spray 7, stinky skunk heaven.
Sinister 6, the cone shell tricks.
Fearsome 5, Komodo dragons alive.
Freaky 4, the paralysis tick.
Terrifying 3, the giant centipede.
And titanic 2, the king cobra.
So, at number 1 - I said, at number 1, it's What do you think? Well, a clue is where they live.
South and Central America, which is also known as Latin America, has hundreds of different kinds of poisonous and venomous animals.
In fact, the most poisonous animal found in the whole world is right here in Latin American forests, but its identity might surprise you.
It's not a scorpion, a spider or a snake.
It's the poison dart frog? The ultimate toxic animal? Dart frogs secrete a poisonous fluid onto their skins.
It's not a venom, as they don't bite or inject it.
These Technicolor amphibians come in a kaleidoscope of bright colours warning how dangerous they are.
Most people are absolutely blown away the first time they see a dart frog, about how small they are.
It's incredible to think that an animal this size can be the most poisonous on the planet.
The chemicals, the poisons that are created by this little frog are one of the absolute miracles of nature.
Originally, they start off in the leaves of plants.
Ants eat the leaves.
Frogs eat the ants and then they almost sweat the poison out on their skin.
There's one particular species of dart frog, which is about the same size as this one, it's found in Colombia, and it has enough poison in its body to kill ten people! That's pretty incredible.
When Colombian Indians go hunting, they wipe their darts on the back of the frog.
The poison now becomes the most deadly venom in the world, as darts inject it into an animal's body.
It kills in minutes.
Those bright, bright colours are part of the reason that this frog is actually found active during the day.
Every other frog found round here comes out at night-time.
It's deafening with the calls of frogs.
But these dart frogs can be active during the day and they're brightly, brightly coloured because they know that predators are going to see these colours and know it means just one thing.
"This is highly poisonous and certainly not going to be good to eat.
" This means the tiny frogs don't have to hide.
They can patrol their territories in broad daylight.
They're bolshie personalities who often get into ninja-style fights with their neighbours.
Check out the moves! No other frogs in the world dare to display amphibian karate! This tiny little animal is a living chemical weapons factory.
A daring daytime leaf fighter and my totally toxic number 1.
Don't forget to join me next time for more Deadly Top 10s.
Who's going to be the Deadly number 1?
All deadly in their own world, and sometimes deadly to me! Who do you think will be number 1 of my Deadly Top 10? In this countdown, I'm choosing my top 10 toxic animals creatures who are poisonous.
They all have deadly bites, stings, spit Ooh! and even sprays.
Not the kind of critters you want to get too close to let alone try to handle.
Ow! Time to kick off my toxic top 10 countdown.
At number 10 the fat-tailed scorpion.
The creature with a massive sting in its tail.
Scorpions are very well-armed animals.
As well as the sting at the back, they have a pair of claws at the front.
Using their sting, they inject poisonous fluid into their prey to kill it.
This is called venom, and a fat-tail's fat sting is full of it.
Very nasty venom, too.
Ooh! OK.
Got to hold my nerve here.
Cos I'm getting pinched, but the pinch is not the problem.
This is probably one of the most venomous scorpions in Africa.
This one here has a really nasty punch.
And one of the most extraordinary things about this particular species is that it doesn't stop there.
It can actually flick its venom at an attacker, and it can be really, really accurate.
They need this deadly capability as they have formidable predators.
To a scorpion, a meerkat is like a T.
Rex.
Meerkats are deadly scorpion-hunters who can dig down into the earth for their prey.
But this scorpion has fat-tail fire power.
It takes aim with its flicking tail, the venom sac pulses, and the sting squirts venom.
The toxic spray could blind the meerkat who, wisely, backs off.
Trust me, this is not a creature to pick a fight with.
And neither is number 9.
The Sydney funnel-web spider - perhaps the most deadly toxic of all spiders, which lives around the Australian city of Sydney.
Back home in England, if I find a spider in my house, I just pick it up and throw it out in the garden.
But here in Sydney, you have to be a bit more careful, and here's why.
See that? That's certainly the most aggressive spider I've ever seen.
See there? She's standing up with her legs up like this.
It's a classic threat posture.
So she's saying, "Look at me, "I'm big.
I'm dangerous.
Don't mess with me!" They use venom to paralyse invertebrate prey.
But what makes them especially dangerous to us is their habit of wandering about.
In hot, humid weather, lovesick funnel-webs often enter houses searching for a mate.
But there's nothing romantic about their bite.
The one-centimetre fangs can stab through your toenail! It can bite many times, and its venom is especially toxic to humans.
It's one of the most potentially dangerous spiders in the world.
