{"id":4174,"date":"2019-10-05T00:02:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T04:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.167.168.176\/~phillips\/kerriansnotebook\/kerriansnotebook\/?p=4174"},"modified":"2025-06-07T20:01:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T00:01:36","slug":"kn-p-182-deadly-poisons-in-the-animal-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/2019\/10\/kn-p-182-deadly-poisons-in-the-animal-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"KN, p. 182 “Deadly Poisons in the Animal Kingdom”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there are no paragraph separations in this article, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Have you ever been bitten by an insect? How about a snake? Or a frog? Or a snail? I\u2019ll take a fire ant bite over the bites of some of the animals in this article any day.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would bet that most of you have endured the after effects of a mosquito bite \u2013 the itchiness, the redness, the swelling, but rarely does anyone die from it. There are nasty diseases that a mosquito can carry \u2013 i.e., Malaria and the Zika virus \u2013 but the everyday, backyard variety generally just delivers an annoying couple of days of discomfort. We can\u2019t tell the difference by just looking at them as they dive at us, so we use insect repellent to ward them off. There are couple of great products that golfers use to keep pesky gnats, horse flies, and skeeters away, but, there is no magic spray that works to chase away the deadliest animals that co-exist with us on the planet. We have to rely on treatment after the fact, or the best idea of all: avoidance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are ten of the worst<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Some animals have developed neurotoxins to dispatch their victims. The worst spider in the world is found in Australia \u2013 just in Sydney, to be exact. The Sydney Funnel Web Spider<\/strong> can kill a human or a monkey within 15 minutes. Apparently, no other animal is susceptible to the poison. There is an anti-venom, but you\u2019d have to be really <\/em>close to the hospital to get treated in time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The South African Spitting Scorpion<\/strong> uses three neurotoxins to protect itself \u2013 one to stun, one to paralyze and one to kill. It spits the lightest dose when chasing the victim away, but it only needs a billionth of a gram of the deadly dose to kill a small animal. Death is not pleasant, with tremors and convulsions that go on even after death.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lonomia Caterpillar <\/strong>is responsible for over 500 deaths in the past twenty years and kills by causing hemorrhaging near the site of the bite. The victim\u2019s blood no longer clots and this condition spreads as the body tries to cope. Scientists don\u2019t yet know the composition of all the toxins involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike other poisonous animals, the Poison Dart Frog <\/strong>creates its toxin from its diet. Scientists have discovered that in captivity, the frog is rendered harmless by changing its diet. That means that even if the frogs in my photo above had escaped, they would have hopped around, doing no damage to me at all if they had touched me. Good thing, because one little wild frog from Central or South America has enough toxin to kill about ten fully adult humans. Hop, hop, hopping about, enticing us to touch its pretty skin, doing its worst by causing heart attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The famed Puffer Fish<\/strong> carries a neurotoxin that is 100 times deadlier than potassium cyanide. What may not as widely known is that same toxin can zap you if you touch certain varieties of sea snails as well as the blue ringed octopus<\/strong>, a small but nasty bit of sea life. Contact with one of these unfriendly sorts can cause blindness, paralysis, and\/or death. And while the Marbled Cone Snail <\/strong>may be gorgeous to look at, there is no known antidote for a strong enough dose of its venom. I\u2019ve never been a strong ocean swimmer, but when I stick my toe in a wave at the shore, I expect to be alive afterward, pretty sea snails or not. Maybe I\u2019ll forgo the next snorkeling trip.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/listverse.com\/2012\/12\/26\/10-animal-poisons-with-amazingly-specific-purposes\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Inland Taipan <\/strong>is among the deadliest snakes on Earth. Anybody that gets bitten by one of these can die within 45 minutes. It\u2019s an Australian snake and there is anti-venom for the bite, but I wouldn\u2019t want to count on getting back to civilization in time to get the treatment. If I was a snake handler Down Under or if I lived in the Outback, I\u2019d think seriously about keeping a vial of the remedy on hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

The King Cobra <\/strong>can strike fear into the heart of anyone that gets within spitting distance. Just a 1\/4 ounce of its venom (about 7 ml) can kill a full grown elephant within minutes. To put that into perspective \u2013 about twenty grown men could die from that same 1\/4 ounce dose. The good news is that unless you\u2019re traveling to India or China, or the local zoo lets one escape, you\u2019re safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several varieties of Jellyfish<\/strong> can deliver stings that cause a great deal of pain and sometimes death. They are physically brainless, but their make-up is all about survival. Tentacles can be anywhere from less than an inch (the translucent Irukandji) up to ten feet long (the Portuguese Man O War). They are found in oceans all over the world, can be almost invisible or quite colorful (the Sea Nettle found near the Chesapeake Bay in the USA). My advice? If you see one, swim away as fast as you can.<\/span><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.conservationinstitute.org\/7-deadliest-poisonous-jellyfish-world\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using the information in a book you’re writing, choose your poison source carefully. Somebody has to gather that poison before it can be injected or mixed with food. Will it be the villain or someone she\/he hires?\u00a0 There are medical uses for some of the neurotoxins \u2013 those can be purchased legally with the proper credentials. On the other hand, snake venom is not easy to collect, and somebody might actually have to catch the snake first. \u00a0Snake bags anyone?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite villain in literature that has used a rare animal-based poison to do his\/her evil work? Please share in the comments below.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

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*Photo credits:<\/span><\/p>\n

Poison Dart Frog & Jellyfish \u2013 Patti Phillips<\/span><\/p>\n

Puffer Fish \u2013 ListVerse<\/span><\/p>\n

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Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pretty but deadly 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