![]() Unlike many snakes, komodo dragons don’t deliver their venom in a strong, forceful bite, and their venom alone isn’t enough to kill a victim. An anticoagulant in the venom causes profuse bleeding, leading to unconsciousness. And, when the lizards’ saliva was tested, it was found that (like the venom of many snakes) the active molecules in it can lower a victim’s blood pressure, sending them into shock. MRI scans of komodo dragons’ heads revealed that they have venom glands. He discovered that, rather than bacteria, it was venom that finished off the victims of dragon bites. When bitten by the dragon’s serrated teeth, it was thought, bacteria in the saliva led to blood poisoning, causing prey to weaken.Īustralian scientist Bryan Fry overturned this hypothesis. The prey soon becomes weak, and is followed up and devoured.Ĭommon wisdom used to be that it was bacteria that was the komodo dragon’s deadly weapon. After attacking, the dragon may let their prey wander off. But they don’t always kill their victims on the spot. They’re carnivores, using their saw-like serrated teeth to attack deer, water buffalo, and even people, as well as small prey. Image source: David Haring / Duke Lemur Center / Wikimedia Commons.Įnormous monitor lizards that live in Indonesia, komodo dragons can grow up to 3 metres long, can weigh almost 100 kilograms, and look like they walked straight out of Jurassic Park. So cute it hurts: the venomous slow loris. The pain can last days, weeks or even months and is resistant to morphine. While a stab from a platypus spur won’t kill you (and it’s not known for sure how venomous the spur is to other platypuses), it’s reported to be excruciatingly painful. The spur is thought to be mainly used in fighting off other males competing for a mate. It’s rare for people to be spurred and there have been no reported human deaths by platypus. Mature males have a spur on their back legs which is hooked up to venom glands. There are even some venomous mammals, such as shrews the notoriously cute slow loris (the world’s only venomous primate, it stores venom in an elbow patch, which it mixes with saliva to produce a venomous bite) and the Australian platypus.
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