Image: Twitter @7newsBrisbane“Lesson learnt, don’t f**k with the wildlife in Australia.”
An Irish man travelling in Australia has unknowingly come within a whisker of death, after he put an octopus on his arm with enough venom to kill 26 people.
24-year-old John Paul Lennon was was fishing with friends when they caught a blue ringed octopus.
One of the most deadly creatures in the world, the blue ringed octopus carries extreme amounts of tetrodotoxin, a poison 1,000 times more deadly than cyanide.
Just let that sink in. In fact, the animal that John had on his arm has enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within minutes, and even just a small amount can cause paralysis.
Speaking to 7 News Brisbane, Lennon and his friend Ross Saunders said that Lennon had been trying to get as many photos of himself with animals as he could while travelling, hence the photo with the octopus.
An Irish man, who put a blue-ringed octopus on his arm for a photograph, claims he had no idea the animal could kill him. Speaking exclusively to 7NEWS, the 24-year-old says the one that didn’t get away makes for his best fishing tale yet. @ChloeAmandaB #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/qY89sjL53x
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) July 14, 2019
Saunders said he “realised it was an octopus but didn’t realise what kind of octopus” it was.
“We got home thinking not much really happened until we showed the octopus video to some of our friends, and that’s when we found out what it was and a lot of googling was done!” Saunders wrote on Facebook.
“We laughed about it when we first found out, but it did eventually sink in, and it’s surreal to think back knowing if things had been slightly different it could have been fatal, and things would be very different right now.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt and we can laugh about how close to death and stupid we were. Lesson learnt, don’t f**k with the wildlife in Australia.”
That's probably a good idea!
