Venomous animals.

 All across our planet there are creatures with venom. The obvious ones would be spiders and snakes but if one really starts to investigate this phenomena of venom, then one starts to see that there are so many animal species who are venomous that it is quite surprising. Venom is more frequent then thought of. First let us understand what the difference is between venom and poison. Venom is usually delivered into the blood stream through a sharp object. It can be a spine, venom fang, stinger, or even nettle cells which are microscopic little harpoons that is activated during touch and can deliver venom. So for venom to be delivered, the skin must be broken and the venom must get into the wound. Unlike with poison where poison can be taken orally. As soon as the poison gets to the stomach it can be absorbed through the stomach lining and get into the bloodstream. Venom will be destroyed by the organisms digestive juices. So technically it is possible for one to drink snake venom and nothing will happen, because the stomach juices will dissolve the venom. Only problem is that if one has cuts or bruises on the inside of your mouth then the venom can get into your bloodstream from there and that can negatively affect you. So drinking snake venom is not recommended for anyone.

Venom evolved in living creatures as a means to protect the creature from threats or to help it to hunt and kill it's prey with. In the case of a honey bee the venom acts as a self defense mechanism to help protect the hive. While in the case of a giant centipede the venom is used to kill it's prey. Although creatures with venom for killing can also use it as self defense. Venom is a complex protein. Organic in nature and can be dissolved by stomach enzymes. The evolution of venom is quite complex and in some cases unique. For instance if we look at snake venom, snakes evolved from lizards. Somewhere long ago the common ancestor of snakes must have had venom, however rudimentary. It probably started of as toxic saliva like we see in modern day Komodo dragons and eventually became more complex in nature to the extend that it has it's own unique chemical compound. Let us look at all the different venomous creatures. First on the list would be a rather obvious one namely a snake. More specific the inland Taipan from Australia. The inland Taipan is found in North - West New South Wales, South - Western Queensland, North - Eastern South - Australia and South - East Northern territory. That area in Australia. The inland Taipan is considered by most experts to be the most venomous snake on the planet. 

The inland taipan snake from South - West Queensland, North - West New South Wales, South - East Northern territories and North - East South - Australia ( Picture from activewild.com)

The next creature on the list would be another familiar one, the spider. The Brazilian wandering spider is considered by most experts to be the most venomous spider on earth. Except for being highly venomous and being able to cause death the Brazilian wandering spider's venom can cause a major erection in men also. There is a type of chemical in it's venom that can cause an erection in men after getting bitten. Found mostly where it's name suggests it is native to South - America. It's other name is also the banana spider because it likes to hide in bunches of bananas and when exported to other countries it sometimes makes it's appearance. 

The Brazilian wandering spider ( Picture from spidapedia.fandom.com) rears up in a threatening posture.

The next creature would also not be to much of a surprise. It features in many mythologies especially in Egypt and the Middle - East, the scorpion. The Arab fat tailed scorpion is considered to be the most venomous of it's kind ( Scorpions). A general rule of thumb to go by with scorpions to know if it is venomous or not is to look at the pinchers and tail. If it has a thick tail relative to it's pinchers it is most likely dangerous and should be treated with respect. If it has large pinchers and a thin tail then it is not to much of a concern. The Arab thick tail found in North - Africa and the Arab peninsula is highly venomous and can cause death.

The Arab thick tail scorpion ( Picture from owlcation.com)

So far we have seen the beasties who we are more familiar with. The ones who most people fear. We shall now look at another candidate who is less of suspect when it comes to being venomous. The stone fish. The stone fish is found in tide pools submerged under the water. There it lies camouflaged in the tide pools between the rocks. An unsuspecting person walking around in the pool might mistake it for a rock and plant his or her foot on the fish and in so doing step on the sharp spine it has on it's back. The pain from this creature is described as utterly excruciating and well worth avoiding. The stone fish is found in the tide pools in the Indian ocean as well as the Indo - Pacific and East coast of Australia. 

