What Happens When a Snake Bites Itself?

A rattlesnake's venom can kill a rat in under a minute. So what happens when that same snake bites itself? It's the obvious question, and the answer is stranger than "it dies" or "it's immune." Because a snake actually faces its own venom three separate ways — it swallows leftover venom with every meal, it carries a gland full of the stuff behind its eyes for its entire life, and every so often it sinks its fangs into its own body by accident. Three situations, three completely different outcomes, and one rule underneath all of them. This video explains the difference between venomous and poisonous, what neurotoxic, hemotoxic and cytotoxic venom actually do to a body, why swallowed venom is harmless but injected venom isn't, how snakes store venom without poisoning themselves, and why some snakes really can survive biting themselves while others die. If you've ever wondered why venom kills you but not the animal that makes it, this is the answer. CHAPTERS 0:00 A snake bites itself 0:33 Venomous vs poisonous: not the same thing 1:00 The three types of venom 1:40 Mystery 1: eating your own venom 2:24 Venom is just a protein 2:58 The catch: it only works if your gut is intact 3:23 Skin is a barrier too 3:39 Why venom evolved to be injected 4:35 Mystery 2: a gland full of venom, for life 5:02 Sealed glands: storage isn't exposure 5:35 What if the gland ruptures? 5:53 Why reptile infections turn solid 6:31 The pattern so far 7:00 Mystery 3: the self-bite 7:11 Trick one: rewired receptors 7:42 Trick two: a constant tiny leak 8:24 Vaccinated, not invincible 8:36 The snake that bit itself and died 9:11 Why resistance only works on your own species 9:41 Possums, mongooses and hedgehogs 10:06 Newts vs garter snakes: an arms race 11:19 The one rule behind all three SOURCES & FURTHER READING Venom composition and mechanism Casewell NR, Wüster W, Vonk FJ, Harrison RA, Fry BG. "Complex cocktails: the evolutionary novelty of venoms." Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2013. Fry BG et al. "The toxicogenomic multiverse: convergent recruitment of proteins into animal venoms." Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, 2009. Venom as protein, and why ingestion differs from injection Standard toxinology references on the proteinaceous nature of snake venom and its breakdown by gastric acid and proteases. The distinction between oral and parenteral exposure is basic toxicology, not a special property of venom. Snake resistance to their own neurotoxins Takacs Z, Wilhelmsen KC, Sorota S. Work on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor modification in cobras, describing how changes at the toxin-binding site — including added carbohydrate groups — block alpha-neurotoxin binding. Drabeck DH, Dean AM, Jansa SA. "Why the honey badger don't care: convergent evolution of venom-targeted nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in mammals that survive venomous snake bites." Toxicon, 2015. Venom resistance in mammals Barchan D et al. "How the mongoose can fight the snake: the binding site of the mongoose acetylcholine receptor." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992. Voss RS, Jansa SA. Work on opossum venom resistance and von Willebrand factor evolution. Newts, garter snakes and tetrodotoxin Brodie ED Jr & Brodie ED III. Long-running research programme on the coevolutionary arms race between rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) and common garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis), including sodium channel (Nav1.4) mutations that confer tetrodotoxin resistance. Geffeney SL et al. "Evolutionary diversification of TTX-resistant sodium channels in a predator-prey interaction." Nature, 2005. Reptile immune response Comparative herpetological medicine references on caseous (solid) abscess formation in reptiles, resulting from heterophil-driven inflammation that does not liquefy the way mammalian neutrophilic pus does. DISCLAIMER This video is for general education and is not medical or veterinary advice. If you are bitten by a venomous snake, seek emergency medical care immediately. #snakes #venom #science #whymentary can a snake bite itself, do snakes die from their own venom, are snakes immune to their own venom, venomous vs poisonous, snake venom explained, neurotoxic venom, hemotoxic venom, cytotoxic venom, why doesn't venom kill the snake, snake venom gland, self envenomation, brown tree snake, garter snake newt tetrodotoxin, venom resistance, mongoose venom immunity, opossum venom resistance, rattlesnake facts, how venom works