ABC Listen.
Hello, I'm Nidge.
And today on Imagine This, we're talking about the creepy, the crawly, the slithery and the wriggly.
Snake.
Spider.
And not just any snakes and spiders.
We've been getting questions about the venomous kind.
Hi, my name is Chloe and my question is how do spiders and snakes make their venom?
They have two teeth things yeah, and then the venom comes out there and stings him.
Oh, not me.
They have this thing in their mouths, and when it mixes with their saliva it turns into venom.
Maybe We got this question too.
Hi, my name's Artie.
I am seven years old and my question is why do blue bottles stink?
Maybe it's the blue stuff?
Yeah, it's like poison but a bit different.
Snakes, spiders, blue bottles.
Are there any other venomous animals?
Fuddleweb and scorpions.
They're so venomous.
A cobra.
Spiderwats eat spiders.
We should talk to Dr Timothy Jackson.
He's an evolutionary toxinologist.
That means he knows a lot about all kinds of venom.
I just hear something.
Yeah, I can hear that too.
Let's stick together.
We're in the jungle.
It's the rainforest, actually.
Hi, Tim.
Hello.
Hello.
Where are we?
This is the Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland.
Are there poisonous animals here?
Venom is poison that can be injected through the animal's teeth.
Correct.
We tend to call anything that makes you sick if you eat it poisonous.
But animals that inject their poison with a sting or a bite are called venomous.
So are there venomous animals here?
Loads.
Snakes, spiders, ants, bees.
Even the platypus is a venomous animal.
Only the male ones though.
What?
Let's get out of here.
Don't worry.
They won't attack unless you annoy them.
What if I'm just annoying?
We're safe.
Most animals are very afraid of humans and just want to be left alone.
We want to learn about spiders and snakes and blue bottles too.
Can you help us?
Those are all very different animals, but their venom does have a lot of similarities.
We'll just need to use our imaginations to help us get around.
We can do that.
No problem.
All right.
First stop on the tiny tour of toxins, spiders.
Oh, I think we've shrunk.
And what's this sticky stuff?
Can't move my feet.
Oh no, my hands are stuck now too.
It's the spider web.
Yeah, I said it was the tiny tour of toxins.
It's one way to get up close and see venom in action.
I don't want to see it this close.
Don't worry, we had some machining.
Spiders are one of the oldest venomous animals that exist, and one of the most common.
In fact, almost all spiders are venomous, but only a few species can hurt humans.
Really, what about that one?
It's a spider.
It's got eight long skinny legs and small gray body and, hang on, looks like a daddy long legs.
It seems bigger because we are so small, But this is your average old cellar spider that hangs out behind the toilet paper.
And it's a venomous spider.
Quick!
How do we get unstuck?
I don't want to be a spider snack.
Don't worry.
Their venom doesn't do much to people.
Bugs, on the other hand.
Look, here comes a fly.
Many spiders use webs to catch their meals.
The insects fly into their web and get stuck.
Then they bite onto the bug.
The spider will wrap it around with um webs.
They wrap them up like a mummy and then they eat the bug.
Yeah, They'll bite their prey in this case a fly and inject it with venom from their fangs.
Spider's fangs are hollow.
They have tiny holes in the ends of them where the venom comes out.
The fangs are connected to venom glands.
That's the part of their body that makes the venom.
Why do they need venom if they already caught the fly in their web?
Venom helps make sure the fly doesn't thrash around too much and break the web.
Venom is also a digestive juice to help break down their food.
Spiders don't have teeth like us for chewing.
So...
It's not eating the fly.
It's drinking it.
It's disgusting.
It's the bug milkshake.
Tasty.
Spiders have evolved venom to defend themselves against predators and also to help them catch and eat prey.
A animal that is trying to eat another animal and prey is its food that it's trying to hunt.
Yeah, predators hunt prey.
Like a lion hunts a zebra or a dingo hunts a rabbit.
That's right.
Spiders are found all over the world and they all have different prey.
So each venom recipe is unique.
Why?
A spider that eats little lizards in the desert will need totally different venom from the spider that eats ants in your kitchen.
Does that mean spiders have evolved venom to hurt people?
It's more likely that it's an accident, because humans have never been on the menu for spiders and we've probably never been big predators of them either.
Except when mum gets the vacuum out.
Oh, I actually like having a few spiders around because they help keep the Mozzie numbers down.
They get far right away from you.
Yeah, that's true.
Thanks, Spidey.
Out of almost 50000 types of spiders in the world, only a small number make venom that hurts people.
That's hardly any.
That makes me calm down.
Next stop on our tiny tour of toxins, snakes.
We're in the bush and we're still small.
Venom has evolved in snakes all over the world.
There might be a thing in their butt or in their head and makes all this green, icky, yucky venom.
Not quite.
It's made inside their bodies from things that many non-venomous animals have inside them too, even humans.
We have venom in us.
Well, kinda it's complicated.
We do have some of the basic ingredients to make venom wow cool.
They're important for other jobs, like the enzymes in our tummies that digest food, or things made by cells that help us fight a cold if we get sick In snakes.
Those things have found a way to mix together to make Venom.
Yep.
Where you have saliva glands that make lots of spit to help you eat food and keep your teeth clean and strong.
Snakes have venom glands.
