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  1. #6
    BPnet Veteran Mendel's Balls's Avatar
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    Re: venom vs. poison

    Poison is by definition is any chemical substance that causes injury, illness, or death to an organism.

    A zootoxin, or simply a toxin, is a poison produced by a living being.

    So if you wanted to be more specific poison darts frogs produce toxins.

    And as xdeus said a venom is a toxin that injected into its victim for the purposes of defense and/or predation.

    Basically, toxins that are absorbed passively and are not injected are not venoms.

    Interestingly, a new hypothesis, called the Toxicofera hypothesis, increases the number of venomous reptiles significantly. Especially, the number of venomous lizards. New research suggests that the monitor lizards (varanids) and iguanas produce venom. Here an article on it http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8331

    A lot of people in the pet/breeding aspect of this hobby are worried about this research.

    Many cling to the alternative explanation that the painful swellings and excessive bleeding that often result from certain lizard bites are caused by pathogenic bacteria in the creatures’ mouth. However, this alternative hypothesis is not much more than folk belief and has little if any real data and empirical evidence behind it.

    An important point about the relative and situational effects of poisons and hence venom was made by 16th century Swiss Physician Paracelsus, "All things are poisonous and yet there is nothing that is poisonous. It is only the dose that make something poisonous." Hence, a breaded dragon might not really be consider "hot" to humans, but it might "hot" to its prey.
    Last edited by Mendel's Balls; 02-28-2007 at 10:03 PM.
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