Life is a struggle on both land and in the sea and many animals have developed chemical weapons, for attack or defence. These toxins, venoms or poisons, are diverse in both structure and function and are delivered to victims in equally diverse ways. Humans frequently encounter these venomous and poisonous animals and all too often suffer unpleasant consequences including death, be it from a bite or sting causing envenoming, or poisoning after eating the wrong animal. The author, toxicologist at the Department of Forensic Science of the University of Frankfurt, Germany, provides expert information for biologists, toxicologists, pharmacists, physicians, but also for travelers.

A comprehensive volume of marine biology, medicine and toxicology.

In the ocean, a box jellyfish dangles tentacles covered with venom-filled stingers. The jellyfish uses its stingers to kill its prey. But its venom can also kill humans within minutes. The brightly colored poison dart frog is deadly to humans too. Just a speck of its poison can kill a person. These two creatures are among the most venomous and poisonous animals in the world. How do animals use their poisons? When are humans in danger?

Describes dangerous mammals, reptiles, spiders, insects, flowers, shrubs, trees, and mushrooms.

A thrilling tale of encounters with nature’s masters of biochemistry From the coasts of Indonesia to the rainforests of Peru, venomous animals are everywhere—and often lurking out of sight. Humans have feared them for centuries, long considering them the assassins and pariahs of the natural world. Now, in Venomous, the biologist Christie Wilcox investigates and illuminates the animals of our nightmares, arguing that they hold the keys to a deeper understanding of evolution, adaptation, and immunity. She reveals just how venoms function and what they do to the human body. With Wilcox as our guide, we encounter a jellyfish with tentacles covered in stinging cells that can kill humans in minutes; a two-inch caterpillar with toxic bristles that trigger hemorrhaging; and a stunning blue-ringed octopus capable of inducing total paralysis. How do these animals go about their deadly work? How did they develop such intricate, potent toxins? Wilcox takes us around the world and down to the cellular level to find out. Throughout her journey, Wilcox meets the intrepid scientists who risk their lives studying these lethal beasts, as well as “self-immunizers” who deliberately expose themselves to snakebites. Along the way, she puts her own life on the line, narrowly avoiding being envenomated herself. Drawing on her own research, Wilcox explains how venom scientists are untangling the mechanisms of some of our most devastating diseases, and reports on pharmacologists who are already exploiting venoms to produce lifesaving drugs. We discover that venomous creatures are in fact keystone species that play crucial roles in their ecosystems and ours—and for this alone, they ought to be protected and appreciated. Thrilling and surprising at every turn, Venomous will change everything you thought you knew about the planet’s most dangerous animals.

This text provides a short review of venoms used by animals to defend themselves or to capture prey. Venomous or poisonous animals are widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, with birds appearing to be the only large and widespread group in which no venomous species has been discovered. By research in this field scientists have learned, and will learn, much about animal behaviour and physiology. The active venom components, the toxins, have proved to useful tools for studying human physiological mechanisms. Because of the high specificity of certain toxins, it has been possible to resolve important links in complex physiological mechanisms with these substances.