Enemies of poisonous snakes. Poisonous species of birds: names, characteristics and photos Which bird is harmless from snake venom

Birds cannot produce venom like snakes. Birds acquire toxins from food. Some insects and grains contain poison. By eating them, 5 species on the planet became dangerous. This danger is passive. Birds don't attack. The effect of the poison is felt only by the offenders who grabbed or tried to eat. Let's get to know them by name.

Spur goose

He is the largest among geese, weighing about 8 kilos. The body length of the bird is 1 meter. With such dimensions, the bird has difficulty taking off. The rise into the air is preceded by a long run. Therefore, the shportsevy settles in flat areas. There is room to run around.

Spur goose in flight

The bird chooses African plains, in particular the south of the Sahara and the northern outskirts of the Zambezi River. There are American subspecies of spur geese. Birds inhabit the southern continent, meeting, for example, in the pampas of Bolivia.

Birds of this species are recognized by their black-green tail, white belly, charcoal-colored wings, and light-colored front part. The rest of the head, neck and back are dark brown. The bird's beak is red, flattened laterally.

In ordinary geese, the flattening is expressed at the top of the beak, so spurred ones look more like turkeys. The latter is also reminiscent of the partially exposed skin on the head of the hero of the article. He also has unusually long and muscular legs.

Toxin poisonous birds worn in spurs. Hence the name of the species. The spurs of African geese are located on the bend of the wing joints. Spikes are used to protect against attackers, particularly birds of prey, wild canines and cats.

The plant menu of the spur goose is supplemented by caterpillars, small fish, dragonflies and blister beetles. The latter contain poison. In past centuries, nomadic peoples noted the active mortality of livestock on pastures where blister bugs abounded. They resemble ladybugs, but more elongated.

Spur goose - female with growing chick

Blister toxin, synthesized in a laboratory, can kill humans. In a beetle or even a goose, the dose of poison is not enough to cause lethal consequences. However, the toxin can cause burns, pain and itching.

There are 5 species of spur geese on the planet. Their toxicity varies depending on the proportion of blister beetles in the diet and their quantitative presence in the area. In other words, one goose may be safe, while another may be deadly poisonous.

Pitohu

Another one of 6 poisonous birds. Kinds The list of birds is being expanded, because there are also 6 names of pitoha, and there are 20 subspecies in total. All live in New Guinea. There poisonous bird pitohu considered a weed.

Due to the toxicity, bitterness of meat during cooking and the unpleasant odor of the skin of birds during heat treatment, the animal is not caught for food. There are no pita hunters in the forests where the bird lives. If its poison is dangerous for humans, but not fatal, then for tropical predators it is deadly.

Poisonous pitohu

A virtually untouchable bird, the pitoha is abundant in New Guinea but is not found outside of it. In other words, the poisonous bird is endemic to the area.

Second name - blackbird flycatcher. Poisonous bird also receives toxin from the beetles it eats. Their name is Nanisani. These beetles are also endemic to Guinea. The insects are miniature, have an elongated, segmented body of orange color. The wings are shorter and black-purple. Interestingly, the most common type of pitohu - two-color - has a similar color.

The blackbird flycatcher extracts batrachotoxin from beetles. The leaf frog, which lives in South America, kills its victims with the same poison. The local amphibian receives the toxin from the ants it eats, which, by the way, are also endemic to the area.

The organs, skin, and feathers of the pitohu are impregnated with batrachotoxin. That's why the most poisonous bird. Handling a bird with your bare hands can cause burns. However, the poisonousness of the pitohu, like the spurred goose, depends on the habitat and the amount of nanisan there.

The toxicity of pitahu is a 1990s discovery made by John Dumbaker of the University of Chicago. The ornithologist escaped with a numb mouth after licking his finger with which he touched a blackbird flycatcher. The scientist was getting her out of the trap. Dumbaker did not use gloves, unaware of the poisonous nature of the bird. After the incident, Europeans learned that there are toxic birds.

In addition to two-color there is crested pitohu. Poisonous bird It also has a black, changeable, rusty variety. All of them do not exceed 34 centimeters in length and weigh several hundred grams.

Pitokha are called blackbird flycatchers because they are similar in size, structure, and constitution to blackbirds. The pointed beak of poisonous birds is designed to catch insects, including flies.

Blue-headed Ifrit Kovaldi

Blue-headed covaldi - poisonous birds of the world, opened at the turn of the century. In the wilds of the tropics, the birds were found during an expedition dedicated to the study of pitohu. The new species is smaller. The length of the blue-headed ifrit does not exceed 20 centimeters. The bird weighs approximately 60 grams.

Blue-headed Ifrit Kovaldi

The blue-headed species is named after the color of the “cap” of the males. In females it is red and the stripes from the eyes to the neck are yellowish. Males have white lines. There is also a black color on the head of representatives of both sexes. Some of the feathers form a crest. He is set high.

The body of the covaldi is brown-ochre. The poison is concentrated in the chest and paws. The latter are also brownish, which is visible on the picture. Poisonous birds The toxin is also carried in feathers, however, in lower concentrations. However, you can get a burn if you grab a covaldi with your bare hands. The bird is one of the 50 most dangerous animals in the world.

