Discovery News > Animal News > Wide Angle: Venom

Wide Angle: Venom

It's hard out there for an animal. Sometimes all the muscle and razor-sharp edges in the world aren't enough to put food in your belly, or avoid becoming lunch yourself. Sometimes you need venom. Chemical weaponry is commonplace in the animal kingdom, turning everything from shrews to spiders to snakes into efficient killers. But prey have evolved their own defenses, and relish turning the tables on venomous stalkers.

Scorpion Venom Tapped as Pesticide

A scorpion-inspired pesticide could kill specific insects without harming people, the environment or beneficial animals.

Wasps turn their victims into living nurseries

Wasp Zombie Venom Could Yield New Drugs

Parasitic wasps don't kill their victims. The venom they inject when they sting turns an unlucky bug into a warped, debilitated, but still-living host for baby wasps. These novel toxins could be the foundation for life-saving drugs.

Cobra Venom Erases Arthritis Symptoms

A cobra venom ointment to treat arthritis could soon hit store shelves.

I spent years building up a resistance to iocaine!

Slide Show: Venom Resistant Animals

For every poisonous creature, there is a nemesis: the immune. From clownfish to king snakes, and bullfrogs to badgers, animals have evolved a constellation of different defenses against venom.