{"id":5582,"date":"2024-03-11T07:53:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T00:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/?p=5582"},"modified":"2024-03-11T07:53:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T00:53:33","slug":"how-snake-venom-sparked-an-evolutionary-arms-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/how-snake-venom-sparked-an-evolutionary-arms-race\/","title":{"rendered":"How Snake Venom Sparked An Evolutionary Arms Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>TLDR: <\/strong><\/em>Elapids, evolving 37 million years ago with deadly neurotoxic venom, triggered a global evolutionary arms race, leading to diverse resistance adaptations among vertebrates, including humans.<\/p>\n<p>This article is a summary of a You Tube video &#8220;How Snake Venom Sparked An Evolutionary Arms Race&#8221; by PBS Eons<br \/>\n<iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_zGy_tr_tY4?si=TsaCPi2cMEIIF-ho\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Key Takeaways:<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Elapid Evolution<\/strong>: Elapids, a family of venomous snakes including cobras and mambas, evolved around 37 million years ago and have since spread globally.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Venomous Adaptation<\/strong>: Their venom targets an ancient vulnerability in the nervous systems of vertebrates, sparking an evolutionary arms race.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diverse Resistance<\/strong>: Various species developed different mechanisms of resistance to elapid venom, highlighting a global evolutionary response.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Caecilian Impact<\/strong>: Caecilians, legless amphibians, show remarkable resistance to elapid venom, with adaptations evolved independently multiple times around the world.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Neurotoxic Venom<\/strong>: Elapid venom is neurotoxic, causing paralysis and death by disrupting nerve signal transmission.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anatomical Advantages<\/strong>: Elapids possess hollow, syringe-like fangs at the front of their mouths, enabling high-pressure venom delivery.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Evolutionary Arms Race<\/strong>: The rise of elapids triggered widespread evolutionary adaptations among vertebrates, including humans.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Human Evolution<\/strong>: Humans and our ancestors developed some resistance to elapid venom, possibly as a survival mechanism against encounters with venomous snakes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seychelles Caecilians<\/strong>: Caecilians in the Seychelles show no signs of venom resistance, having never encountered elapids due to the islands&#8217; isolation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cobra Evolution<\/strong>: Human interactions with cobras, such as using long sticks, may have driven the evolution of spitting cobras as a defensive mechanism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elapids, evolving 37 million years ago with deadly neurotoxic venom, triggered a global evolutionary arms race, leading to diverse resistance adaptations among vertebrates, including humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-44","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5584,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5582\/revisions\/5584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}