Despite its colorful appearance, the blue-headed ifrit looks gloomy. The bird's beak, slightly bent down, gives it a dissatisfied expression. Its upper “flap” is shorter than the lower one. The bottom one is bent. Covaldi obtains toxin by eating the same beetles as pitoh. The birds have adapted to the Nanisani poison and are not susceptible to it. On others, batrachotoxin acts instantly.

When predators bite a blue-headed ifrit, the poison burns the mouth and penetrates with saliva to the stomach, and from there into the bloodstream, corroding organs. The tiger dies in 10 minutes. Smaller predators die in 2-4 minutes.

Ifrits sing enchantingly and are revered by the natives of New Guinea as the viceroys of the gods. Naturally, birds are not eaten. Like pitohu, covaldi meat is bitter and has an unpleasant aftertaste.

Shrike Flycatcher

Another resident of New Guinea. However, the shrike flycatcher is also found on the Australian mainland and in Indonesia. The shrike belongs to the order of passeriformes, the family of Australian whistlers. People call a bird no more than 24 centimeters long a pop singer, her singing is so pleasant.

Shrike Flycatcher

Externally, the shrike flycatcher is similar to a tit. Coloration varies slightly as there are 7 varieties of the bird. One has a green back, another has a gray chest, and the third has a brown apron. That is why the species are called brown-breasted and green-backed. All were open until the first third of the last century.

The shrike flycatcher takes its poison from insects. Many of them are poisonous. The toxin, for example, is produced by the common centipede. She often feeds on flies, injecting poison into them to paralyze them. Therefore, the insect is also called a flycatcher. However, the bird flycatcher's menu still contains more beetles.

Quail

Three hundred years ago, in “Description of Ukraine from the Borders of Muscovy to Transylvania,” Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan wrote: “A special type of quail is found here. He has dark blue legs. This one brings death to the one who eats it.”

The book was translated from a French edition in 1660. Later, scientists refuted Boplan's opinion, proving that any quail can be life-threatening. There is no separate poisonous species.

California tufted quail female and male

How to understand which birds are poisonous? First of all, you need to focus on the time chosen for hunting. Delicious and tasty quails usually become poisonous by October. This is the time of flight of birds to warmer regions.

The growing season of cereal crops, which quail usually feast on, is ending. Not finding their usual food, the birds eat whatever they can on the way. Often the grains of poisonous plants are used. That is, quail, like other birds on the list, receive toxins from food. The difference is in the type of food. In the case of quails, insects have nothing to do with it.

Every autumn, fatal cases of poisoning from wild poultry meat are recorded. Most often children and old people die. According to statistics, common game turns out to be more dangerous than exotic pitohu or blue-headed covaldi. They know about the danger of the latter, avoiding poisoned birds. Few people expect a dirty trick from quails. Most people are unaware of the possibility of poisoning.

Since all poisonous birds obtain toxins from insects or from plant foods, birds become harmless on a diet that excludes dangerous foods. The law also works in the opposite direction. For example, ordinary chickens are poisonous.

Common quail

Doctors advise against buying their carcasses in stores. In poultry farms, birds are fed hormones and antibiotics. They accelerate growth, help gain weight, and protect chickens from diseases.

However, both hormonal and antibiotic drugs accumulate in tissues. From chicken meat, a kind of poison enters the consumer’s body. So, which bird is poisonous and which is not is still debatable.

The world is toxic. Everything around: air, water, food is a potential poison, and if consumed incorrectly or excessively, poisoning is inevitable. If the amount of table salt required by the body is increased tenfold, death occurs. The basis of life, oxygen, taken in large quantities, becomes poison. Drinking several liters of plain water at one time leads to hyponatremia.

Of course, the most dangerous thing for humans is the poison contained in living organisms. But not all living beings produce it themselves; they borrow many harmful components from inanimate nature. Poisons of “non-living” origin include thousands of substances formed in the depths of our planet and in the atmosphere. The most common of them are derivatives of mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and sulfur. In nature, all these elements are found in the form of minerals, are often used in industry and are even included in medicines. But as soon as the permissible, usually very small, dose is exceeded, they react with proteins and amino acids of the human body and begin their destructive work. This leads to disruption of breathing processes, muscle contraction, and transmission of nerve impulses. In addition, these elements accumulate in the bodies of animals and plants, making them poisonous when consumed.

Failed experiment
It was 1976 in a remote corner of Australia, where locals still wonder about rain and consider doctors charlatans. One peasant with an acute toothache turned to a healer, and he advised him to put a piece of toad skin on his cheek. The poor guy did as he was told, and soon he really stopped feeling pain - he died. The fact is that in his mouth there was a part of the most poisonous animal - the aga toad (Bufo marinus). Her skin and internal organs are saturated with bufotoxin, a convulsive poison. The poisoned person's pulse quickens, vomiting and convulsions appear, and then death occurs from cardiac paralysis.

