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This complex chemical cocktail is a dangerous defense, but it might also have beneficial qualities for humans as well. One hormone found in platypus venom, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), plays a ...
The platypus is one of the few living mammals to produce venom. The venom is made in venom glands that are connected to hollow spurs on their hind legs; it is primarily made during the mating season. [1] While the venom's effects are described as extremely painful, it is not lethal to humans.
The rat is known to deliberately chew the roots and bark of the poison-arrow tree (Acokanthera schimperi), so-called because human hunters extract a toxin, ouabain, to coat arrows that can kill an elephant. After the rat has chewed the tree, it deliberately slathers the resulting mixture onto its specialised flank hairs which are adapted to ...
The echidna spurs are vestigial and have no known function, while the platypus spurs contain venom. [42] Molecular data show that the main component of platypus venom emerged before the divergence of platypus and echidnas, suggesting that the most recent common ancestor of these taxa was also possibly a venomous monotreme. [43]
In addition, incidents of opiliones biting people are rare, and no reported bites by these species have had any lasting effects. The term "daddy-long-legs" also can refer to the similar-looking cellar spider. This species (a true spider) can bite humans, but its venom is not known to have any effects beyond mild discomfort at the site of the bite.
This is a list of the deadliest animals to humans worldwide, measured by the number of humans killed per year. Different lists have varying criteria and definitions, so lists from different sources disagree and can be contentious. This article contains a compilation of lists from several reliable sources.
Pigs are competent predators and can kill and eat helpless humans unable to escape them. [30] [31] [32] Numerous animal trials in the Middle Ages involved pigs accused of eating children. [33] In 2019, a woman was attacked and killed by a herd of feral hogs in rural Texas. She died due to exsanguination (i.e. bled to death) from bite wounds. [34]
The toxin is variously used by animals as a defensive biotoxin to ward off predation, or as both a defensive and predatory venom (e.g., in octopuses, chaetognaths, and ribbon worms). [18] Even though the toxin acts as a defense mechanism, some predators such as the common garter snake have developed insensitivity to TTX, which allows them to ...