eli5: Why do some tiny animals contain enough venom to kill thousands of humans, isn’t that just overkill?
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Something I haven’t seen many people touch on is the *rate* at which the venom kills something, not just the quantity. When a snake or spider bites a prey item, they don’t want to prey item running away and dying far away from them. In addition, prey items struggle, kick, bite, claw, etc. when threatened. Another comment mentioned this in a bit more detail but it’s really bad news if the predator is injured every time it tries to kill prey. By killing something quicker, it reduces this risk.
So the venom isn’t more powerful because it wants to kill bigger things; it’s more powerful because it wants to kill little things faster.
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