The homeland of the aga toad is the jungle of South America. In 1935, sugar companies brought the toad to Australia to reduce the population of pest beetles in sugarcane plantations. One hundred amphibians were released into the fields of Queensland, and within six months 60 thousand young toads were jumping there, which began to multiply at an alarming rate along the entire coast. At first the sugar magnates rejoiced, but then it was time to cry. While pesticides were created for pest beetles a couple of decades later, there is no control for the American toad. In its native conditions, aga is at least eaten by fish and reptiles, accustomed to its poison over millions of years of proximity. But Australian fauna turned out to be sensitive to bufotoxin: black-headed pythons and deadly snakes were found dead with a toad in their mouth. Poisonous amphibians have become a serious threat not only to animals, but also to people. So once again it became clear that living organisms, harmless in some conditions, can become deadly in others.

From defense to attack

Living nature is no less poisonous than inanimate nature. Among insects alone, 800 thousand species use poison or so-called “chemical defense”. Of the 3,500 species of snakes known today, 410 are venomous. Of the 300 thousand plant species, about a thousand are deadly to humans. All these statistics are quite arbitrary, because new species are discovered every year, and we simply may not know about other unstudied species that carry poison.

Poisonous living organisms are divided into two large groups: some use poison for attack, others for defense. This difference in goals is fundamental; it affects the structure of the animal or plant, its lifestyle, and the type of poison it uses. For those who use poison to scare off enemies, it accumulates in the body, making it tasteless, bitter, and even deadly to potential enemies. In this case, the poison often acts selectively. For example, almost all parts of the spotted arum are poisonous, but it can be eaten by birds that help the plant reproduce. The bright orange “blood” of a ladybug contains highly toxic alkaloids and reliably protects the ladybug from being eaten by predators. The tarantula simply pushes the ladybug out of its hole, whereas it would definitely eat another insect. When choosing a defense strategy, the plant absorbs toxins from the environment, most often from the soil, and the animal receives them from food.

The mechanisms for protecting living organisms using poisons are surprisingly diverse. The most powerful plant poison, the famous curare, is obtained from a plant of the genus Chillibuha, which produces it exclusively for protection. South American Indians have long used this poison in hunting, smearing the tips of their arrows with it. Just one hit by an arrow in any part of the body of a large animal, such as a tapir, was fatal for him. For quite a long time, scientists could not understand how this poison works. Experiments have shown that curare has no effect on either nerve fibers or muscles. Only with the opening of the synaptic gap between the nerve ending and the muscle did it become clear that curare blocks the passage of electrical impulses from the nerve to the muscle. The tapir's brain tells the body to run, get away from the hunter! But the muscles do not obey the order, because it simply does not reach them. Then comes paralysis of the respiratory muscles, suffocation and death. Curare is basically composed of alkaloids, which are called curarines. Tropical trees synthesize them themselves and accumulate them in the bark and trunk in order to protect themselves from numerous insects and thus maintain the population of the species.

A method of defense similar to that of plants is used by dart frogs, the most poisonous vertebrates on Earth. Small amphibians live in the forests of South America and warn about their “filling” with bright colors. Darter frogs' skin is riddled with glands that secrete microscopic amounts of poison, which are enough to kill a jaguar. This poison consists of about a hundred different substances, but its active basis is batrachotoxin from the group of alkaloids. This is one of the strongest non-protein poisons, which increases the permeability of the membrane of nerve and muscle cells to sodium ions. Because of this, the electrical potential of the nerve cell changes and it can no longer conduct impulses. As a result, cardiac arrhythmia occurs, leading to cardiac arrest. For batrachotoxin to work, it only needs to enter the bloodstream through the mucous membrane or cracks in the skin. That is why no one touches these frogs, except for the Indians, who smear hunting arrows with frog poison. The dart frogs themselves are insensitive to their poison. But how this happens is unclear. The origin of their poison is also unclear. Theoretically, it can be synthesized in the body or even produced by bacteria living in symbiosis with frogs. But most likely the alkaloids come from some food source. This is the opinion of leading researcher of venomous amphibians John Daly from the Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry of the National Institutes of Health (USA). By the way, there are cases where dart frogs bred in captivity have lost their toxicity. Apparently, they need some kind of special diet.

Dart frogs are a rare exception. Basically, the venom of living creatures that protect themselves from predators is quite weak; most often it comes down to “chemical defense”, like that of a ladybug or a forest bug. Animal hunters are a different matter. They wait a long time and then rush at the victim. They often have only one chance to take prey, so the poison must be very strong and act instantly. This active strategy requires the creation of a special apparatus for the production of poison and its delivery to the target. The mechanism of hunting with the help of venom is best established in snakes, but it is also widely used by animals of all other groups, including unicellular organisms. In this situation, the poison is usually synthesized inside the body from various proteins, such as saliva or bile. Protein poisons are especially dangerous for humans because they quickly react with proteins in our body.

The venom of hunting animals acts in different ways. Most often, it paralyzes the victim, allowing the predator to eat it without interference. In spiders and some snakes, the venom simultaneously dissolves tissue and facilitates the absorption of food. Snake venom is also neurotoxic, affecting the nervous system and causing cardiac arrest in large doses. In most marine animals and insects, the poison has a hemolytic effect: it destroys tissues and blood vessels. It is characteristic that the strength of the poison does not depend on the size of the animal. The bite of an ant (it is also poisonous) is harmless to humans, but the bite of the same-sized African beetle, Diamphidia, is deadly. It's all about the concentration of the poison and the ability to quickly introduce it into the body. For example, the famous black mamba is not the most poisonous of snakes. However, when it bites, it injects the largest amount of poison into the wound and kills a large animal or person in just a minute and a half.