And they like hiding in boots! People sometimes get bitten on the foot.
It's excruciatingly painful.
The venom is so toxic because it gets injected directly into victims' bodies and bloodstreams.
Funnel-web venom affects the human heart and lungs, and victims need a dose of special medicine - an antivenom - to pull through.
This, curiously, comes from other funnel-web spiders.
In special captive-spider-milking centres, venom is sucked off their huge fangs with a mini vacuum.
This is used to make the life-saving antivenom.
A single drop can save a person's life.
But I'd still check your boots if you go to Australia.
So, we've had a scorpion and a spider.
What do you think I've chosen next? They're long, thin, have venomous bites Number 8 is the sea krait - one of the most toxic snakes in the world.
These slinky sea snakes swim and hunt underwater, and live in the tropics.
Now, I know snakes aren't everyone's cup of tea, but watch how elegantly they swim.
Each has enough venom to theoretically kill several people.
Happily, they're not aggressive to humans.
But it would be a different story altogether if I was a fish.
It's a really murky, spooky place, this.
Just the kind of place you expect to find a sea monster.
Or one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
The sea krait is quite easy to find, as it lounges about on rocks, waiting to catch its prey.
The reason the venom needs to be so strong is that fish, once they're bitten, can swim away.
If the venom is powerful enough to work quickly, the fish can't get far away, and he gets a meal.
Toxic snakes have a pair of hollow fangs - teeth which inject venom into their prey.
The venom is stored in special sacs called venom glands inside their heads.
The effect of the sea-krait bite is almost instantaneous, so they can tackle fish as long as they are.
They devour their meal whole, and one like this will last for weeks.
Sea kraits also advertise the fact they're toxic with bright colours.
That banded black-and-white colouration is incredibly pretty.
And it's there for a reason.
These markings show potential predators that it's dangerous.
They're a warning.
Being deadly beautiful is great defence.
Which is perhaps why sea kraits seem so chilled out.
Potential predators avoid them.
Smelly 7 is also one to stay away from - the skunk.
Such a toxic animal, the military are copying its deadly chemistry.
Look at that! Look, he's quite a young one, actually.
Just scampering off into the bushes.
I have to say, I'm secretly quite glad.
Because you really wouldn't want to get sprayed by a skunk.
There is nothing funny about it at all.
If a skunk sprays you, you are in a world of pain.
Um, I remember being with a dog who got sprayed a few years back, and everything it sat on, everything it even went close to had to be thrown away.
The smell was so powerful it made you want to vomit just being close to it.
Skunk-size mammals are often on the menu for all sorts of predators.
But one spray from the skunk's under-tail glands, and they soon learn.
This young mountain lion is about to be taught a valuable lesson.
The mountain lion is ten times the size of our hero.
But eau de skunk is nature's most unstomachable stench - a grizzly cocktail of garlic, burnt rubber and rotten eggs.
This horrific smell is so effective, it's used to disperse crowds of people.
Now, did you know there are deadly toxic snails? Like my number 6, the cone shell.
A marine mollusc with a shocking weapon.
It lurks in coral reefs, and sometimes hangs out in rock pools.
The size of a small carrot, this is one seashell you never want to pick up.
For all its sluggish behaviour, it has a lightning strike.
You won't believe how! Watch closely.
The cone shell glides into range.
This alert little fish has no idea of what's going to hit it.
Now, the cone shell extends its lethal weapon - a snake-like harpoon.
The sinister piece of spaghetti reaches the fish and fires a toxic spear! The venom is so strong, the fish is paralysed immediately.
Game over.
OK, I think it's time for a toxic recap.
We've had a squirting scorpion, the fearsome funnel-web, slinky sea kraits, a super-spray skunk and the chilling cone shell.
Which toxic animals do you think are still to come, as we count down towards number 1? It's a clash of the titans next, fighting for position 5.
The water monitor and the Komodo dragon.
Both of them are so awesome and so toxic, I can't quite choose between them.
See what you think.
I got too close for comfort to a massive water monitor in the Philippines, a seriously impressive reptile with a seriously toxic bite.
I'm going to sit very, very still now.
Nose-to-nose with a living dinosaur.
This is a bit closer than I would really be comfortable with.
Inside that mouth is one long line of teeth that are, honestly, razor-sharp, backwards-curving and covered with He's tasting my face! He just stuck his tongue in my eye! OK, this is where I start to get a little bit nervous.
He can move very, very fast.
From there, he could have my arm in his mouth in a second.
Look at him tasting my hand! As I was saying, the mouth has razor-sharp teeth which are covered in bacteria.
And those bacteria, once they actually get into a wound, once he cuts you open, will almost instantly start to become infected.