The stone fish, well camouflaged on the ocean floor ( Picture from researchgate.com)

Alright most have not seen that one coming but now we know. Be careful! So the next one might also be a bit of a surprise. The cone snail. Hard to believe that somewhere in the world there is some deadly snail that can envenomate you. The cone snail is just that, venomous. It has a long proboscis with a harpoon that shoots out at the tip. The harpoon injects venom into the victim. The venom is a neurotoxin and very potent and can kill a person. In Australia they have a saying, if it is a cone, leave it alone. Picking it up might be a mistake. 

The cone snail. The one proboscis is for swallowing it's prey and the other one is for shooting out the harpoon that can inject venom into it's prey. ( Picture from australiangeographic.com.au)

When at the ocean one can encounter many dangers. And they are not always the obvious ones like sharks, drownings and sunburn. The little critters can also be deadly. The jellyfish is a very sure one that is often overlooked. Depending on where on earth you are it can be a question of minutes before death sets in. The Australian box jellyfish is probably the most venomous creature on the planet. Reportedly being able to kill a human in a matter of 3 minutes. The venomous tentacle has small microscopic nettle cells that has small harpoons that can inject venom. The sting is reported to be utterly painful and can lead to death.

The Australian box jellyfish ( Picture found on abc.net.au) can kill a human in 3 minutes after contact with the tentacles.

When striding through the tide pools one often encounters a creature that one will find very interesting and fun to watch. This creature is quite smart and capable of doing amazing things. But be warned this very specific species of octopus can be deadly. Picking it up with the hand can be the last thing you do. It flashes it's bright blue rings to warn possible threats. It has a parrot like beak with which it can bite with. It injects a deadly venom that can kill a human in minutes and can cause paralysis of the breathing muscles as well as the heart. When one finds him or herself in Australia it is best to look at it from a distance and teach your children to not touch it.

The blue ringed octopus. It flashes those bright blue rings when warning possible threats ( Picture from bie.ala.org.au). It's deadly bite can kill in minutes.

So we are now done with the beach but how about a nice picnic? Somewhere in a European woodland. There one will find another creature well known for it's venom. One of the more obvious one's. The wasp. Wasps, ants and bees can sting, that we all know. Especially those who have been stung by them. And it hurt's. Wasps, ants and bees belong to the same order namely Hymenoptera. The European wasp will be familiar to most Europeans who have seen them when outdoors during summertime. 

German wasp ( Picture from yates.co.nz).

Along with the other members of the order Hymenoptera, ants are also well known by most. Not all ants can sting but in certain parts of the world, especially the America's there are plenty of ant species that can sting. The ant with the most painful sting of it's kind and probably of all kinds would be the bullet ant from Northern, South - America and Central - America. It has a agonizingly painful sting that is described by those who got stung as being shot. From there bullet ant. No deaths have been recorded so far but the pain of the sting itself is so bad that not getting stung would be on top of your bucket list and a high priority. 

The bullet ant known for it's agonizing sting, well worth avoiding ( Picture from thoughtco.com).

Now still in the steaming jungles of South - America we find another creature who also has a bite that should be noted. The severity of it's bite is not very well known in terms of potency. But the pain is well known and it is quite a painful experience by those who got bit. Over millions of years the centipede evolved two forelegs into two fangs capable of delivering a deadly bite to it's prey. The largest known species of centipede is found in the Amazon rainforest. 

The giant centipede ( Picture from sciencemag.org)

Although venom is more closely associated with snakes than with lizards one must remember that lizards also have rudimentary venom. Snakes and lizards are related and the very origin of venom in snakes might just originate in lizards. The difference between the lizard venom structure and those of snakes are that the venom glands are situated in the lower jaw with lizards while the venom glands are in the upper jaw with snakes. Snakes have hypodermic needles as teeth while lizards mostly just have the grooves in their teeth. There are 3 known lizard species that have for quite a while been known for their venomous bites and they are the beaded lizard from Central - America, the Gila monster from the South - Western USA and North - Western Mexico and the Komodo dragon with whom it was discovered in 2009 that it has venom glands. Initially it was thought that Komodo dragons have septic bites because they have lots of bacteria in their mouths and that death by the bite was caused by septicemia but it seems that they also have venom. 