In search of a panacea
Even in ancient times, people tried to find a universal remedy for poison. The Pontic king Mithridates VI, who ruled from 121 to 63 BC, advanced further than others in this. e. Taking small doses of various poisons, he developed immunity to poisoning. As a result, when the king decided that his time had come, he wanted to commit suicide, but not a single poison took him. It is known that the “antidote” of Mithridates Eupator included more than 50 parts many herbs, opium and snake venom. Another popular antidote was theriac, a universal medicine in the Middle Ages, although it only had analgesic properties. Other remedies were also proposed: milk, wine, figs, but they all turned out to be ineffective.

Significant discoveries in the science of poisons can be counted on one hand. In the 17th century, Tuscan physician Francesco Redi proved that snake venom was only dangerous if it entered the bloodstream. Convincing his colleagues of this, he publicly drank a hefty dose (it’s good that he didn’t have an ulcer!). A century later, another Italian, Felice Fontana, continued his research and described the reaction of various internal organs to poison. At the end of the 19th century, biologists began to look for a cure for snake bites and discovered that the experimental animal became immune to the poison if it was administered gradually, increasing doses. This was quickly followed by the most significant event in zootoxinology - the creation of the first anti-snake serum in 1895. It was invented by Albert Calmet of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The preparation process turned out to be simple: the horses were given a course of injections of snake venom, starting with small doses, gradually increasing its amount. Antibodies were formed in their blood, neutralizing the molecules of the poison, and over time they became more and more numerous until the animal stopped reacting to it. It is this horse’s blood, full of antibodies, that serves as a life-saving medicine for humans. True, the serum saves only one type of snake from poison. Scientists are still trying to find a universal antidote for the venom of all snakes. But so far, substances are being produced that can lead to the death of a person, just like the snake toxins themselves.

Bittersweet

People have known about poisonous plants for a long time, but only in the 19th century were chemists able to isolate from them various types of alkaloids - substances that mainly cause toxicity. In addition to them, plants contain hydrocyanic acid, glycosides and other components dangerous to humans. Of course, poisonous plants are less dangerous than animals, because they use poison only for protection (however, there are plants that paralyze the insects they feed with poison). In addition, you can be poisoned by them only by tasting poisonous fruits, berries or seeds. True, many still do this out of ignorance.

In our middle zone there are many plants growing that can cause illness. These are elderberry, white acacia, buttercup, nightshade, foxglove and others. There are also those whose fruits are deadly poisonous. Fortunately, the most dangerous of plants, the South American chilibuha and African strophanthus, do not grow here. But there is henbane; it is enough to eat a dozen of its sweetish berries, and nausea, hallucinations, and delirium arise (remember the popular expression: “Have you eaten too much henbane?”). The same symptoms occur with poisoning from belladonna and dope. Hemlock, also known as poisonous hemlock, causes severe convulsions and sometimes death. It acts quite quickly, within a few minutes, which is why the “humane” Athenians poisoned Socrates with it. True, it is difficult for the average person to become poisoned by hemlock, since only the root of this plant is poisonous. The berries of the wolf's bast, as well as its juice, are deadly; if they come into contact with the skin, blisters and ulcers appear. The same thing happens from the juice of other plants, such as regular milkweed.

Special mention should be made about mushrooms, which people poison more than any other plants: many poisonous mushrooms are very similar to edible ones. In addition, even edible mushrooms can become poisonous due to improper processing or storage for too long. On the other hand, the poison of many mushrooms can be destroyed by heat treatment. It turns out that the Germans, for example, eat fly agaric mushrooms by boiling them in boiling water for a day.

Three groups of poisonous mushrooms are known. The first spring lines, which contain gyromitrin. It causes nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, and sometimes leads to death. The situation is worse with pale toadstools and false honey mushrooms containing phalloidins and amanitins. These substances cause damage to most organs. The poison of these mushrooms is strong, and without urgent gastric lavage, the victim faces death. The third group includes different types of fly agarics, which contain muskimol, muscazone and other similar substances. Their use, in addition to nausea and stomach pain, causes hallucinations and mental disorders. For this reason, fly agarics have become a fashionable means of “expanding consciousness” in certain circles, no less popular than the peyote cactus praised by Castaneda.

In recent years, the number of mushroom poisonings in our country has been constantly growing. They say that once edible mushrooms have mutated and become poisonous. In fact, among mushroom pickers there are many city dwellers who simply cannot distinguish edible mushrooms from similar inedible ones. In addition, mushrooms, like a sponge, absorb toxic substances from soil and water, including radioactive elements. For themselves, these substances are harmless, but dangerous for people. In other countries, this problem hardly arises: there they almost never collect mushrooms in the forest, but instead eat champignons grown in greenhouses.

