What is the difference between venomous and poisonous? How do snakes never get in a knot and if they do, how do they untangle themselves? Why do snakes have such potent venom? What happens when predators eat part of a snake that contains venom? Why are snakes evolving to not use their venom?
In: Biology
Venom needs to enter blood to hurt you. In the GI tract, it’s not a problem. Poison is the thing that’s a problem in your GI track.
venomous hurts you when it bites you, poisonous hurts you when you bite it.
Eating a venomous snake should only cause a problem if you damage/eat the venom gland stored near the fangs. the body itself is safe to eat as far as I know. eating the venom gland would depend on the specific snake and if you have any cuts the venom can get into before your stomach acids break it down.
Snakes have potent venom because if it was weak, the prey would just escape before the snake could eat it. Prey also get more immunity over time so the snakes need stronger and stronger venoms to stop prey as fast as possible
Poison does its thing no matter where it gets inside you, venom needs to be injected into your body.
Poison kills if you eat it (or touch it), venom kills if it is injected into you. You should be able to drink (don’t try it) snake venom and be ok.
Snake venom is expensive for the snake to produce and they don’t have an infinite supply. They use it because it works. As a snake grows and learns it’s body better they get better at fine-tuning how much venom they are using. Babies are often more dangerous than adults.
ELI5:
If it bites you and you die, it’s venomous.
If you bite it and you die, it’s poisonous.
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