When snakes bite another creature, they can kill it in seconds. Well, while the venom secreted by snakes is so dangerous to creatures they consider potential prey, does the same venom harm its owner when they bite themselves?
This poison is a protein secret produced by the salivary glands. Although this poisonous secretion is specific to each species of snake, in fact it creates the same deadly effect. For example, snakes such as the viper, black mamba, pama and cobra are just some of the most venomous species known.
It can be said that these creatures need poison because they can neutralize the animals they hunt. Well, let’s look at the impact of this epidemic, which harms everyone, on snakes.
The venom helps snakes digest prey.
The proteins in snake venom are useless to other living beings. For example, when injected into human flesh, a person can die within a few seconds. This poison contains special enzymes for the rapid breakdown and digestion of large molecules. Thus, snakes can easily break down proteins, carbohydrates, nucleotides (building blocks of DNA and RNA) and phospholipids (located in the structure of the cell membrane along with proteins) in the body of their prey.
That’s why a snake can send even giant creatures larger than its own size to death with a single bite. In addition, this poison contains polypeptic toxins, which include the elements that make up the poison. This poisonous secret is a very dangerous weapon because it disrupts the structure and functioning of the cell.
A snake bite is a fatal blow to the release of venom.
So why is this the case? Because when the snake’s teeth pierce the tissue and enter it, the poison begins to slowly penetrate into the opened wound. For some snakes, the situation may be different. For example, some snakes can secrete venom even with saliva. Others may throw poison so that there is no other choice but to say get well to the creatures there.
For example, a “spitting cobra” is a type of snake that has these skills. However, when the poison gets on the skin of another person, it does not kill him immediately, but harms him. Only when he comes into contact with the eye of his victim, this saliva is fatal if not taken immediately. Thus, this throwing of poison is not intended for direct killing; it is a kind of self-defense of snakes.
Since the venom mechanism of all snakes consists of four main components, it can be said that it works the same way.
The first component is the venom glands; it is located in the area of the head and in the back of the throat. They produce poison and store it for use when the time comes. The second component is the muscles of the head, which are used to envelop prey and decide how many doses of poison to allocate. The last blow is teeth and channels in the mouth. You can think of the channels as a way to get the poison on your teeth. In other words, this cycle ends in the last teeth, and the poison drains into the teeth.
This poison burns you from the outside, but also burns its owner inside.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the protein in snake venom is not harmful to them. Of course, there is a situation when the poison must be mixed with body tissue or blood flow so that these proteins are a toxic factor for the snake. So yes; When a snake swallows poison through its mouth, it is not damaged. Its stomach acid and digestive system enzymes break down the poison and neutralize it.
But let’s say they were bitten by another snake, then the poison gets directly into their blood and is also fatal for them. So, when we come back to our original question; For a snake to die from poison, it must either commit suicide or be bitten by itself or another snake. In short, the venom of snakes is fatal even to themselves if these conditions are met.
