In this world humans have been struggling with 2700 species of snakes, and it turns out that only 300 species have venom or poison. The poison in snakes is formed due to the combination of a mixture of enzymes and proteins that snakes have. The combination of these proteins and enzymes will be dangerous when in the human bloodstream, because it can clot blood and break blood vessels. Not all snake venom is so dangerous. The level of venom depends on the environment the snake comes from. An example of a King Cobra snake which has a deadly venom. This snake has a combination of saliva, enzymes, and proteins consisting of 50 to 100 types, resulting in a very deadly venom. The venom collects in a bag that is stored in the snake's head, just behind its eyes. The poison is connected to the nerves that directly connect to the snake's fangs. Fangs only function as a poison injector, not a place to store poison. If you dare to pay attention to the snake's fangs, there will be a small gap at the end of the fangs that can spray poison when the snake feels pressed. But you need to know that not all snake venom is sprayed with fangs. There are certain species, such as the Black Mamba, that excrete venom by spitting or spraying it directly onto their prey. It is named the Black Mamba because of its black mouth. This mouth is black because saliva is so poisonous. This snake is very agile and can move quickly. Snake venom consists of several types, namely: hemotoxin poison, neurotoxin poison, myotoxin poison, and cytotoxin poison. Hemotoxin poison is a poison that can destroy red blood cells and cause bleeding in the body.
The neurotoxin poison will attack the human nervous system and cause the sufferer to experience respiratory failure, often ending in death due to lack of oxygen intake and heart failure. Usually the King Cobra snake has this venom and only gives its prey 15 minutes before dying. While the cytotoxin poison causes the destruction of your body's cells, there will be bruise marks around the bite mark of the snake. Your body will feel pain for 10-15 minutes and spread to other body parts. The last poison myotoxin causes the muscles of the body to become stiff and destroyed, slowly your muscles will melt into protein. Symptoms can be seen from the urine that becomes dark because of the protein filtered by the kidneys.
Snake venom is made by organs that evolved from the salivary glands. Ordinary saliva contains enzymes to help digest food as it is chewed and natural selection gave snakes more toxic enzymes in their saliva. Scientists at Bangor University have sequenced the king cobra's genome and found that the venom in its venom is a small variation of the usual protein. As prey gradually develops immunity, the snake responds with a complex mixture of 50-100 different proteins to alter blood pressure, prevent blood clots, and paralyze nerves.
Why can snakes kill quickly?
Snakes do not have strong claws or jaws to catch their prey. Snakes do not have strong claws or jaws to catch their prey. If the venom doesn't kill fast enough, the prey can run away, hide, and escape the snake's reach. Snakes are in an evolutionary arms race with their prey, which develops a growing resistance to snake venom.
Snakes have adapted to this by developing venom that contains a mixture of several hundred different enzymes and proteins. Some of these can block nerve transmission, others disrupt the rhythm of the heartbeat, and break down muscle tissue or cause blood vessels to burst suddenly. Snakes can control the amount of venom they inject with a single bite and generally use much more than the lethal dose. The black mamba, for example, injects up to 12 times the lethal dose to humans in each bite and can bite as many as 12 times in a single attack. One of the deadliest snakes in the world has the fastest acting venom of any snake. However, the human body is much larger than the prey that the black mamba usually eats so it still takes 20 minutes for the venom to kill a human.
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