Eli5: Why do some spiders have poison that can kill mammals several hundred times it’s size , if they only eat other insects/arachnids, ect
In: 4
They’re competing with the natural defenses of their prey. Think of it as teo species one upping each other over millions of years.
Say a small lizard evolves to be resistant to a spider bit, the spidersneith more potent venom survive and breed. The lizards with better resistance survive and breed. The spiders that can paralyze *those* lizards survive and breed. Generations of this and some dummy picks up a spider and gets injected with venom that is strong enough to paralyze or kill super resistant lizards.
Basically, other animals like humans sometimes get caught in the crossfire of an evolutionary arms race.
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