Status Updates From Venom: The Secrets of Natur...

He's now talking about using scorpion venom to help men who can't get erections even from Viagra. That is because this venom causes uncontrollable and long-lasting erections. The problem is (not only this, which sounds very unpleasant but people want to market to men for some reason) is that it also causes hypersalivation, sweat, tear-flow, tremors, spastic paralysis and congestion of blood vessels in the major organ

After their first menstruation, girls in the Amazonian Ka'apor tribe are subjected to an ant ordeal. After the girls' hair is shaven off, large termite raiding ants, Neoponera commutata, are strung along their forehead and torso, and allowed to sting them repeatedly. ... The Wayapi tribe... tie the same termite hunting ant species in strings to the arms, legs, abdomen, back and brow of girls...

Woman-hating

The Brisbane Courier-Mail from 8 October 1936 features an article titled "Boy slapped for eight hours," which claims that '[e]ight hours of slapping, scolding, and shaking saved the life of Cecil Schultz (11)' after he was bitten by a snake. Survive he did, but it might not be unreasonable to suppose that this was not because of, but despite his treatment.

Instead, they regurgitate digestive enzymes to dissolve their immobilized prey, which they wrap tightly in a silken burrito of death, before ingesting it through their straw-like mouths.

Silken burrito of death. Nice touch, Jenner.

The South African thick-tail scorpion initially stings predators with a transparent prevenom that is poor in proteins, but rich in pain-inducing potassium ions.

Like a gun that needs reloading, spending venom can result in a temporary disarmament, with the fearsome spider becoming a plump, juicy, defenceless meatball.

Just as the magic of a good curry is created by the combination and interplay of its ingredients, so does a syndrome of envenomation symptoms represent a toxic symphony.

o.O

The world of venom is a realm of self-guided missiles where even the blind are sharpshooters.

Every year bites by venomous snakes kill around 100,000 people. But this doesn't mean that snake venoms have evolved to kill humans. The vast majority of envenomations kill their victims too slowly to benefit the snake.

Over the course of several weeks Smith rated the pain of honeybee stings delivered to 25 locations on his body... After receiving hundreds of stings that covered the remotest corners of his anatomy... Smith concluded that the worst locations to be stung are your nostril, upper lip and penis shaft. Smith scored the pain at those sting sites as 9.0, 8.7 and 7.3, respectively... In 2015, Smith was duly awarded,

The garden ant Lasius neglectus, for example, uses its venom to combat fungal infections.

The alternative hypothesis for the role of platypus venom is disturbing: if the male envenomates the female with extremely painful venom after mating he ensures that she will not mate with another male for at least another season. Though not confirmed, this could be another dark side to Australia's cutest darling mammal.

Spiders do not normally enjoy the company of other spiders even of the same species, yet different levels of social behaviour have evolved as many as 18 times in spiders. All of these species engage in group prey capture and feeding, and some even co-operate in everyday tasks such as nest maintenance and brood care. Anelosimus eximius is one such spider, and it can be found in colonies of about a thousand

And if a coral reef can be considered one large living organism, this would make the Great Barrier Reef of Australia by far the largest living organism on the planet, and the only venomous organism that is clearly visible from space.

For example, although it superficially looks like one, a Portuguese man-o-war is no jellyfish. Instead it is a floating colony composed of seven specialized medusa-like and polyp-like parts, each performing a unique function.

The act of envenomation generally happens very rapidly, and often requires minimal contact with the target, thereby minimizing the risk of injury to the venomous animal.