Venomous

Venomous PDF

Author: Christie Wilcox

Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0374712212

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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.

Venomous and Poisonous Animals

Venomous and Poisonous Animals PDF

Author: D. Mebs

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13:

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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.

Packed with Poison!

Packed with Poison! PDF

Author: D. M. Souza

Publisher: Millbrook Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 0822565277

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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?

Small Animal Toxicology - E-Book

Small Animal Toxicology - E-Book PDF

Author: Michael E. Peterson

Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences

Published: 2013-08-07

Total Pages: 928

ISBN-13: 0323241980

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Diagnose and determine treatment for toxic exposures in small animals with this quick reference! Small Animal Toxicology, 3rd Edition covers hundreds of potentially toxic substances, providing the information you need to manage emergency treatment and prevent poisonings in companion animals. To help you identify an unknown poison, this guide provides a list of potential toxins based on clinical signs or symptoms. It also includes a NEW color insert with 85 full-color photographs of toxic plants and of lesions associated with various poisonings. Written by respected veterinarian Michael E. Peterson and board-certified veterinary toxicologist Patricia A. Talcott, along with a team of expert contributors, this edition covers a wide variety of topics including toxicodynamics, toxicokinetics, effective history taking, recognizing clinical signs of toxic exposures, managing emergencies, and supportive care of the poisoned patient. Comprehensive coverage of toxins/poisons includes the full range of substances from acetaminophen to zinc, including home products, prescription medicines, recreational drugs, and more. Guidelines to evaluation, diagnosis and treatment include examinations of the source, toxic dose, toxicokinetics, clinical signs, minimum database, confirming tests, treatment progress and differential diagnosis for each specific toxicant. Coverage of common poisonous substances includes grapes and raisins, nicotine, mercury, mushrooms, Christmas-time plants, and snake and spider venoms. Toxicological Concepts section provides information on toxicologic principles such as history taking, providing supportive care, and managing emergency treatment. General Exposures section addresses nontraditional toxicology such as indoor environmental air, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and toxicities in pregnant and lactating animals. Miscellaneous Toxicant Groups section covers commonly encountered specific toxicants, the proper use of diagnostic laboratories, use of human poison control centers, and antidotes for specific toxins. More than 50 international contributors provide up-to-date, authoritative advice on treating poisonings and intoxications. 8 NEW chapters cover topics including legal considerations in toxicology cases, responding to mass exposures, and poisonings in birds, small mammals, and geriatric patients. NEW color insert shows 85 of the most commonly encountered toxic substances for at-a-glance identification. UPDATED Signs and Symptoms index makes it easier to find information on a toxic agent by presenting signs rather than requiring the formulation of a diagnosis. UPDATED information on agents most likely to cause a toxic reaction includes natural flea products and an expanded section on human medications. NEW quick-access format with bold headings and convenient tables and boxes allows quick retrieval of information in emergency situations.

Deadly Animal Poisons

Deadly Animal Poisons PDF

Author: Madeleine Fortescue

Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP

Published: 2016-07-15

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13: 1482444240

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Many animal species have developed a deadly adaptation to thwart their predators: poison! Some infamous spiders and snakes are feared, and rightly so, for their toxic defenses. However, many other animals are just as deadly. In this fascinating volume, readers will find out the difference between poison and venom. They’ll learn about several creatures and the toxins they use to survive in the wild, such as the pufferfish, the poison dart frog, the cone snail, and the blue-ringed octopus. Beautiful color photographs, a graphic organizer, and fact boxes with stunning information augment this exciting volume.

Poisonous Animals

Poisonous Animals PDF

Author: Edmund D. Brodie, Jr.

Publisher: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press

Published: 2014-02-25

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1466864796

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This eBook is best viewed on a color device. This Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press is an introduction to the major groups of poisonous animals in the world, including the most deadly species. Learn about: -Dangerous stingers, fangs, and spines -The many varieties of venom, and the different ways they are used -Where poisonous animals live Includes full-color illustrations and little-known facts about some of the most remarkable animals on earth.

The Red Hourglass

The Red Hourglass PDF

Author: Gordon Grice

Publisher: Delta

Published: 2009-10-21

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0307568148

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Snake venom that digests human flesh. A building cleared of every living thing by a band of tiny spiders. An infant insect eating its living prey from within, saving the vital organs for last. These are among the deadly feats of natural engineering you'll witness in The Red Hourglass, prize-winning author Gordon Grice's masterful, poetic, often dryly funny exploration of predators he has encountered around his rural Oklahoma home. Grice is a witty and intrepid guide through a world where mating ends in cannibalism, where killers possess toxins so lethal as to defy our ideas of a benevolent God, where spider remains, scattered like "the cast-off coats of untidy children," tell a quiet story of violent self-extermination. It's a world you'll recognize despite its exotic strangeness--the world in which we live. Unabashedly stepping into the mix, Grice abandons his role as objective observer with beguiling dark humor--collecting spiders and other vermin, decorating a tarantula's terrarium with dollhouse furniture, or forcing a battle between captive insects because he deems one "too stupid to live." Kill. Eat. Mate. Die. Charting the simple brutality of the lives of these predators, Grice's starkly graceful essays guide us toward startling truths about our own predatory nature. The Red Hourglass brings us face to fanged face with the inadequacy of our distinctions between normal and abnormal, dead and alive, innocent and evil.

Poisons and Venom

Poisons and Venom PDF

Author: Janet Riehecky

Publisher: Capstone Classroom

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13: 1429680083

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"Describes how animals use poison and venoms as weapons and defenses"--Provided by publisher.