There was once such a bird in the world, it weighed up to 70 kilograms, its wings were open and up to 7 meters, and when it flew over the head of a person, it looked like a light aircraft, do you know its name?
It is the second largest bird known to man, the Argentine Giant Eagle, which, although extinct, is indeed the true "Pampas Eagle".
The Argentine Eagle is like a small airplane
However, this giant eagle should not rely on catching snakes and rabbits to fill its stomach, after all, these creatures are too small to plug the gaps between their teeth. So, what do eagles often feed on today? What if you blindly catch a poisonous snake? Do they eat venomous snakes? What are the eagles' special skills?
Indeed, the eagle is really very brave, and it is a big nemesis of the snakes.
Moreover, sometimes it is eaten regardless of species, is it true that eagles are still immune to snake venom? Let's see if the viper really has no way to take the eagle.
Simulates an eagle catching a venomous snake
Are eagles immune to snake venom?
In Gorky's "Eagle Song", people can't forget the ancient song of the eagle and the snake recited by Rajim, in which the eagle and the snake are no longer simple animals, but have another "cultural symbol".
In fact, it's not just the description here, eagles and snakes have historically been "enemies", as can be seen from the totem of the ancient tribes.
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, phoenixes (eagles) and snakes (dragons) appear at the same time: "In the enlightened west, there are phoenix emperors and birds, all wearing snakes and trampling snakes, and green snakes." "The yellow bird is in Wushan, and the snake is in this place."
Snake Eagle Fight
Eagles generally refer to the eagle subfamily Birds of Prey, which are very diverse and are basically distributed in various parts of the world. The most impressive thing about the eagle should be its "sharp" eyes, even if it belongs to different species, it will be shocked by the eagle's eyes.
In fact, they not only have sharp eyes, but also have good eyesight, which can be said to be born with their own "telescope" and can see thousands of meters away.
Close-up of the eagle's head
In addition, the eagle is a carnivorous animal, it does not eat any fruits, grains and other omnivorous foods, as long as "dry rice" must eat meat.
In this way, the eagle will hover high in the air and sift through its own feast, among which rats, hares, etc. are its ingredients, and snakes will become alternative ingredients.
A hare that was preyed upon by eagles
For snakes, humans will divide them into poisonous and non-venomous, but how do eagles know this? In its eyes, as long as it is a snake and can be caught smoothly, it is considered an ingredient.
This can't help but make people wonder, is it not afraid of the eagle not afraid of the poisonous snake to give it a "bite"?
You know, the venom of the poisonous snake is not to say that it is poisonous to kill humans, if the dose is large, it can even poison an elephant that is a hundred times larger than itself.
If this is the case, why does the eagle catch a snake and eat it regardless of species, is there really something "immune to snake venom" in this guy's genes?
Snake venom that spews out
In fact, if you ask the eagle if it is afraid of snake venom, of course it is afraid.
However, the necessary requirement for snake venom to work is to enter the bloodstream. And the eagle does have this ability, so that the poisonous snake can't bite it at all.
Because eagles have thick cuticles on their claws, it is difficult to "bite through" even if the venomous snake struggles to bite after being caught.
Not to mention, the eagle is not "stupid", and the first person in nature who knows to catch "seven inches" is probably the eagle.
In this case, even if the poisonous snake caught by the eagle can flutter twice, it will not be able to cause substantial damage to the eagle, let alone let its poisonous fangs penetrate the eagle's body.
This situation is actually somewhat similar to the relationship between roosters and centipedes, although centipedes are poisonous, but in front of the rooster it becomes "five scum".
One move to defeat the enemy eagle
So the eagle is actually not immune to snake venom, but the poisoning mechanism of snake venom does not work on the eagle, after all, "you are strong and you are strong", I directly do not let you bite, then even if the poison of this poisonous snake is strong, I am afraid that there is no way to take the eagle, I can only look up at the sky and sigh: "If you are born of snakes, how can you give birth to eagles"?
In addition, the flesh of a venomous snake does not contain venom.
Therefore, after the eagle successfully kills the poisonous snake, eating its flesh will not be poisoned.
Speaking of which, the eagle's suppression of the poisonous snake is already clear at a glance, so is the poisonous snake really unable to take the eagle?
Have the poisonous snakes been suppressed by the eagles?
Basically, although it is not excluded that there are "stupid eagles" who are bitten by poisonous snakes, but the vast majority of eagles have an absolute advantage in the face of poisonous snakes.
