Whether it is traditional Chinese culture or many film and television classics, we have all heard of the existence of the "five poisons". They are centipedes, snakes, scorpions, shelters, toads in nature, and without exception, they are all species that humans have an innate fear of. As far as the Rubik's Cube is concerned, although I have not read the "Compendium of Materia Medica" and "The Derivation of Materia Medica" to carefully study each kind of centipede, I still remember the image of the centipede essence in the "Legend of the New White Lady" that I saw when I was a child, and the scene of accidentally eating the highly toxic centipede in the middle section of "Dragon Babu", and the toad "invincible".
However, there are always some people with special hobbies, who like to raise alternative "exotic pets", and even do not hesitate to import them from overseas. No, after the "black widow", the global new species of disease vectors "cockroaches" and many live insects and animals, Haikou Customs intercepted 5 "the world's largest and most poisonous" centipedes.
From the footage of the customs interception scene, these insects are individually packed in plastic boxes in an inbound mail, and when opened, they are all 15-20 cm "exotic pet" centipedes. After expert identification, it turned out that they were the longest species of known centipedes in the world - Galapagos giant centipede, known as the "world's largest and most poisonous" species. So how big and how toxic is it? Let's take a closer look.
Haikou Customs intercepted 5 "the world's largest and most poisonous" centipedes, how poisonous is it?
Galapagos giant centipede, a species mainly found in the Galapagos Islands. It is reported that it grows very large, generally the body length is more than 20 cm, the longest recorded length is 30-46 cm, can grow to the thickness of an adult's arm. Not only that, but some people even claimed to have caught an individual with a full 62 centimeters. In addition to growing big, the Galapagos giant centipede also has a feature in its appearance, that is, like the Hainanese centipede, the feet are very large, so it is also known as the "tiger's foot giant".
Overall, the centipede is predominantly brownish-black, while up to 21 pairs of legs range mainly from orange to dark brown or black. Its body is flattened, with a curved groove at the trunk segment of each segment. At the same time, it also has a characteristic that does not have compared to old-world centipedes: there are clusters of spines on the hind legs.
In addition, compared to its appearance, the reason why it is so famous in centipedes is actually related to its innate super toxicity. A ranking of the "world's ten most poisonous centipedes" shows that the Galapagos giant centipede ranks first among all centipedes as its appearance. This means that it will not only look like a poisonous snake, crawling around on the ground, but also kill people like some highly poisonous snakes when attacking!
In terms of its toxicity, which is mainly composed of proteins, this species mainly bites the opponent through a huge and amazing bite force, and the first pair of feet can also be used as claws to fight prey, and then release toxins. Because of this, it is actually a carnivore, and its food chain is not limited to insects, but includes many small mammals, such as chickens, ducks, fish, bats, and mice.
In terms of the results after being attacked, it can actually directly explain its toxicity. It is reported that after being bitten by it, the light ones will have headache, fever, dizziness, vomiting, local swelling, and the heavy ones will convulsions, coma and even directly die. There was once an incident in which a child in Venezuela was bitten by a latent Galapagos giant centipede, and although he was rushed to the hospital, he still died eventually.
What is the largest and most venomous centipede in China? Number one in the world
According to relevant statistics, centipedes, also known as "Tianlong", have as many as 7842 species worldwide. The toxicity of different centipedes is not only related to its own category, but also related to its size and growth stage. So after understanding the Galapagos giant centipede, what is the largest and most poisonous centipede native to the continent, and what is the ranking?
"One side of the soil and water raises the other person", perhaps due to the influence of the geographical environment, the native centipedes of the mainland are not so large and not so poisonous in comparison. It is reported that the largest centipede recognized by the mainland is called the Chinese Red Dragon Centipede, also known as the Red Dragon Centipede, which is not only a specialty of the mainland, but also famous for its dark red color. Generally speaking, it is about 14-20 cm, which is much inferior to the Galapagos giant centipede in comparison, and can only be equivalent to the size of the Galapagos giant centipede larvae found by Haikou Customs.
In addition, in terms of toxicity. In 2018, researchers at the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China did an experiment with a mouse, and the mice used in the experiment weighed 15 times the weight of the red dragon centipede, but when the centipede saw the mouse, it still bravely pounced. Using its millipede as a fang, it violently injects venom into the mouse. But the mice did not fight back in the slightest, and in less than 30 seconds they had heart failure.
However, objectively speaking, compared with the Galapagos giant centipede and the mainland's red dragon centipede, although the continent's centipede poison performance ranks among the top ten in the world, it is also the last one or two of the top ten, and the Galapagos giant centipede is the first, so this point is also much inferior.
Exotic pets again? What exactly is the use of stealing Galapagos giant centipede?
As far as the incident of secretly mailing the Galapagos giant centipede is concerned, it is indeed relatively afraid, but fortunately it was intercepted and seized in time. Imagine if you accidentally hurt people, or if species like exotic creatures such as "alligator eel" and "Canadian goldenrod" enter the domestic ecosystem and cannot be contained, then the impact will be on humans themselves.
So what is the purpose of privately importing the Galapagos giant centipede from abroad? In fact, many people feel that it is another trouble caused by foreign pets. Indeed, in recent years, with the enhancement of science and technology, customs have seized many alien species, in addition to traditional pets such as cats and dogs, including new "exotic pets", such as: snakes, lizards, giant live rhinoceros turtle larvae, giant jawed pronghorn stag beetle and so on. According to statistics, in the first half of 2022 alone, the national customs intercepted 173 species of quarantine pests, 31,000 times.
In addition, there is another theory about why the Galapagos giant centipede is stolen: it may be that someone took a fancy to its "soaking wine" effect. It is reported that the medicinal value of the Galapagos giant centipede is amazing, and the medicinal effect of using it to make wine is amazing, but generally speaking, because it is indeed relatively rare, most of it is used as a scientific research object, so it is often marketable in many places.
However, in any case, alien species, especially such vigorous and aggressive species, should be cautious, and obtaining it through compliance channels is king. What do you think?