In 31 BC, Cleopatra, the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, was captured alive by the Roman consul Octavian and prepared to bring him back to Rome to be displayed in a triumphant ceremony.
Desperate to learn of this, Cleopatra managed to find a small poisonous snake named "Asp" through her confidant maid, and put it on her chest, ending a romantic and legendary life. So, where does the venom on the poisonous snake come from? Why can snake venom kill people?
Generally speaking, the venom in the body of a venomous snake is administered through poisonous fangs. Poisonous fangs are the deadly weapons of poisonous snakes, which can be divided into pre-venomous fangs and posterior venomous fangs according to where they grow in the upper jaw. A tooth is a hollow pipe whose rear end is connected to the sac.
When the venomous snake senses that the target of attack is near, it bites the opponent directly and injects venom; If they are far away from the target and cannot be reached, they will show their housekeeping skills - spraying poison. When spraying venom, the venomous snake will squeeze the muscles on both sides of the head, compressing the venom sac so that the venom sprays in a straight line at the other party.
Where does snake venom come from? Researchers have found that snake venom is mainly composed of neurotoxins, blood toxins and degrading enzymes. In the process of making snake venom, venomous snakes "use" more common proteins and convert them into deadly venom.
A teacher at the University of Melbourne in Australia believes that when a gene in an organism's genome is doubled, organisms can evolve new proteins: one gene maintains its original function, while another gene mutates into a new gene, the toxin gene.
In general, there are two kinds of poisonous snake toxins: one is neurotoxin and the other is blood toxin. Neurotoxins mainly act on peripheral nerves, blocking transmission between nerves and muscles, causing respiratory muscle paralysis, resulting in hypoxia, carbon dioxide retention, acidosis due to dyspnea, and then inhibition of the respiratory center. Blood toxins can directly damage the heart muscle, leading to cardiac insufficiency. It is also possible to cause telangiectasia, increased permeability, leading to high swelling of the local (the site of the snake bite), causing a decrease in blood pressure, the appearance of shock, and eventually death. It is likely that the Queen of Egypt was killed in this way.
Although snake venom sounds chilling, many of its ingredients have strong pharmacological effects and are beneficial to humans. Since ancient times, snake venom has been used as an analgesic, and modern clinical science has made snake venom essence into a drug that promotes blood clotting and is used to prevent internal bleeding; It is also used to prevent and treat thrombosis.
At present, some experts advocate the use of snake venom to treat rheumatoid arthritis or conquer cancer, etc., which is extremely toxic, but these applications have yet to be confirmed by scientific research. It is believed that in the near future, with the emergence of more research on snake venom, the application of snake venom in clinical medicine will also be more.
That being the case, it is necessary to understand the poisonous snake. There are more than 600 species of venomous snakes in the world, and their heads are mostly triangular, venomous glands, and can secrete venom.
Venomous snakes are mainly divided into three categories: one is a type of venomous snake based on neurotoxins, mainly including golden ring snakes, silver ring snakes and sea snakes; One type is a type of venomous snake based on blood toxins, mainly bamboo leaf green, viper snake and turtle shell flower snake; The other type is the venomous snake with both neurotoxins and blood toxins, mainly pit vipers, large cobras and cobras. Different snake species have different venom properties.
"African Grim Reaper" - Black Mamba
In the venomous snake family, the black mamba snake is the fastest and most aggressive killer, known as the "African God of Death". The name of the black mamba snake is easy to misunderstand, thinking that it is black, in fact, the body of this snake is not black, and it is its large mouth that is blackened. The black mamba can chase prey at speeds of up to 19 km/h and only needs two drops of venom to kill it. What is particularly frightening is that at any time, the black mamba snake has 20 drops of venom stored in its poisonous fangs, and as long as it bites, it will be difficult to escape death.
Australian Viper List
Australia is rich in land and forest resources, rich in venomous snakes, and the ten most poisonous snakes in the world are basically produced in the country. They are: the inland Taipan snake in central Australia, the brown Yi'ao snake in the Australian jungle, the Taipan snake in northern Australia and New Guinea, the eastern tiger snake in Australia, the giant ring sea snake in northeast Australia, another tiger snake in eastern Australia, the black tiger snake in southeastern Australia and Tasmenia Island, the southern echinacea in Australia, and the pseudocobra in western Australia. #毒蛇 #
