Poison VS Venom

Venoms and poisonous substances are the things that should make us look for spiders in our shoes and sneeze at berries in the woods. The creatures and plants that developed these unique characteristics can be both frightening and fascinating. Even though they may seem harmless, a bad experience with a poisonous or poisonous animal can range from mild to deadly. People often use the terms “poisonous” and “venomous” interchangeably, but they are actually quite different. Both are toxins that are created by living organisms that cause harm to living things. If an organism injects a toxin into you by biting or stinging, then it is poisonous. If you eat the toxin, breathe it in, or rub it on your body, then it’s poisonous. Some animals produce a toxin that is both a poison and a venom.

For instance, a spitting cobra will spit a liquid into your eyes, and that liquid will become a poison. Poisons are passive, except for spitting cobras, which must wait to be bitten or touched. These toxins are typically used to defend themselves from predators. On the other hand, venom is active, meaning it can defend itself from predators and hunt prey. When you come too close to a cobra and it injects you with the same liquid, it becomes a venom. Remember, toxins are injected, and venoms are absorbed. Today we are going to look at several species from the reptile and the amphibian family, which is well-known for its poisonous and poisonous members. We will also be learning more about how these toxins have evolved and how they are used.

There is an evolutionary arms race going on, and many toxic reptiles are holding onto more of their toxic juice than they actually need. For example, behind the ear of the cane toad is a gland that secrete a poison known as Bufo toxin. This poison works by interacting with the heart muscles of the toad, causing the heart to beat so rapidly that it stops beating. This poison is fatal to almost all animals that try to eat the toad. In its native range in Central and South America the cane toad has natural enemies such as false water cobras. Over many generations, false water cobras developed resistance to the poison from the cane toad. The cane toads began to produce even more poison, which caused the snake to develop even more immunity to the poison. Back in 1935, on the other side of the world, sugarcane growers in Australia were looking for a natural solution to their sugarcane crop problems. They were using pesticides to control sugarcane beetles and their larvae. Humans introduced the cane toad to Australia from Hawaii with the hope that they would eat scarab beetles, but this did not work. The cane toad has become an extremely destructive invasive species all over Australia today.

The highly toxic cane toads not only killed native predators that ate them, but also those unaware of the toads' poison and tried consuming them. Introducing the toads caused mass die-offs of many Australian animals, including charming blue-tongued lizards called shinglebacks or "blueys." Blueys are omnivores that eat nearly anything fitting in their mouths, even the huge invasive toads. Unlike false water cobras that evolved with cane toads, blueys lacked natural immunity to the toads' toxins. However, blueys found an unlikely ally against the toads in a poisonous plant called mother of millions. Through convergent evolution, these plants developed a toxin very similar to the cane toads. Previously, blueys that ate the plant sometimes died, but survivors passed on poison resistance. Where mother of millions grew, blueys had a head start on resisting toads. But elsewhere, cane toad poisoning completely wiped out bluey populations. Compared to blueys, king cobras excel at toxin resistance from an evolutionary arms race. With an Ophiophagus diet of venomous snakes like kraits, king cobras withstand prey venom while producing their own deadly neurotoxin. Despite kraits killing up to 80% of human victims, repeated bites barely affect cobras. The two snakes engage in a two-way battle, with cobras maintaining lethal toxicity for kraits while resisting the kraits' powerful venom. This is energetically expensive, as venom production can consume up to 1/6 of a snake's energy for days, akin to a pregnant human's baby growth. So venomous snakes evolved visual warnings like colors, rattles and hoods to avoid needless venom use on humans. According to anthropologist Dr. Lynne Isbell, humans are also in an arms race with venomous snakes, evolving enhanced vision while snakes developed stronger venom and camouflage. Our bodies often sense snakes before our conscious awareness. While many fear toxic animals, their venom provides life-saving medications like the heart drug captopril from pit viper venom. Beyond potential benefits to humans, these animals play vital environmental roles, so we should respect toxic species and their co-evolving counterparts.