--- "Horn, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > From: Erik Reuter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > > > That used to worry me a lot. That one of my > cats would eat a recluse > > > and die from it. But I was assured by someone > that it's poison is an > > > injected poison not an injested poison. > > > > What does that mean? That it is not absorbed > through the > > stomach/intestines? That it is neutralized > destroyed by the stomach > > acid? That it is harmless in the bloodstream, only > a problem in the skin? > > I'm not entirely sure but it did sound reassuring. > ;-) > > I believe it means that the poison has to be > injected through the fangs to > be dangerous. Swallowing a spider (without it > biting you) wouldn't activate the poison, somehow. > > Maybe one of our resident doctors can tell us if > this is full of cr*p or not!
I don't know, but would guess: poison via fangs into skin or bloodstream -> badness. Poison into stomach -> inactivated by acid or (in the small intestine) digestive enzymes and/or bile. IIRC, many animal-produced 'poisons' contain various enzymes, which, being proteins, are digestible (by other enzymes) or degradable (acid). But if the dose was large (frex, cat ate 50 spiders), maybe illness or death would occur. That would make sense from the old 'suck out the poison' scenario - either the enzymes in one's saliva or one's gut would degrade the animal's poisonous ones. Aside: there is a particular type of snake (garter, I think) in the Northwest that eats a particular toxic newt; no other animal eats this newt, which has one of the highest concentrations of toxins, and the snake has to rest for days after eating it because the energy required to break down the toxins before they kill the snake is so high. IIRC (blurry PBS program) And there's some kind of sea animal (nudibranche?) that is able to use the poison (nematocysts?) in its prey (jellyfish?), actually transferring the poison-containing structures to its own skin/surface. (even blurrier PBS program) GSV Venomous __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
