by shadowfoot » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:39 am
Found this on the web, dont know if its true:
This species is also the only
known snake that is venomous
and poisonous at the same time.
POISON:
The defensive behavior of this
snake is very unusual. When
threatened by a predator, the
snake arches its neck toward the
attacker and releases the
contents of paired nuchal
glands that lie in the dorsal skin.
The product of those glands is
distasteful and irritating to the
eyes and contains compounds
similar to those found in the skin
glands of toads. The origin of the poison in these
glands is a highly interesting
aspect of this species, and was
explained for the first time in a
2007 study by Hutchinson et al.
The study shows that
Rhabdophis tigrinus becomes
poisonous by sequestering
toxins from its prey, which
consists of venomous toads. The
process allows the snakes to
store in their neck glands some
of the toxins from the toads they
have eaten.
VENOM:
Many members of the family
Colubridae that are considered
venomous are essentially
harmless to humans, because
they either have small venom
glands, relatively weak venom,
or an inefficient system for
venom delivery. While
Rhabdophis tigrinus has small
venom glands and delivers its
venom inefficiently, said venom
is certainly not weak. Although
this snake is reluctant to bite,
even defensively, the bite has
been known to cause fatalities in
humans. The venom acts very
slowly, inhibiting the ability of
the blood to clot and causing
death by hemorrhage.
All info taken from snakesoftaiwan.com
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