Snake venom is basically an extra powerful kind of saliva Do snakes have toxic spit?
Yep.
Over millions of years of evolution.
Just like in spiders, snakes have created different venom recipes to catch their dinner.
And it squirts out their teeth.
And it's like little pipes going to the teeth and then they can spit it out.
It can?
Some snakes have fangs that are hollow, like spiders, where venom is pushed through them.
Or they may have little openings in their mouths where the venom dribbles out onto their fangs.
Hey, is that a cave?
I want to go check it out.
I wouldn't go in there.
It's all dark.
Hello!
Where is everyone?
Oh, I found him.
Tim, you're very scaly.
You sound different.
Have you always had a tail?
It's a snake.
That's a blue tongue lizard.
They're not venomous, are they?
No, but that snake is.
A cobra!
No, it's not.
It's a red-black snake.
A red-bellied black snake?
I'm glad we're just imagining this.
Yes, if you ever see a snake in real life, you should move away slowly and tell a grown-up.
The red belly just tried to bite the blue tongue.
Take a guess at what they like to eat.
Oh no, not blue tongue lizards.
Run away Lizzy.
Don't count little Lizzy out just yet.
Remember that relationship between predator and prey I was talking about?
Yeah, how predators evolved to get better at hunting their prey.
Well, all that time that snakes have been making their best venom recipes, some prey animals, like Lizzie here, have been evolving amazing antidotes.
What's an antidote?
If you think a venom has a sword, an antidote is like a shield.
They have a special thing in their blood so it doesn't hurt them when the venom comes on.
Yep, they've evolved something very special in their blood that slows the venom down.
They even have actual shields. bones in their scales, called osteoderms, to stop fangs.
Wow, go blue tongues!
But we should still give this snake her space.
A red belly doesn't always need its venom to catch a meal, and red bellies do eat all kinds of small animals.
Right now, we're small animals. we imagine ourselves bite-sized.
Last stop on the tiny tour of toxins.
Let's imagine we're in a big bubble so we can get a closer look at some of the amazing life under the sea.
There are fish everywhere.
So many colours.
Anemones.
That lives in the water and is poisonous.
Yeah, they can sting.
Just like with snakes and spiders, venom has evolved in sea animals as a way to help them catch food and to keep them safe from predators.
Look out!
Blue bottles ahead!
Yeah, blue bottles!
They can also be called a Portuguese Man o' War.
Quick, let's move our bubble away.
Don't worry, we're safe in our bubble.
Plus, blue bottles can't really swim.
They float, but they have such long tentacles.
They sure do, but they can't use their tentacles to steer or swim.
So if you see one, you can move away and they can't chase you.
Oh, that's a relief.
They are pretty cool looking.
That bit's full of air and that's the tentacles.
And at the end there's a little venomous part.
Yes, blue bottle tentacles are covered in tiny cells that inject venom when you touch them.
Like a spider's bangs?
Sort of.
But they actually shoot a tiny harpoon out from the cell that gets stuck in the skin.
When it opens the venom releases out.
Why do they shoot us with their stinging arrows?
Bluebottles don't have arms to hang onto the fish they want to eat.
Or teeth to chew them for that matter.
So when a fish swims into the tentacles and all the little arrows shoot out, the fish gets stuck and then the venom stops them from swimming away.
I saw it and it stings my mummy.
Oh, yeah, I've been stung before on the leg.
It really hurt.
She went to the doctor.
You need tweezers.
And you need hot water.
Now she's better.
Yeah, it can really hurt, hey?
But we only get accidentally stung by blue bottles.
So they don't mean to sting us.
They just can't control it.
It happens when they touch anything.
That's right.
I think that about concludes the tiny tour of toxins.
Let's take this bubble to the surface and get back to our full size.
Wow, there's a lot more venom out there than I realised.
Even mosquitoes are venomous.
It's just that their venom makes our blood easier for them to drink.
And afterwards, it makes us a bit itchy.
I didn't know that they had venom.
That's lucky because they bite me all the time.
If it hurt, I would be really sad.
I get a lot of mosquito bites.
Apart from those pesky mozzies, leeches and ticks, venomous animals really don't want to hurt us.
Just give them space.
Because they're scared?
Or they just bumped into you, like a bobbing blue bottle.
Yep.
If you ever get stung or bitten by something, it is very important to tell a grown-up straight away so they can help you and get medicine.
That's it.
Thanks so much, Tim.
No worries.
Thanks, everyone.
I wonder if we could evolve Venomous Spit one day.
Sounds challenging.
So, Chloe and Artie...
Venom is made right across the animal kingdom.
In snakes, spiders, platypuses, mosquitoes.
As a way to catch food and stay safe.
Give me some space.
Venom is made from a mix of things found in non-venomous animals too.
Like the acid in our tummies.
The liver.
In some animals over millions of years of evolution.
These harmless ingredients have mixed together to make Venom.
Prey animals have also been evolving alongside their predators.
To have special defences against venom.
Some venom can hurt people or make us pretty sick.
So if you're ever bitten or stung by something, you should tell a grown-up straight away.
Go to the doctor.
Or call triple zero.
We're lucky to share this planet with so many amazing animals who just want to slither, scurry or blob about their days.
So unless we evolve our very own special defences... Toxic spit!
We can admire them from a safe distance and give them space.
A lot of space.
