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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."
What will slashdot be without Cowboy Neal?
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Obviously they never met my ex-girlfriend...
i told you it was real
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
Hey, do we really need to resort to these petty ad hominem attacks when referring to Ann Coulter?
Vermicious Knids are real!
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Solenodons On a Plane! Hmmm, doesn't have quite the same ring.
They have no clue how many of these things there are, (other than there is more than one but fewer than enough to pave the whole island), but if course they're automatically "endangered" or "under threat" or whatever.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
"Solenodon paradoxus collects food by digging extensive tunnel systems under the ground, then foraging for insects and other invertebrates from the surrounding soil.
Foods eaten include: millipedes (Iulides), ground beetles (Carabidae), various orthopteran insects (Gryllidae, Tettigoniidae, Blattidae), earthworms (Lumbricidae) and various types of snails."
Strange that an animal loaded with venom doesn't go after small mammals or something.
"Solenodon paradoxus is described as a 'slow mover' and a 'clumsy runner with no agility in avoiding enemies and a poor means of defense'"
So what you're saying is, Solenodon paradoxus is the nerd of the jungle.
more interesting facts: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Solenodon_paradoxus.html
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Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.
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1;
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
Just from reading this article, I feel like it's the lead in to a Monty Python sketch.
"And in this cage," (displays empty cage), "we can see the rare Caribbean poisonous shrew, which jumps out and injects its' prey with venom. Bites are instantly fatal, so we have to use extreme..."
[A brown blur crosses the screen and attacks the speaker's face] "AAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!"
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As we all know, mammals respect political borders.
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
We discovered a River Otter living in our pond. I was suddenly glad the little guy wasn't poisonous. He was enjoying one of my bluegill for breakfast this am. If he starts eating my bass he could become an endangered species. Cute little rascal, though.
Wonder why an insect eating mammal needs venom? Those must be some bad ass bugs he's hunting.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I know that, somewhere, a crazy genetic engineer is holding one of those little venomous beasts in his hand and thinking to himself, "These are cool. I wish they were bigger!"
His office is right next door to the insane scientist who is trying to breed 40 lb tarantulas, and down the hall from the aquarium-hugging genius who wants to cross flying fish with piranhas.
Andrew Borntreger
Champion of cinematic disasters
A mammal that injects venom into their prey through specialized teeth?
Sounds more like the his mother-in-law
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:
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. ;)
Implies that they somehow, by accident, captured it on video somewhere deep in a jungle. You watch the video and NOPE. It is confinement with handlers. How is that rare footage?
I'll try anything once. Twice if it tastes good
I was trying to figure out why this thing would need to use poison when TFA only mentions a diet of insects. According to Wikipedia the "diet of solenodons consists largely of insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates, but they also eat vertebrate carrion, and perhaps even some living vertebrate prey such as small reptiles or amphibians"
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Houston TX, USA
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.
Can it even kill us?
Who cares? I'm pretty sure we can kill it; the only important question here is how do they taste?