Scientists have filmed snakes striking in slow-motion, revealing how different species use their fangs and venom, uncovering the secrets behind their lightning-fast attacks
In a groundbreaking study directly comparing the strike speed and venom delivery methods across all three major families of snakes for the first time, scientists found the reptiles’ bite secrets. Capturing the historical moment in slow-motion footage, vipers, elapids, and colubrids showed some astonishing differences.
Australian researchers based at a venom laboratory in Paris, France, have unveiled new findings on the striking speed and venom delivery of various snake species. In an interview with the BBC, study co-author Alistair Evans explained that the team used a warmed gel to mimic prey and encourage the snakes to strike.
The result, captured in some black and white hypothesising footage, was gripping.
By analysing slow-motion video, the scientists discovered that vipers delivered the quickest strikes, though certain elapids were nearly as rapid. The study also shed light on the distinct ways different snake species utilise their fangs to seize prey and administer venom.
“In some of these snakes, the venom was actually dripping out of their fangs before they even strike the prey,” one of the scientists explained. “One of the driving questions about this was to find out how snakes used their fangs to capture their food and inject their venom.”
He added: “So we’re able to look at the speeds of each of the snakes and how they start, and then strike the prey and compare across things like their hunting style and their diet. And sometimes they would misjudge where the prey was or which direction it was going.”
Referring to the footage, the scientist stated: “And that particular one, it obviously thought that it was further away and so it started to accelerate and hit the gel, the funny place that literally broke off its tooth. One of the big things that we wanted to do was compare across the three main families of snakes: the Vipers, the Elapids and the Colubrids.
“So this was the first study that had compared all three, and we did find that the fastest snakes were vipers, but there were some of the elapids that were almost as fast and still pretty fast. Within the vipers in particular, those species that are focused on ambush prey were the fastest.
“Those snakes that feed on mammals need to be faster than those that feed on reptiles.” In the UK there are three native snake species: the Adder, which is venomous, and two non-venomous ones: the Grass snake and the Smooth snake.
The Adder is the only one that can pose a genuine danger to humans (though bites are rare and rarely fatal) and is found in heathland, moorland and woodland across much of Britain, according to The Wildlife Trusts. The Grass snake prefers wetlands, ponds, ditches and sometimes gardens and poses no danger to people, the Canal & River Trust explains.
Moreover, the Smooth snake is very rare, confined to a few heathland sites mainly in southern England, is non-venomous and poses no danger.
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