As you can see, it is a continuation of Fun Facts which contains amazing, mind-boggling, and seemingly odd science facts that can widen your eyes and mouth, and makes you question about life, and perhaps change the way you view life, the world, the...
We have that kind of pedantic friend, who are oftentimes the science-lovers -- us, correct everyone who states something wrong either grammatically or scientifically like telling them snakes are not poisonous but venomous. That person or probably us will explain the definition between poisonous and venomous. However little did they or we know, poisonous snakes exist. One great example is a Tiger keelback (Scientific name: Rhabdophis Triginus), commonly found in Japan.
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This snake is both venomous and poisonous. They use venom for their prey such as fish, tadpoles, and their favorite frogs and toads. They rarely bite humans and they do not usually want to bite huge organisms because they rather use their venom for their prey. Whereas their poison, they use it for their predators. At the back of its neck are several pairs of nuchal glands. These glands if the right pressure is applied, will spew out stinky toxic yellowish pus containing bufadienolides. This compound causes acute pain and temporary damage to the cornea if it gets in your eyes. This actually happened to a certain scientist who discovered these poison-excreting organ accidentally. He cut those glands without knowing that it contains a toxic substance, thereby that poison spumed directly to his eyes. This unfortunate event propelled other scientists to use safety goggles to avoid undesirable accidents when doing an experiment.
Anyway, this poisonous compound if ingested or inhaled it irritates the tissue they touch inside and even causes heart problems. However, there are other Tiger keelbacks that are not poisonous. They live in a toadless island or habitat because they acquire their poison from poisonous toads they ate. Plus, they modified the toxic compound chemically to make it more potent. Also, Mother keelback can also pass this toxin to their young. These keelback babies absorb that compound through their eggshells. So if they know they are not poisonous, they would rather slither away.
Another good example of poisonous snakes is a garter snake. It consumes a lot of poisonous prey until their organs become toxic to predators.
So, if a friend asked if the snake he's holding is poisonous, frankly told them it is not even though that snake is actually venomous. It's their fault for not knowing the difference between venomous and poisonous. ;)