Any bite from a monitor lizard is very, very serious indeed.
Wow! He is utterly, utterly beautiful! Pretty awesome, isn't it? But if you think he was impressive, wait till you meet his bigger, badder and venomous cousin, the Komodo dragon.
They can be three metres long and twice as heavy as me.
These huge lizards evolved in Australia, where their even bigger ancestors developed venom to attack megafauna - giant mammals.
Those monsters are extinct, but the Komodo dragon survives.
It's now the largest lizard on Earth, and it's the biggest venomous animal alive.
It's like a dinosaur fight when two of these three-metre monsters clash.
Their lethal weapon is killer drool.
It's laden with a venom which many snakes would be proud of.
Administered with a savage bite, the venom induces a critical drop in blood pressure and helps the victim bleed to death.
So, who to crown at number 5? The magnificent monitor or kingly Komodo? Well, even though I had such a tense encounter with the water monitor, for sheer size, weight and its savage toxic bite, the Komodo dragon steals the show.
Now, time to go from my biggest to my smallest candidate.
Number 4, the paralysis tick.
These sneaky blood thieves are found in Australia.
And sometimes in towns and cities.
They put more children in hospital and kill more pets than venomous spiders and snakes put together.
But they're really hard to find, so a vet's is a good place to try.
- Hello.
- Hello! Hi.
I understand you've got an animal in here that's suffering from a paralysis tick.
Yes, we do, it's actually this gentleman, Lindsey.
Yeah.
I'm not a paralysis tick.
I'm sorry, I was expecting a dog or something! After all, this is a vet's.
- It's here.
- Oh, wow! That is absolutely tiny.
It is about the size of a pinhead.
I think there's no way you'll see it on the big camera.
Have we got one of the? Ah, here we go.
This is a lipstick camera, which magnifies anything small.
Sorry, Lindsey, do you mind if I just kind of poke around behind your ear? - Knock yourself out.
- OK.
It's just there.
Absolutely tiny.
The head of the tick is buried into the flesh.
And it's just pumping Lindsey's blood into it.
But they actually have, in their saliva, in their spit, almost like a venom, really, which can totally paralyse the creature that they're feeding on.
It's not just people, and it's not just people's pets that are affected, there's a lot of wild animals that suffer from paralysis ticks too.
The tick lurks in the undergrowth and lies in wait for a fresh blood meal.
It senses the vibration and tastes the carbon dioxide from its victim's breath.
As the animal brushes past, the tick jumps on and clings to the fur, or clothes, if it's a human.
Finally, it's guided by heat down to the skin, and begins to feed.
Large fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are very badly affected.
As the tick bites, it injects its deadly saliva.
The flying fox starts to become paralysed and, without treatment, they'll die.
But some bats get lucky.
They're taken to a bat rescue centre and given tick antivenom until they get better.
This one is nearly strong enough to be released.
You've got to say, an animal the size of a pinhead that can bring down a human, a dog, even a flying fox? The paralysis tick truly is a toxic terror.
Two more are jostling for number 3.
I've got two toxic centipedes to choose from.
The scutigera and the giant centipede.
It's a tough call, as I really, really don't like scutigera centipedes.
They live in caves full of bat poo in places like Borneo.
Of all the horrors that live in this absolutely nightmarish place, down here is perhaps the most frightening.
Oh, crumbs! I have to say, I absolutely hate them! That one just ran over my hand.
OK, right, I'm going to be more gutsy this time.
Careful, there's one the other side of that rock.
This is scutigera, or the long-legged centipede.
I think there's another one on the other side of the rock as well.
So I'm being very careful about how I handle this.
It is quite venomous.
One of the guys who was living in the area here was bitten by one of these centipedes not so long ago and spent a week in hospital, so I'm taking a lot of care not to get bitten.
They actually have, like most centipedes Eugh! It just ran over my arm! Ugh! You see, as it moves, it'll stop and tap some of those legs over the rock surface.
What it's doing is using each and every one of those feet to feel everything about the surface it's moving on, building up a real mental picture of its environment, and if there's anything there that it might be able to eat.
It can grow to be as long as my foot, has a very venomous bite and with those long legs, there's nothing down here that can escape it.
Its toxic rival, the giant centipede, looks very different, with shorter legs and a far chunkier body.
It's 35 centimetres long and is as strong as a small snake.
The poison in its black-tipped fangs is lethal.
It hunts in the dark bat-caves of Venezuela.
It uses its antennae to feel for its prey.
It's not after the swarming beetles.
It's after far bigger quarry.
And it knows it can find that by climbing.
It's heading for the ceiling.
Now, in the darkness, it can sense bats flying past it.
It reaches out into their flight path.