Who poisoned the birds?
For a long time it was believed that there were no poisonous species among birds. However, in 1989, American scientists studied birds in the forests of New Guinea. The caught thrush flycatchers (pithaus), no larger than a jay, painfully scratched their hands and pecked. The wounds hurt, and people involuntarily brought them to their mouths to moisten them with saliva. As a result, my lips instantly became numb. Ornithologist John Dumbaker found this suspicious and submitted the birds for analysis. Chemists discovered poison in the skin, feathers and other internal organs of flycatchers, which immediately became a sensation in the scientific world. The most striking thing was that the poison of the New Guinea birds is similar to batrachotoxin, the same one that literally saturates the body of Colombian dart frogs. Scientists were immediately interested: who is the flycatcher’s such strong protection aimed at? After all, all animals react to this toxin: very sensitive rabbits and dogs, less sensitive mice and insensitive toads and frogs. As with poison dart frogs, the bright orange and black plumage of pitahos signals their poisonous nature and warns predators that there is nothing to catch. But these birds do not have many enemies. At first it was suspected that they had to become poisonous quite recently to protect themselves from human hunters. But still, the hypothesis about repelling bird lice, on which batrachotoxin has a fatal effect, seems more convincing. And in 2000, Dumbaker discovered another species, not related to the pitah, but having the same poison - the blue-capped ifrita (Ifrita kowaldi). The researcher decided to find out where the poisoned birds get their poison from. Its possible source is a tiny nanisani bug, in whose body a high concentration of batrachotoxin was found. And although it is not possible to trace the path of poison from beetles to birds, there is indirect evidence of such a connection: birds definitely eat poisoned insects. “But we still don’t know how pitah manages to avoid self-poisoning,” admits the scientist.

Armed and dangerous

Poisonous creatures thrive at all levels of the evolutionary tree, starting with the most primitive. Even among the simplest there are carriers of poison, for example, microscopic dinoflagellates that inhabit the sea in coastal areas and color the water rusty-red. Red tide is poisoning fish and shellfish, and people are complaining of sore throats and difficulty breathing.

The poison helps coelenterate jellyfish and sea anemones to hunt. Almost all types of jellyfish can cause severe burns to humans, and some, such as the Australian sea wasp, cause tissue necrosis and cardiac dysfunction. At depth, a swimmer struck by even a small jellyfish can drown and experience temporary paralysis of the limbs. The same reaction can be caused by painful (and also poisonous) injections of sea urchins.

Among poisonous mollusks, the most famous are shells from the cone genus. Their beauty is deceptive: behind the iridescent shiny armor hides a real predator with sophisticated weapons, following whose actions you can imagine how poison is used for hunting purposes. The cone's well-fed existence is ensured by warm tropical waters full of small crustaceans, annelids and fish. While lying in wait for prey, the mollusk at the right moment shoots a harpoon-shaped spike at it, which returns to its place after the hunt. A channel is connected to this harpoon through which the poison enters, and it is pumped from a special muscular vesicle. The poison paralyzes the victim, but if the dose is not enough, the hunter always has another poisoned harpoon at the ready. Cones are also dangerous for humans.

The most poisonous species among arachnids are spiders, scorpions and phalanges. They are all active hunters, and poison is a vital necessity for them. Some spiders produce very strong poisons. For example, the poison of the little karakurt latrotoxin can kill a horse, which is clearly not one of its possible victims. The terrifying-looking tarantula is less dangerous, although its bite can cause convulsions and paralysis. Once upon a time, those bitten by a tarantula were forced to dance in order to stretch their muscles and expel the poison along with sweat; according to legend, this is where the name of the dance “tarantella” comes from. The huge tarantula spiders that live in America are not very poisonous, but scorpions cause a lot of trouble for people, having the habit of climbing into the folds of clothing and stinging in the most vulnerable places.

People usually do not eat poisonous fish, but fish can meet a person in their native element and give them a good “treat” with injections of poisoned thorns and thorns. Particularly dangerous is the large stingray, which hides at the bottom and, if stepped on, plunges a poisonous spike into the leg. The result is seizures, breathing problems, and sometimes death. The injections of scorpionfish, sea dragon and similar bullies have the same consequences. But much more terrible for humans are fish whose internal organs are poisonous, for example the notorious pufferfish or pufferfish. In Japan, it causes the death of dozens of people every year: fugu is considered a delicacy and is eaten regardless of the danger. The fish's gall bladder, liver and skin are poisonous. When gutting, they are, of course, removed, but even a drop of poison that gets into the fish meat can be fatal. Regular tuna meat can also be poisonous, but here the danger is limited to indigestion.

Snakes and others

Among the vertebrate animals of the land there are also many poisonous creatures, but snakes especially clearly demonstrate the “talent” of poisoners. From their distant ancestors they inherited an open canal along the front surface of the upper tooth. During evolution, the canal deepened, its edges converged, and a tubular tooth was formed. The poison enters the tooth from a sac-gland under the upper jaw, which generally resembles a syringe. The main prey of snakes are birds, rodents, fish, that is, the animals are very mobile and quite large compared to the hunters themselves. Snakes would never have been able to cope with them without teeth, which serve as excellent weapons for them.

The snake waits for prey and delivers one precise bite, trying not to kill the victim, but only to facilitate interaction with it: first immobilize it, and then swallow it. For such a task, a quick-acting agent is needed, so snakes use substances that attack the nervous or circulatory system. It is worth noting that snake bites are generally less dangerous for humans than for animals. This happens because the snake does not attack large individuals, including humans, but when meeting them it only defends itself, injecting less poison. As we can see, the snake uses venom both for protection and for hunting.

