Why Are Some Animals Venomous?

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out “Venomous” by Christie Wilcox: http://bit.ly/VenomousBook Help us translate this video! http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?ref=share&v=Qd92MuVZXik ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Get yourself an awesome IOTBS shirt! http://dftba.com/besmart Learn more: LD50’s of various venomous snakes: http://snakedatabase.org/pages/LD50.php Lynne Isbell’s “The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent” http://amzn.to/2afXQ91 Fry, Bryan G., et al. "Early evolution of the venom system in lizards and snakes." Nature 439.7076 (2006): 584-588. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7076/abs/nature04328.html Reyes-Velasco, Jacobo, et al. "Expression of venom gene homologs in diverse python tissues suggests a new model for the evolution of snake venom." Molecular biology and evolution 32.1 (2015): 173-183. http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/32/1/173.short Drabeck, Danielle H., Antony M. Dean, and Sharon A. Jansa. "Why the honey badger don't care: Convergent evolution of venom-targeted nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in mammals that survive venomous snake bites."Toxicon 99 (2015): 68-72. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041010115000690 Opossum venom resistance: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2015/march/opossum-based-antidote-to-poisonous-snake-bites-could-save-thousands-of-lives.html Reddit AMA with Steve Ludwin, a snake venom self-immunizer: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/17hzhk/iama_guy_whos_been_injecting_deadly_snake_venom/ Van Le, Quan, et al. "Pulvinar neurons reveal neurobiological evidence of past selection for rapid detection of snakes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.47 (2013): 19000-19005. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19000.short Thrasher, Cat, and Vanessa LoBue. "Do infants find snakes aversive? Infants’ physiological responses to “fear-relevant” stimuli." Journal of experimental child psychology 142 (2016): 382-390. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096515002179 ---------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment or check us out at the links below! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from SciencePhoto http://www.sciencephoto.com/ and Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) http://www.videoblocks.com