Rare Venomous Mammal Filmed

Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that footage of one of the world's most strange and elusive mammals has been captured by scientists. Large, and with a long, thin snout, the Hispaniolan solenodon resembles an overgrown shrew. It can inject passing prey with a venom-loaded bite. Dr Sam Turvey, a ZSL (Zoological Society of London) researcher involved with the program, told BBC News: 'It is an amazing creature — it is one of the most evolutionary distinct mammals in the world.' Along with the other species of solenodon, which is found in Cuba (Solenodon cubanus), it is the only living mammal that can actually inject venom into their prey through specialized teeth. Little is known about the creature, which is found in the Caribbean, but it is under threat from deforestation, hunting and introduced species. Researchers say conservation efforts are now needed. The mammal was filmed in the summer of 2008 during a month-long expedition to the Dominican Republic — one of only two countries where this nocturnal, insect-eating animal (Solenodon paradoxus) can be found (the other is Haiti). The researchers from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Ornithological Society of Hispaniola were able to take measurements and DNA from the creature before it was released."

Comments

Re:Wow

[Tim Doran]

This is slashdot - that little animal is considered quite a looker!

Re:Poor platypus

[shot151]

I didn't know this either, decided to look it up. There are a few more out there... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venomous_mammals

Re:Of course, it's endangered

[evanbd]

It looks scavengy to you? How nice. Did you read the bit where the people studying it say it eats live prey, and is very specially adapted to doing just that?

DiFi, Pelosi & Hillary

[Anonymous Coward]

Or... the Dianne Feinstein / Nancy Pelosi / Hillary Clinton jokes.

The three Gorgon sisters of politics... and venemous as hell itself... all three of them.

Re:Mammal poison vs. affection

[Anonymous Coward]

How does this work, I wonder? Are the mammals in question actually immune to the poison, or are they just built not to bite themselves somehow?

Of course--like most mammals--they'd rather not to bite themselves. ;)

Seriously, venomous animals don't need to be immune to their poison, but they can have other mechanisms to protect themselves, too:

• The venom usually is only venomous after injection into the bloodstream. This is because either it targets cells other than skin cells ;), or it is injected in an inactive form and only gets activated after being mixed with blood (e. g., it is cleaved by an enzyme, or it reacts to changed pH).
• The animals retain the venom in specialized glands which don't let the stuff diffuse out into the bloodstream (and, obviously, the cells building the inner lining of these glands must be either resistant to the venom, or they must cover themselves with a protective layer of glycoproteins, special pH and whatnot).
• The digestive tract (including the mouth) can contain venom-inhibiting substances.

If the latter though, I wonder if this is related to mammalian affection at all? Lots of mammals seem to be affectionate enough to lick their young/mates, nuzzle, groom peers, playfight, etc...

Well, the venom usually is only secreted while biting, not while licking. ;) Excretion is controlled by timed contraction of the glands.

Disclaimer: IANAB (biologist), but IAAMB (molecular biologist); therefore, my talk is just about general principles of how venomous animals can handle their venom. A real biologist could have nice examples of real animals at hand. ;)

Re: Can it even kill us?

[Anonymous Coward]

A bite to the hand will hurt and make your arm grow twice its size for a week not much more. The teeth themselves are large enough to inflict serious damage though. The animal was a bit clumsy and quite nice until we started handling it.

Re:I love how...

[Anonymous Coward]

Rare because nobody else has it. We caught the animal in a trap as part of a very large effort and only kept it for a few hours while we measured it and collected samples. We released it in a courtyard to see it move (there really is little known about it) then picked it up to bring it back to the exact spot where we found it. We learned tons but still don't have any idea of how many are around. They are certainly limited to very small areas of the Hispaniolan island.