The chemical composition of snake venoms is complex. It is a mixture of active proteins, including those that facilitate the digestion of food. Some dorsulocate snakes, which have venomous teeth in the back rather than the front, first strangle the victim, then grab it with their mouth and go over it with their teeth, inflicting pinpoint injections of poison. The tissue at the injection site begins to break down, thus preparing the prey for the penetration of the snake's gastric juices. According to herpetologist Alexey Sokolov, an employee of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, such a strategy was developed during evolution as an alternative to grinding, since snakes cannot bite into food and chew.

Snakes of any latitude are dangerous to humans, although there are many more poisonous species in the tropics. The largest of them is the king cobra, whose bites kill up to 10 thousand people every year in India alone. These are mainly peasants who step on cobras during field work or clearing forests. The snake takes this as an attack and strikes with lightning speed. Its poison acts quickly: if the serum is not administered within 20-30 minutes, death is inevitable. Some species of cobras can spit venom over a distance of several meters. If the poison gets into the eyes, it causes blindness or even general poisoning. Bites from adders (including the black mamba) and sea snakes cause movement disorders, difficulty speaking and breathing, and paralysis. The venom of vipers and rattlesnakes has a different effect: at the site of the bite, tissue necrosis, general blood thickening, and in severe cases, again, cardiac paralysis and death occur.

There are only two types of poisonous lizards - the so-called poisonous lizards. But among toads and frogs, as many as 40 are dangerous to humans. The fewest poisoners are known among mammals - only six species. Large animals do not need protection as much as everyone else; they have much fewer enemies. And, in general, no one bothers them to hunt. So toxicity is not so beneficial for them. One of the few poisonous animals is the platypus, living in Australia. It wears poisonous spurs on its hind legs. In females, as they grow, the spurs fall off, and only in adult males do they continue to grow and reach 1.5 cm. To each spur, a gland stretches along the animal’s thigh, which produces a “cocktail” of poisons from at least four different types. In principle, a platypus can also injure a person, but apart from severe pain and swelling at the site of the bite, there will be no other consequences. It is possible that smaller animals suffer more from platypus venom. But it is unlikely that these spurs were created for protection from enemies, because then females should also be armed with them. Rather, with their help, male platypuses sort things out in tournament battles for the right to become a father. Oviparous echidnas also have spurs, but they do not appear to be venomous.

The five remaining poisonous animals belong to the order of insectivores, and their poison enters through their teeth, like snakes. A very aggressive creature is a short-tailed shrew, similar to a small mouse. She rushes and bites everything that moves in order to satisfy the hunger that constantly torments her. The shrew produces saliva with neurotoxins, which helps it hunt animals larger than itself: frogs, fish, lizards and even birds. And if there is no suitable prey in the area, then the animal begins to kill its relatives. Recently, poisonous saliva was discovered in two species of shrews inhabiting Eurasia, but the characteristics of their poison have not yet been studied.

Slittooths, which live only in Haiti and Cuba, are also hunters of all small animals. The second lower incisor in slittooths is equipped with a groove into which the duct from the poisonous gland located under the jaw is connected. In part, the structure of this venomous apparatus is similar to that of a snake, but this does not mean at all that slittooths are relatives of snakes. For about 200 million years, these insectivores have been isolated on islands and, most likely, have developed a similar hunting strategy independently, which often happens in nature.

Low dose effect

People have always been afraid of poisonous plants and animals, endowing them with magical properties. However, they have long found out that the same poisons can also serve as medicine. Already in Ancient Egypt, doctors used henbane, strychnine, opium and hemp for patients. And medieval doctors added dried scorpions and snakes to recipes. Those deadly creatures whose poisons turned out to be useful for humans were studied especially carefully, knowledge about them accumulated over thousands of years. Toxinology was officially recognized as a science only in 1962.

Thanks to the experience of past generations, modern medicine very quickly adopted many previously known poisons. Taken in small doses, curare turned out to be an extremely important medicine. The substance contained in this plant acts as a muscle relaxant: by administering it to the patient before surgery, the dose of anesthesia can be sharply reduced. Many people have heard about Botox injections, which relax the facial muscles and thus smooth out wrinkles. This drug is based on waste products of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, the causative agents of deadly botulism.

In terms of the degree of knowledge, perhaps only snake poisons can be compared with plant poisons. Of particular interest are neurotoxins, which are useful for the treatment and research of diseases of the nervous system. Thus, the substance contortrostatin, which can stop the metastases of breast cancer, was recently isolated from the venom of the moccasin snake. These studies have not yet left the laboratory walls, but are already considered very promising. Hemorrhagic snake toxins damage blood and blood vessels, but in microscopic portions they can also prevent blood clots. English scientists are working in this direction, and perhaps in the near future medicines will be developed from snake venom to treat patients with heart attack and stroke.

One of the most promising medicines of the century may be cone mollusk poison. This poison is very complex: more than 50 chemicals in its composition can affect the brain and nervous system. Determining the right compound in such a mixture is quite difficult, but in 2004 the first drug based on conotoxin was approved, which is a thousand times stronger than the painkiller morphine.