The Gila monster in the above picture and the Komodo dragon from Indonesia below. Both have a venomous bite and are lizards ( Picture of Gila monster comes from national geographic.com and the picture of the Komodo dragon comes from cntraveler.com)

So far we have seen creepy crawlies, fishes and reptiles but what other creatures contains venom? Believe it or not mammals also do. The most well known mammals with venom are the solenodon from the West - Indies and the platypus from Australia. The platypus is what is called a monotreme. Monotreme's include the platypus from Australia and the echidna also from Australia. These are the only known mammals that can lay eggs. The platypus resembles a duck and beaver. On it's hind leg or just behind the hind leg there is a venomous spur with a venom sack that can deliver venom. The pain from the sting has been described as very painful but no deaths have been recorded so far in humans. The solenodon also has a venomous bite that can cause mild symptoms in humans. The European mole can also apparently deliver a venomous bite to it's prey and certain water shrews can also. The solenodon mimics a primitive type of mammal in appearance and it is also a very ancient type of mammal. 

Above the platypus from Australia and the Solenodon from Cuba ( Platypus picture from theguardian.com and the solenodon picture from eurekalert.org). Both of them are venomous mammal species. The platypus is is a monotreme mammal and the solenodon a placental mammal.

Knowing that just about everything of it's kind is venomous in Australia it must not come as too much of a big surprise that even ticks can be venomous. Australia has a tick known as the paralysis tick. The tick can administer a venomous saliva that can cause paralysis in cattle and livestock. Native mammals like kangaroo's seem untouched by this but European mammals can get ill from this saliva. Tick saliva is intended to un - coagulate the blood for better consumption but this specific tick species somehow has some sort of neurotoxin in it's saliva. 

Australian paralysis tick ( Picture from thornleighvet.com.au)

When we think of frogs we rarely think of venom. We associate the poison arrowed frog with poison. But are there venomous frogs? Not just dangerous when one licks it but also dangerous because it has some sharp spine or barb that can deliver venom. Well that can be answered by the Bruno's casque - headed frog. This froggy apparently has a venomous spine somewhere on it's body and can deliver a venomous sting. Unlike the poison arrow frog from South - America it is venomous, Not poisonous. Sticking to amphibians. There is also a type of salamander that has a venomous protrusion from it's ribs. So even amphibians have evolved venom. 

Above picture is the Bruno's casque - headed frog ( Picture from za.pinterest.com) found in South - America Brazil and below is the Iberian ribbed newt ( Picture from naturalhistoryonthenet.com) found in Portugal, Spain and North - West Africa.

So for one last time we can go to the beach or go and snorkel in this article. That brings us to another sea creature that we find on coral reefs. This one especially on the great barrier reef in Australia. The hellfire anemone. This species represents the anemone's. These alien creatures that look more like plants are actually animals, not plants. Anemone kill fishes and eat them. Fishes like the clown fish has some sort of protective layer on it's body to protect itself against the stinging nettle cells of the anemone. In so doing a mutual relationship exist between two species. The hellfire anemone is know by that name for a good reason. The pain from it's sting is agonizing and causes severe lesions. 

Hellfire anemone ( Picture from reef2reef.com).

The last one I kept for last because it is so interesting. This creature lived a 123 million years ago in the early Cretaceous period. It's name was Sinornithosaurus, An avian dinosaur whose fossils were found in China. This creature most likely had venom that it could kill it's prey with. Very much like the Gila monster it's teeth had grooves along which venom could drip into the wound and so doing land into the bloodstream. It was as far as we know today the only venomous dinosaur. 

Sinornithosaurus probably had a venomous bite like Komodo dragons and Gila monsters today have ( Picture from jurassicjabber.com). 

Yes we have seen many venomous creatures of their kind in this article. This article only covers a very small percentage of all the fascinating creatures that exists on planet earth with venom. I have left out plenty others but I have used the most venomous of their kind as examples. Other creatures that I left out would be sting rays, other venomous snake species like cobras, mambas and all the other venomous ones and even many different spider species. There is even a venomous caterpillar in Brazil. But that you folks can go and read up about further. Venom is a very fascinating feature in animals and very effective for survival. I hope you enjoyed the article and let me know if there is anything else you would like to mention.