No! I can't believe it's gonna Yes! It's got one! Look at that! An injection of venom from its fangs kills the bat almost instantaneously.
It might take it an hour or so, but it will eat all of the bat's flesh.
They're both supremely toxic and pretty creepy, but who wins? Scuttling scutigera or bat-eating giant centipede? Ugh! Well, although the scutigera really creeped me out for me, its bat-battering venom and superior strength means I have to crown the giant centipede at 3.
Toxic 2, though, is even more awesome.
The king cobra, the largest venomous snake on Earth.
It can reach a length of five and a half metres.
That's as long as a lorry! It can rear up as high as I am tall and has enough venom to kill an elephant.
Not a snake to mess about with.
I'm assisted by Mr Koom, who's been working with snakes since he was ten years old.
And it's just as well.
Even though this is a snake with incredible capabilities, you can see all it really wants to do is escape from danger.
Its first instinct is to flee, to get away.
But when it realises that Mr Koom here doesn't want to let it go, it's putting on a big display to make itself seem larger, make it seem more threatening - and it is absolutely unimaginably vast! This snake is getting on for four metres long.
His head is the size of my hand and the fangs are long, thin needles that can inject huge amounts of venom even deep into the muscle.
That's what allows it to work so quickly and why it's so potentially dangerous to people.
He really is just figuring me out and just making sure that I keep my distance.
As long as I'm exactly where I am now, I'm safe.
If I got a few inches closer, he'd be able to bite me.
The king cobra needs to be very venomous.
And that's down to its prey.
The king isn't interested in warm-blooded animals.
It hunts far, far more dangerous quarry - other snakes, like this Indian cobra.
This is a stand-off between toxic superpowers.
Between them, these two snakes have enough venom to kill a platoon of soldiers.
The king cobra strikes first.
Its ultimate-strength venom paralyses and kills the other cobra.
This is why the king cobra is toxically armed to the hilt.
It's a poison predator of some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Not only is its venom terrifyingly toxic, but it also has a degree of immunity to the bites of other snakes too.
The king cobra, the most magnificent regal snake in the world.
But it's going on my list because it's the ultimate killer of other snakes.
Utterly magnificent.
So, if the king cobra isn't my number 1, can you guess who is? Time for the top 10 toxic countdown.
Tail-spraying 10, the fat-tailed scorpion.
Noxious 9, the Sydney funnel-web.
Elegant 8, the sea krait's great.
Super-spray 7, stinky skunk heaven.
Sinister 6, the cone shell tricks.
Fearsome 5, Komodo dragons alive.
Freaky 4, the paralysis tick.
Terrifying 3, the giant centipede.
And titanic 2, the king cobra.
So, at number 1 - I said, at number 1, it's What do you think? Well, a clue is where they live.
South and Central America, which is also known as Latin America, has hundreds of different kinds of poisonous and venomous animals.
In fact, the most poisonous animal found in the whole world is right here in Latin American forests, but its identity might surprise you.
It's not a scorpion, a spider or a snake.
It's the poison dart frog? The ultimate toxic animal? Dart frogs secrete a poisonous fluid onto their skins.
It's not a venom, as they don't bite or inject it.
These Technicolor amphibians come in a kaleidoscope of bright colours warning how dangerous they are.
Most people are absolutely blown away the first time they see a dart frog, about how small they are.
It's incredible to think that an animal this size can be the most poisonous on the planet.
The chemicals, the poisons that are created by this little frog are one of the absolute miracles of nature.
Originally, they start off in the leaves of plants.
Ants eat the leaves.
Frogs eat the ants and then they almost sweat the poison out on their skin.
There's one particular species of dart frog, which is about the same size as this one, it's found in Colombia, and it has enough poison in its body to kill ten people! That's pretty incredible.
When Colombian Indians go hunting, they wipe their darts on the back of the frog.
The poison now becomes the most deadly venom in the world, as darts inject it into an animal's body.
It kills in minutes.
Those bright, bright colours are part of the reason that this frog is actually found active during the day.
Every other frog found round here comes out at night-time.
It's deafening with the calls of frogs.
But these dart frogs can be active during the day and they're brightly, brightly coloured because they know that predators are going to see these colours and know it means just one thing.
"This is highly poisonous and certainly not going to be good to eat.
" This means the tiny frogs don't have to hide.
They can patrol their territories in broad daylight.
They're bolshie personalities who often get into ninja-style fights with their neighbours.
Check out the moves! No other frogs in the world dare to display amphibian karate! This tiny little animal is a living chemical weapons factory.
A daring daytime leaf fighter and my totally toxic number 1.
Don't forget to join me next time for more Deadly Top 10s.
Who's going to be the Deadly number 1?