The achievements of geneticists have made it possible to take a new approach to poisons that previously seemed hopeless from a medicinal point of view. The chlorotoxin released by the scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus is effective in killing brain cancer cells, but it is also lethal to healthy cells. American Gerald Sontheimer genetically changed the insect's venom so that its molecules began to recognize cancer-affected cells, move to them and “attach themselves.” The discovery prompted the scientist to come up with a brilliant idea: to use poison molecules as transport to deliver medicine to the affected area. This will help make chemotherapy for cancer patients a more precise and targeted process.

Examples of close connections between pharmacology and natural poisons can be multiplied. Now one thing is clear: the toxicity of living beings serves as an inexhaustible source of knowledge and discoveries that can bring medicine to a higher level of development.

Popular hierarchy
It is still not clear which poison is the most powerful. The popular version contains potassium cyanide, arsenic, snake venom and fly agaric alkaloids. But this, of course, is at odds with scientific data. Of the poisons known today, the toxins of botulism and tetanus are considered the strongest. When comparing poisons by strength of effect, it is necessary to take into account the experimental conditions, the method of administration of the substance, the type of experimental animals and other factors. There are several systems for assessing the toxicity of poisons, but the most obvious way is to measure it in average lethal doses for mice, that is, to find out experimentally: how much of a substance is needed to kill a certain number of rodents within, for example, 24 hours. You should know that mice are not as sensitive to poisons than large mammals, including humans. That is why the doses of poisons given below apply only to laboratory rodents.

Who is the enemy of snakes?, so well protected by nature? Do they even have them? It is generally accepted that snakes have a fierce hatred for people: when they meet a person, the snake rushes to attack, and if you run away from it, it chases for a long time. In fact, this is not at all the case. Snakes feed on rodents, birds, insects, and bird eggs, but they are indifferent to humans.

But if not people, then who are their original, real enemies? A lot of them. One of them is the Brazilian mussurana snake, reaching 150-230 cm in length. For this snake, harmless to us, a meeting with a highly poisonous two-meter spear-headed keffiyeh ( Trimeresurus) great luck. She goes hunting at night and watches for snakes descending from the shore to a watering hole. Noticing the kufito, the mussurana quickly pounces on her, intertwines with her in a ball, digs her teeth into her neck and, moving her teeth, gets to her head. Holding the head of the keffiyeh between his teeth, the mussurana turns it, like a nut being unscrewed, 360°. She breaks the bones of the spine, and the snake becomes paralyzed. Ingestion of mussuran begins from the head. The paralyzed keffiyeh gradually disappears into the snake's mouth. In those cases when the victim is too large and cannot be swallowed whole, only half of the keffiyeh ends up in the stomach. The second half sticking out of the mouth is gradually drawn into the stomach by the mussurana until it is completely swallowed.

Mussurana ( Clelia clelia) is the most dangerous enemy of Brazilian pit snakes, therefore the scientific institute for the production of antivenom serums in the city of Sao Paulo strongly recommends protecting and breeding this extremely useful snake.

In order to combat poisonous snakes, patronage of various enemies of snakes may be important: hedgehogs, ferrets, weasels, martens and many birds - spotted eagles, buzzards, crows, magpies, vultures, peacocks. Snake venom has little or no effect on them. They are zealous snake hunters and do not miss an opportunity to feast on them.

I had to see a hedgehog fight with vipers in a terrarium. When let in to the snakes, the hedgehog felt belligerent, snorted, bristled with its spines, and finally went on the offensive. The vipers hissed excitedly and rushed at the hedgehog, but invariably met the thorny armor. During an hour of tireless struggle, the hedgehog was bitten twice, but seemingly without consequences. He remained energetic in the attack and, in the end, overpowering the vipers, calmly ate them.

It has been experimentally established that a hedgehog would need to be injected with up to 20 mg of viper venom for it to die. During the described fight with snakes, it is unlikely that so much poison entered the hedgehog’s blood. In addition, his blood serum has the property of neutralizing the poison that has entered it. A hedgehog is 40 times more resistant to viper venom than a guinea pig.

Immune to viper and pig venom. When fighting a snake, the pig tries to trample it underfoot. She exposes the snake’s sides and hides its tender snout from the bite. Bites to the fatty sides of a pig are not scary. The fat-rich subcutaneous tissue has very few blood vessels, and the poison cannot enter the blood.

The semi-desert zone of Mexico is home to a tireless pursuer and destroyer of poisonous snakes - a bird close to cuckoos. This is a California plantain cuckoo ( Geococcyx californianus) - road runner, or walker. The bird reaches 60 cm in length. It fully lives up to its name: it constantly rushes on long and strong legs along roads, among bushes and cacti, as if tirelessly looking for someone.

Having met a rattlesnake, the plantain cuckoo, not paying attention to the threatening pose and the rustling of the rattle, attacks it. The bird crouches to the ground, spreads its wings wide, its feathers stand on end. The tail, folded in the form of a straight and narrow ruler, sometimes rises vertically, sometimes bends sharply to the sides and serves as the bird’s rudder when jumping. In defense, the rattlesnake attacks itself, making numerous attempts to bite the bird on the wings or legs, but each time it hits its head in the feathers. The bird's continuous attacks eventually exhaust the snake so much that it begins to retreat, backing away from the bird. But she becomes even more persistent in her attacks, all the time trying to grab the snake by the neck with a beak as strong as flat teeth. Having grabbed a snake during one of its jumps, it breaks its cervical vertebrae and ruptures its spinal cord. After this, the bird pecks at the brain and starts breakfast.

