Earlier today, I posted about a “poisonous” cobra. Boing Boing reader cryoutlaughin corrected me in the comments. Snakes are venomous, not poisonous. As Jolene Creighton in Quarks to Quasars puts it, “The quick and dirty way to separate venomous creatures from poisonous ones is by thinking about bites: If you bite it and die, it is poisonous; if it bites you and you die, it is venomous.” So a cobra is venomous and a poison dart frog is poisonous. (I guess if you want to be picky, a snake could be considered poisonous if you eat it and ingest its venom.)
From the article:
- Poisons are any chemical substances that impact biological functions in other organisms.
- Toxins are biologically produced chemical substances that impact biological functions in other organisms.
- Toxicants are synthesized chemical substances that impact biological functions in other organisms.
- Poisonous organisms secrete chemical substances that impact biological functions in other organisms.
- Venomous creatures inject chemical substances that impact biological functions in other organisms.
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