Review
There are some places on the earth that are forbidden to outsiders, known as forbidden areas, most of which are for safety reasons, such as the high-intensity radiation in Chernobyl in that year, and if you break in without permission, then this person is at risk of cancer. There is a small island in Brazil that is also set up as a forbidden area, and most people who trespass in it will die here because of the large number of poisonous snakes on this small island.
Don't look at the entire island is only 0.4 square kilometers, but there are about 5,000 poisonous snakes living on the island. These venomous snakes are also more aggressive and venomous, and their toxicity is 5 times higher than that of ordinary snakes.
It is for this reason that for security reasons, Brazil is strictly forbidden to outsiders, so if humans use some kind of technical means to eliminate the snakes on the island and make the island safe? Why are the poisonous snakes on these islands so poisonous?
With all kinds of questions, let's explore this mysterious Brazilian snake island together.
Tragedy on the island
In 1909, a lighthouse was built on the island, and the lighthouse appeared to facilitate the travel of ships nearby, and a couple was hired to guard the lighthouse. Because of work, the couple took three children with them in order to facilitate the care of the children, so the family of 5 lived in the lighthouse.
I thought they could work in it with peace of mind, but I didn't expect that soon after, all 5 members of the family were killed.
Human life is at stake, there is such a tragedy naturally to check, when examining the remains found that their bodies have been bitten by snakes, it turned out that these 5 people were all killed because of snake venom.
In the wild, we also have a certain chance of encountering poisonous snakes, but the chances of encountering poisonous snakes are not high. But why did the family of five encounter poisonous snakes this time, which aroused the curiosity of investigators.
Densely packed with venomous snakes
Relevant investigators were sent to the island, and the investigators wore protective clothing to prevent being bitten by poisonous snakes. A closer look and a few statistics led to the startling conclusion that there were about 5,000 venomous snakes living on the island, the vast majority of which were a venomous snake called the Golden Spearhead Viper.
Measuring the length and width of this small island, the area of the entire island is only 0.4 square kilometers. According to this calculation, there are an average of 5 poisonous snakes distributed on every square meter of land, so it is no wonder that this family of 5 just walked around the island and encountered poisonous snakes separately.
Investigators took the risk of catching a few poisonous snakes and taking them back to study, and then told their superiors that there were a large number of poisonous snakes scattered on the island. After that, the island was classified as a restricted area, and warning signs were inserted around the island to prevent others from entering.
5 times more toxic
The golden spearhead pit viper looks very beautiful from the appearance, and the head of the snake is the color of gold, hence the name.
Its snake body is rarely more than a meter long, which is insignificant compared to the size of humans. However, when scientists measured the venom of this snake, they found that its venom was 5 times stronger than that of common venomous snakes, and the time of poisoning was also shorter.
Compared with ordinary venomous snakes, mice injected with ordinary snake venom when the onset of toxicity is slow. The mouse's muscles slowly relax and slow down breathing until it stops breathing for about 30 minutes. However, this snake venom was directly poisoned from the injection to the mouse, and it took less than a minute for the mouse to succeed.
This is reminiscent of the five-step snake on the mainland, which, as the name suggests, is so poisonous that it can only take five steps and then fall to the ground and die. And if in the real wild, a person is attacked by a golden spearhead pit viper, if it is not treated in a short period of time, this person may be less fierce.
Long evolution
The reason why this snake has such a strong venom is inseparable from its short venom time and its competition and evolution in nature.
The island was connected to other landmasses tens of thousands of years ago, when the island's snakes had not yet evolved to be more venomous. Later, as the sea level rose, the place where the island connected with the land was submerged by the sea, and the island became an isolated island.
Isolation is bound to cause food shortage on the island, the island's surviving snakes are also facing the test of survival, who can catch the prey in a short period of time to eat can survive, so those slightly more poisonous snakes are easier to catch prey, have the opportunity to reproduce offspring, and over time the surviving poisonous snakes on the island are more and more poisonous.
In response to the island's lack of food, the snakes also evolved the characteristics of summer sleep to reduce energy loss.
Ordinary venomous snakes hibernate in the winter to preserve physical strength, while the venomous snakes on this island not only hibernate, but also sleep in summer, so that their demand for food is greatly reduced, in order to have the ability to survive.
Adventurous snake catcher
Logically, this island is full of dangers, in order to prevent accidents, the locals have also inserted warning signs on the side of the island, so people should be discouraged from seeing this, but in recent years, there have been adventurers who have set foot on this small island. In fact, most of these people are professional snake catchers.
They usually catch snakes for a living, and in the snake trade, its value is often proportional to its toxicity, as the saying goes, people kill birds for food, and profit drives them to come here at the cost of their lives. It is said that just a golden spearhead pit viper can make the snake catcher profitable, so in their eyes, this place is not a forbidden land, but a paradise full of gold.
Returning to the original question, can we use artificial means to eliminate more than 5,000 poisonous snakes on this island?
This is not possible in the current situation, snakes are different from other animals, they are more hidden, and they are highly alert. Considering the number of snakes, it is necessary to catch them on a large scale, otherwise once there are surviving snakes, they will continue to breed on the island.
And although Snake Island is a terrifying place for ordinary people, in the eyes of biologists and other professionals, it is also a huge treasure trove of resources, and may also bring unexpected surprises and wealth to human beings.