Venomous or Poisonous?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_venom

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poison
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/venom

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...1/ai_19332512/
http://www.preservevenomous.com/Veno..._Vs_Poison.htm
http://insects.about.com/od/insects1...-poisonous.htm
http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/won...nomous-animals
http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/venanimals/ven_about.html
http://www.reptilechannel.com/frogs-...-venomous.aspx
http://www.snakeman1982.com/Venomous...0Poisonous.asp
http://cals.arizona.edu/main/spotlig...uick-reference


http://villageofjoy.com/10-most-pois...-in-the-world/
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com...us-species/697

Sorry, I really like finding and posting links. Now what I am going to do is read through every one of these, come to my conclusions based on what I read and post my own view (I already have a feeling as to what the answer is but I'm not going to make my decision based on my prior knowledge).

You know my sources, you know how I came across this info (google, wiki, and dictionary) and can verify based on my sources my final decision. Please feel free to comment on it, call me out on it, etc.

Partial conclusions:

Dictionary: Venom is a type of poison, poisons include all chemicals that seem capable of destroying life or tissue, or at least cause health problems. It remains to be seen if concentrated saline solutions would thus fall under this heading. Venom earns it's heading by being injected or administered by organisms that somehow have this in them, instead of just from swallowing or touching.

Wiki: It seems poisons are notable by being produced by non-organic means (they may be organic but are not produced by living organisms), toxins are produced by organisms and venom is a type of toxin. Venoms are also injected. This leaves poison as the seeming outliers of the three, venoms are toxins and toxins are produced by organisms.

It seems that there isnt actually a hard and fast rule to distinguish between them, though, as many poisons are actually created by organic means, meaning there is an overlap.

Bnet claims that venom is to be injected or delivered into another organism by mechanical means, and that poison is yucky and is to be absorbed.

Preserve Venomous has out of date information on Komodo Dragons, which is pretty typical due to the studies showing they produce toxins instead of harboring bacteria is new. However they claim that poisons must be injected/absorbed while venoms are mechanically introduced to another organism and they are stored in specialized tissue instead of being located in large portions of an organisms body.

About also says that venoms are introduced mechanically. Poisons are not directly delivered.

The chevron cars site also states that: Venoms are used to make dinner and Poisons are used to stop from being dinner. And says the same things the others did.

Animal Corner again indicates that venoms are given by mechanical means while poisons are ingested/absorbed.

Reptile channel again states venoms are mechanically delivered and poisons are absorbed.

Robert C. Jadin again agrees that venoms are injected and poisons are ingested or absorbed.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of Arizona states "Venom is injected via a bite or sting. Poisons are ingested or absorbed."

Village of Joy states that "A poisonous animal carries harmful chemicals called toxins primarily used for self defense. Therefore venomous animals deliver their toxins by stinging, stabbing, or biting." Even though they note the article as "Poisonous Animals"

Environmental Graffiti calls the Inland Taipan poisonous, while calling the whole article Venomous animals... Yeah...

Final Results:

The general consensus is that Poisons are absorbed by some means and venoms are mechanically delivered. Often it seems to be agreed that venoms are located in specialized organs while poisons seem to be more generalized. So while a spitting cobra's venom is aborbed, it is both mechanically delivered (launched) and it is in a specialized organ, just like other venomous snakes.

After thoughts:

"Poison" is used for just about everything toxic while few ever make a distinction between the broad range of poisons vs organically created toxins. That's a shame because it would be nice to have a clear distinction between all three. I do really like the idea of a distinction between the three, with poison referring to non-organically produced substances, toxins being organically produced and venoms being a type of toxin that is mechanically delivered.

Final comments:

Look, you all know what they mean, accept that people misuse the terms and dont bicker and argue over semantics, it's a waste of time and while I realize it's the true great american past time, just cut it out. Accept misuse, use it correctly yourself, explain it to people when you have the chance, but otherwise it isnt worth arguing about.

Also, forgive any silly mistakes I made, I havent slept yet....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raverthug

.... As for the eating dabate. It would be considered a Poisson if you were to eat a venom gland. ...

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No debate mate. The fact is that anyone can eat (consume) the venom gland and its content without suffering any side effects.
The only danger is having a broken skin.

Theres a big difference between "venomous" and "poisonous". Venom, has to be injected to do any harm. You can drink cobra, adder, or even mamba venom, and have no ill effects. Well, it might not taste all that great, but it won't kill you. Poison, on the other hand, needs to be taken through the mouth, or it has to get into an open wound.

When someone asks you if your snakes are "poisonous" tell them "No, they aren't venomous either". The look on their face is awesome.