Have you ever heard the terms venomous and poisonous? Both of them are similar because they both contain toxins which when entered into the body will cause malfunction. Even worse can cause death.
What’s the difference? Poisonous is when you eat, swallow, or consume something, and then it makes you die. In short, “you bite, you die“. Venomous is when you are bitten, scratched, or injected by something, then you die. In short, “you bitten, you die“. Do you understand the difference now?
If you imagine the example of a venomous animal, you will immediately imagine a snake, though there are some non-venomous snakes in the world.
Snakes are famous for their venom that can make people die instantly if we are bitten. Do you think there are animals besides snakes that are venomous? Let’s find out!
1. Box Jellyfish
Box jellyfish (Chironix flackeri) is the most venomous animals in the world. It is said that this animal contains more toxic than snakes and scorpions. They are mostly found on the coast of Australia in the summer.
This jellyfish is called a box jellyfish because it has a box or cube body. Just like jellyfish in general, box jellyfish also have poisons located in their tentacles. The difference is, box jellyfish have up to 60 tentacles; each of them is about three meters long.
These tentacles carry millions of hooks that contain very deadly poisons. It is even said that the box jellyfish’s poison can cause victims of up to 60 adults. Box jellyfish foods are zooplankton, small fish, shrimp, and little crab.
Actually, jellyfish, wherever they are, are always considered as a dangerous animal. In New Zealand, they become one of the most dangerous animals in New Zealand.
2. Scorpion
A scorpion is a group of eight foot-shaped animals (octopods) belonging to the order Scorpiones in the Arachnid class. There are about 2000 types of scorpions.
Although it is often mentioned that scorpions are spread almost all over the world, in reality, not all places have scorpions. These animals like a warm place, so they cannot be found in some cold areas such as Antarctica, Greenland, New Zealand, and other surrounding islands.
Some scorpions’ venom is very dangerous and can kill humans. Some experts claim the Indian Red Scorpion as the most deadly among other types of scorpions.
Scorpion stings cause intense local pain in the stinging part of the skin, followed by dilated pupils, excessive saliva production (hypersalivation), vomiting, and diarrhea. There are other deadly species of scorpion actually. It is Deathstalker scorpion: one of the dangerous scorpions in the world.
Scorpion foods are insects smaller than their body sizes, such as crickets, grubs or grasshoppers. As for adult scorpion, their foods are lizards, Hongkong caterpillars, and other insects.
3. Komodo Dragon
If you want to know more about this creature, you can meet the largest lizard on earth: Komodo dragon. Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is one of the endangered species of ancient reptile, which is protected and only exists on Komodo Island, Indonesia.
Komodo dragons are one of the animals that can paralyze their prey quickly. It is said that the Komodo dragon’s saliva contains poisons that work like snakes.
Toxins in this Komodo dragon can reduce the blood pressure of their prey, make great bleeding, and make the blood unable to clot.
4. Blue-Ringed Octopus
Blue-ringed octopus can be found in the waters of Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea at a depth of 30 meters. Blue-ringed octopuses live on sandy bottoms and have mud with rocks and algae nearby.
The size of the blue-ringed octopus is small, only 12 to 20 cm. What makes it unique, this octopus has a beautiful style. There are blue spots all over their body.
However, who would have thought that this animal could be dangerous. This animal has a deadly poison. Their poison is more dangerous than cyanide. According to researchers at Ocean Conservancy, blue-ringed octopus poison can kill 26 adults.
Although harmful, this octopus is a tame animal. They will only attack in a threatened state. Usually, the blue-ringed octopus preys on crabs and shrimps, but he also preys on fish if he can catch them.
5. Cone Snail
At first glance, snails are not a threatening animal. But in fact, some types of snails can be harmful to humans, for example, the cone snail (Conus). This snail can be found in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
The size of this snail varies and can be more than 20 centimeters. Large snails are usually found in shallow, warm waters with sandy or rocky topography.
These snails produce various types of neurotoxins that are very deadly to their prey and can cause respiratory failure in humans, blurred vision, and even crippling. These snails are known for waiting for their prey patiently to pass by.
Then they spear their prey with a kind of sting at the tip of their mouth, then inject the poison. In a short time, the prey cannot move before being eaten quietly by the snail. Cone snails are carnivorous and predatory.
They hunt and eat prey such as marine worms, small fish, mollusks, and even other cone snails. Because of its slow movement, they use a venomous harpoon (called a toxoglossan radula) to capture faster-moving prey, such as fish. Snail is one of the slowest animals in the world.