229

venomous (quokk.au)

submitted 11 hours ago by Deceptichum@quokk.au to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] neons@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 hour ago

TIL mammals can lay eggs.

[-] Goretantath@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

"teat"cher.. well they ARE mammals?

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 14 points 6 hours ago

No scients teatcher would say that

[-] scintilla@lemm.ee 8 points 4 hours ago

I have some depressing news for you about southern education.

(for clarification I know some schools are good but most are not. My middle school state history teacher said that slaves in my state had it good; because we were unique in having laws about how hard you can beat slaves. Which is untrue and also they were not enforced for obvious reasons.)

[-] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Creationist ones might

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago

English teachers: 😢

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 45 points 11 hours ago

Show loris(big eyes), African crested rat(spiky hair), Cuban solenodon(shrew like thing), and of course the platypus.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 28 points 10 hours ago

Slow loris. And yes the image shows loris. lol.

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 17 points 10 hours ago

Damn autocorrect

[-] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 10 points 10 hours ago

I was only aware of a platypus. Is it all administered through some barb like appendage on the legs? Which one shoots venom missiles?

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 16 points 9 hours ago

The loris and the solenodon have toxic saliva. The rat is controversial as it slathers chewed up poison dart tree on itself so hairs absorb it but it doesn't produce venom/poison itself. Not sure of any "venom missiles" from mammals.

[-] frigidaphelion@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

That's because everyone who has been close enough to see the venom-missile-shooting tenrec hasnt lived to talk about it (there's a tenrec for every occasion)

[-] Mothra@mander.xyz 4 points 8 hours ago

Are the toxins in the saliva a product of bacteria (as it happens with komodo dragons) or do the mammals themselves produce the toxins?

[-] hangyor@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago

I think it was shown komodo dragons do produce their own venom as well as having bacteria ridden mouths

[-] frigidaphelion@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I had always heard this but recently I saw a video by Real Science (i think) on youtube/nebula that was discussing the debate about this topic. I can link the youtube video if you would like.

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 hours ago

Solenodons have a modified salivary gland and a sort of channel for the venom, related fossils show full on hollow teeth similar a snake.

The slow loris mixes their sweat with their saliva(both saliva and sweat are toxic).

However in both cases I'm not sure about the molecular details of toxin production. E.g. whether the loris or solenodon just carry certain bacteria that make the toxin or whether they produce from their own cells.

[-] gwilikers@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 hours ago

Damn rats are smart.

[-] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 8 hours ago

They all are so cute I want to hug them

[-] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Recently went down the rabbit hole (ok, I'm lying, I just read a Wikipedia article and one scientific study), and found out that the venomousness of the platypus has crazy implications for mammal evolution:

In spite of the rarity of venom among extant mammals, venom may be an ancestral feature among mammals, as venomous spurs akin to those of the modern platypus are found in most non-therian Mammaliaformes groups.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venomous_mammal

(The monotremes are the platypus and the echidna, which unlike the platypus isn't venomous but still has the spurs.)