Since snakes have so many natural enemies, should humans be included in their long list? Of course not. Many cases can be cited showing that snakes themselves avoid people.

While visiting the area around Puebla, Mexico, I saw a rattlesnake. My companion’s dog, who had excellent scent, rushed into the thicket and made a stand in front of a large snake, whose head we saw among the foliage. Unaware of the danger threatening her, the dog came very close to the snake. And then the rattlesnake, slightly raising its tail, shook its terrible rattle, as if warning the dog. It took a long time before the dog could be recalled. This case demonstrates how the reptile hesitates before striking and biting the enemy. Quite often we pass next to snakes, and they, hiding, try not to give away their presence.

In the cold and cold, a snake can sneak into a person’s home with the most peaceful intentions - to warm itself. On a cold May night, I had to spend the night in a hut in the foothills of Alagez in the village of Inaklu, in Armenia, very close to the glaciers. I wrapped myself in a thin blanket and chattered my teeth from the cold all night. Imagine my surprise when in the morning, getting out of bed, I saw Radde’s viper, softened by the warmth, in the folds of the sheet ( Vipera raddei). As punishment for such insolence, the viper was immediately caught and imprisoned in a canvas bag. I joined it with other poisonous snakes collected the day before in the Alagez rocks.

And here is the story of the famous mountaineer Tenzing, who climbed to the top of Everest in 1953.
“We made a stop on the shore of Lake Dutee Tal. I stretched out in the sun and dozed off, covering my face with my hat, and suddenly, through my doze, I felt that the hat seemed to become heavier. I extended my hand to check what was the matter. My fingers did not find a hat, but something cold and slippery. While I was sleeping, a snake settled on the brim of my hat and also took a nap in the sun! I immediately woke up, screamed at the top of my lungs and threw my hat as far as possible.”

The members of the expedition who were next to Tenzing also jumped to their feet. They rushed to the snake and killed it. Local guides accompanying the expedition began to explain to Tenzing that he had made a mistake. When the snake itself comes to a person, it brings happiness. According to local customs, a man with a snake on his head can become a king.

Literature: E. F. Talyzin “Poisonous animals of land and sea.” Publishing house "Knowledge", Moscow, 1970

A lot of them. One of them is the Brazilian mussurana snake, reaching 150-230 cm in length. For this snake, harmless to us, a meeting with a highly poisonous two-meter spear-headed keffiyeh (Trimeresurus) is a great success. She goes hunting at night and watches for snakes descending from the shore to a watering hole. Noticing the kufito, the mussurana quickly pounces on her, intertwines with her in a ball, digs her teeth into her neck and, moving her teeth, gets to her head. Holding the head of the keffiyeh between his teeth, the mussurana turns it, like a nut being unscrewed, 360°. She breaks the bones of the spine, and the snake becomes paralyzed. Ingestion of mussuran begins from the head. The paralyzed keffiyeh gradually disappears into the snake's mouth.

Mussurana (Clelia clelia) is the most dangerous enemy of Brazilian pit snakes, therefore the scientific institute for the production of antivenom serums in the city of Sao Paulo strongly recommends the protection and breeding of this extremely useful snake.

In order to combat poisonous snakes, it may be important to protect various enemies of snakes: hedgehogs, ferrets, weasels, martens, monitor lizards and other large lizards. Snake venom has little or no effect on them. They are zealous snake hunters and do not miss an opportunity to feast on them.

It is well known that the hedgehog is resistant to snake venom. A hedgehog, when faced with a viper, sniffs it from head to tail, not paying attention to the fact that it bites him in the face. He only licks the wounds he received with his tongue. Then, having improved the moment, the hedgehog with a quick movement grabs the viper’s head with its teeth, crushes it and begins to eat the snake killed in this way, without disassembling either the poisonous teeth or the poisonous glands.

Vipers and pigs are immune to poison. When fighting a snake, the pig tries to trample it underfoot. She exposes the snake’s sides and hides its tender snout from the bite. Bites to the fatty sides of a pig are not scary. The fat-rich subcutaneous tissue has very few blood vessels, and the poison cannot enter the blood.

Many of the birds hunt snakes and among them they also devour poisonous ones. The snake eagle, hawks, vultures, buzzards, storks, spotted eagles, buzzards, crows, magpies, vultures, peacocks, even crows exterminate these reptiles. The most dangerous bird for a snake is the secretary bird living in Africa. On its head there is a tuft of long feathers, giving the bird some resemblance to a clerk with a feather behind his ear, which explains the name “secretary” given to it.

The semi-desert zone of Mexico is home to a tireless pursuer and destroyer of poisonous snakes - a bird close to cuckoos. This is the California plantain cuckoo (Geococcyx californianus) - a road runner, or runner. The bird reaches 60 cm in length. It fully lives up to its name: it constantly rushes on long and strong legs along roads, among bushes and cacti, as if tirelessly looking for someone.