Y’all Gon’ Make Me Jump Up On My Soapbox

“Mr. Maxwell, what is the most poisonous snake/spider in the world?” As a Jr. High science teacher, I hear this a lot. And, although it sends a slight cringe spreading across my entire body, it is an acceptable question from a 7th grader, so I view it as teachable moment. Instead of going into the details about venom potency vs. the amount injected, I take the opportunity to point out the difference between venomous and poisonous. Snakes and spiders are not poisonous; they are venomous! Well, there are a couple of snakes that are actually poisonous: the Japanese grass snake and some garter snakes found in certain parts of the world. Both species have developed mechanisms that render them immune to toxins ingested as they eat their favorite foods: poisonous frogs and newts. Those toxins build up in the snake’s liver, rendering them poisonous to predators that would eat them. My research didn’t turn up any truly poisonous spiders; although the search is extremely difficult due to the dozens of articles that confuse venom with poison, so there may be some out there.

I just had another full body cringe.

But What Is The Difference?

Okay, let me back up. For an organism to be poisonous, its toxin must be swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed into the body to be effective. An example would be the poison dart frog. Some are so poisonous that just touching them could be lethal! But poison isn’t limited to the animal kingdom. Fungi are notorious for for their deadly toxins, and we’ve all heard of poison ivy.

A venomous organism, on the other hand, must inject its toxin into the victim. Obviously, this is where snakes and spiders enter the conversation, but there are tons of other things that can envenomate you! Many insects are venomous. The reason bee and wasp stings hurt and itch is because of the venom that they pump into the skin. In fact, when a honey bee stings, the barbed stinger generally gets stuck in the skin and rips the venom sac out of the bee’s abdomen. The venom sac will continue to pump venom into the wound until the stinger is removed. For decades, scientist thought that komodo dragons relied on a nasty cocktail of bacteria in its mouth to subdue large prey after it had been bitten. This was known as the “bacteria as venom” hypothesis. However, we now know that they inject actual venom when they bite. The male duckbill platypus possesses a barb on its hind foot that can inject a venom cocktail that contains over 80 different toxins! While not usually deadly to humans, a sting might leave you in agony for weeks. It could even be argued that there are a few venomous plants. In fact, a sting from the Gympie Gympie tree in Australia injects a potentially deadly neurotoxin. If you survive a brush with it, you can expect months of pain and agony!

So, as you can see, there is an obvious distinction between being venomous and being poisonous. Like I said earlier, I can understand a bunch of 7th graders not knowing this. But, what really irks me is when people who should know better can’t get it right!

Now, You Just Look Dumb

It’s one thing for a layperson to refer to a spider as poisonous - there’s that cringe, again - but there are far too many people that should know the distinction but apparently don’t. A verbatim search for “poisonous spider” turns up hits from everything from news sites to pest control companies. There are a couple of links to actual medical websites trying to give advice on what to do if a poisonous spider bites you, a Britannica.com excerpt that refers to the poisonous Brazilian Wandering Spider, and my personal favorite: a scholarly paper that has been published in a scientific journal and cited by other articles is actually titled "Poisonous Spiders: Bites, Symptoms, and Treatment; an Educational Review".

I really hope this article is nearing an end, because I’m not sure how much more I can handle!

But Is It Really That Big Of A Deal?

YES, IT’S THAT BIG OF A DEAL!

Okay, deep breath.

Sorry. Yes, it is that big of a deal. Details are of the utmost importance in science. Failure to pay attention to details can lead to catastrophic outcomes, like the time we crashed a $125 million piece of equipment into the surface of Mars. I mean, I don’t want to be at fault if someone get’s bitten by a rattlesnake because, “Mr. Maxwell said it was just poisonous!”

Bottom line, just remember: If you bite it and you die, it’s poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it’s venomous.

-Unknown

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