CreatureData

Common taipan

Oxyuranus scutellatus (Peters, 1867)

Status not recordedsnakes

The common taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) is a species in the family Elapidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 8.11 kg, reach 1.45 m in length and live up to 15.6 years.

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Quick facts about the common taipan

Weight
8.11 kg
Length
1.45 m
Lifespan
15.6 years
Diet
Carnivore
Longest recorded lifespan
17 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
grassland, shrubland
Egg incubation
69 days
Young per litter or clutch
11.4 – 14
Age at maturity
8.48 months – 9.66 months
Litters or clutches a year
1 – 2
Reproduction
Eggs
Active
By day (diurnal)
Lifestyle
Terrestrial
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the common taipan?

COMMON TAIPAN · LENGTH 1.45 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.45 m, the recorded maximum length of the common taipan is about 85% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the common taipan live?

Not recorded

Is the common taipan endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the common taipan classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyElapidae
  6. genusOxyuranus
  7. SpeciesOxyuranus scutellatus (Peters, 1867)

Synonyms Oxyuranus adelynhoserae, Oxyuranus andrewwilsoni, Oxyuranus barringeri, Oxyuranus scutellatus adelynhoserae, Oxyuranus scutellatus andrewwilsoni, Oxyuranus scutellatus barringeri, Pseudechis scutellatus, Pseudechis wilesmithii

Other names and names in other languages (15)
  • taipan velkýCzech
  • TaipanGerman
  • Taïpan côtierFrench
  • tajpánHungarian
  • Taipan comuneItalian
  • タイパンJapanese
  • KysttaipanNorwegian Bokmål
  • ТайпанRussian
  • Papuan taipanroot
  • 太攀蛇Chinese
  • Taipan costieroItalian
  • Taipan delle costeItalian
  • Vanlig TaipanNorwegian Bokmål
  • Coastal taipanroot
  • New Guinea Taipanroot

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the common taipan

Other species in the same genus Oxyuranus.

CompareCommon taipan vs Inland taipanCommon taipan vs Central range taipan

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the common taipan?

An adult common taipan weighs 8.11 kg and measures 1.45 m long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

How long does the common taipan live?

The common taipan has a recorded lifespan of 15.6 years.

What kind of animal is the common taipan?

The common taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) belongs to the family Elapidae in the order Squamata.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Common taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-taipan

MLA

“Common taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-taipan.

BibTeX
@misc{common_taipan_2026,
  title = {Common taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-taipan},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}