Hello there!! Hello steemians !!
Welcome to my 1st ever post on steemit!
Why snake’s venom doesn’t kill the snake itself??
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Do you know how many species of snakes are living in our earth?.....about 3000!! But among them only 15% are venomous, that is about 450 species!!
About 30,000 of people die from snakebite per year worldwide!
But ever wondered how many snakes die of their own venom?.....NO one knows, BTW who cares??
Now lets get to the topic. First of all you need to know how the snake produces venom and how it works in order to know why the venom filled snake doesn’t die of it!!!
How snakes produce venom??
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Like the humans snakes also have salivary glands, our saliva contains digestive enzymes like amylase , lipase. But salivary glands of snakes are modified so that they produce toxic enzymes,metal ions etc! Snakes venom are no more than these toxic salivary enzymes!
How the venom works in our body?
When snake injects the fangs on our body the toxic enzymes are released into our tissues. The effect of toxin depends on its chemical nature. If it’s a neurotoxin it will paralyze our nerves , if it’s a haemotoxin it will poision our blood, depress the myocardial activity and respiration!! That’s how people die of snakebite!!
Now into the main question! Why snakes don’t die of their toxins????
There are various factors.
snakes venom is stored in their salivary gland it is not exposed to snakes blood stream.
if that’s it ….what happens if accidently venom enters into its blood??.....nothing happens because they have genes that develop particular antibody against their own venom!! And it neutralizes it!
what if another species of sanke bites the other?....snakes of same species cant harm each other because they can develop antibody against the venom.
But when a venomous snake bites a no venomous one, it will die of the toxin coz it cant make any antitoxin against it!
and the last , the effect depends on the concentration of toxin!..small amount of toxin is diluted by the blood and there is no effect but if the concentration is very high snake cant make enough antibody and can die of it!!
HOPE YOU got it!!
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credits - www.scienceabc.com
www.wikipedia.com