The inheritance in the bloodline makes them understand how to "fiddle" with the snakes, making them quickly tired of resisting.
And although snakes have advantages on land, once they are caught by eagles and fly into the air, snakes may begin to "airsick".
This is probably the real "natural enemy", and the eagle does have two brushes.
Free aircraft service
I have to say that the eagle is indeed very brave.
Venomous snakes are very frightening even in the eyes of humans, because snake venom is one of the most complex and concentrated toxins in nature, and once injected, it is "nine deaths".
So, what exactly is snake venom? Is there anything different about the mechanism of poisoning?
Poisoning "mechanism" of snake venom
As we all know, there are still many types of venomous snakes, which leads to different types of venom.
After analyzing their venom, experts divided these snake venoms into nerve venom, cytovenom, blood venom and mixed venom according to the effect of these snake venoms on the body.
There are many types of snake venom
Different toxins have different poisoning mechanisms. But there are no exceptions to the fact that all snake venoms have to enter the bloodstream before they can function.
This is also why, what breed of snake venom is not good in front of the eagle, because it will not give the poisonous snake a chance to bite itself.
The main representative of the neural snake venom is the silver ring snake, which is mainly based on β neurotoxins and α neurotoxins.
When a person is injected with this snake venom, symptoms such as respiratory muscle paralysis, difficulty swallowing, and respiratory failure occur.
Black and white silver ring snake
The snake venom of the cobra belongs to the cellular snake venom, and the hyaluronidase in this snake venom will accelerate the absorption of the snake venom, so that it can enter the blood circulation very quickly.
Therefore, symptoms of systemic poisoning soon after being bitten by this snake appear, and the soft tissues of the skin in the bite are necrotic in large areas.
Be sure to watch out for cobras when going out into the wild
As for blood poisons, the toxins of the "soldering iron head" that make people feel frightened belong to this. This type of snake venom acts on various parts of the blood system, causing blood to decoagulate in the person who is bitten.
In this case, the patient will bleed non-stop, and bleeding will occur in all parts of the body.
Mangshan soldering iron head
Experts say the clinical manifestations of venomous snake bites vary, with 20% to 50% of venomous snakes (nearly 75% of sea snakes) being "dry bites", that is, venomous snake bites without releasing toxins, with no obvious signs and symptoms of poisoning; venomous snake bites that produce obvious signs and symptoms are less than 50% of the total number of venomous snake bites.
It can be seen that when a poisonous snake bites a creature in daily life, it does not necessarily inject toxins through poisonous teeth every time.
In the case of a "dry bite", its venom threat ceases to exist.
Of course, most of the venomous snakes are not very good-tempered, so everyone sees that the venomous snakes are still far away from protecting themselves.
Protect yourself from poisonous snakes
The above is the poisoning mechanism of snake venom, which is analyzed from a scientific point of view.
And when we return to the legendary myth, we will find that no matter what kind of snake or eagle we mentioned in the previous article, it has long become an important cultural symbol in human history.
The culture of the "eagle snake" has existed for a long time
In the previous article, we used the examples that appear in the Classic of Mountains and Seas to prove that there is really a feud between the snake and the eagle, but in addition to this, they actually have other symbols.
For example, in many creation myths, eagles and snakes have important places. Taking china as an example, the nuwa that created man is itself the image of "human head and snake body".
In South African Bushman mythology, people are also transformed by snakes.
Historically, the image of Nuwa has always been the body of a human head and a snake
The same is true of eagles, which have always been "sun gods" in ancient Egypt and ancient India.
Not to mention that in the myths of many nomadic peoples, the eagle is the embodiment of the sun, which is why in those communities, people will be so admiring of the eagle, and the person who can complete the "falcon training" is also a heroic existence in the eyes of everyone.
Eagles are likened to the sun
It is worth mentioning that the two eagles and snakes are often relative because of their original relative reasons.
For example, when the eagle represents the sun and light, the snake becomes a symbol of darkness and evil.
In modern times, many writers have completely personified this imagery, turning the eagle and the snake into symbols of "good people" and "evil people".
In the case of Shakespeare, for example, words such as "poisonous snake" and "hungry eagle" appear in his works, and even Claudius in Hamlet was once called "the snake that poisoned your father".
Seeing this, I don't know what kind of different views everyone has about the "snake" and "eagle"?