eli5: Why do some tiny animals contain enough venom to kill thousands of humans, isn’t that just overkill?
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Most venom is used to kill prey, not predators. A mouse isn’t much against a human, but to a snake they are vicious, with sharp teeth and strong (for their size) legs with claws. Spiders are generally tiny, spindly, and fragile with very fragile and costly webs. They regularly take on prey bigger than themselves.
In the wild, every little scratch can lead to death from an infection. Or death from being just that much slower than normal and unable to escape another predator. Or being just a little too slow to catch more prey. *Every* time an animal gets hurt it needs to be worth it for what they get – escaping with their lives or definitely getting a meal, so they really would rather avoid getting hurt.
Venom is a great tool for that because it can very quickly knock out prey and stop them from struggling, biting, clawing, stinging, etc. Bigger predator animals don’t need venom because they have raw strength, speed, group tactics, and they’re usually predating on things smaller than they are. Incidentally, you’ll still rarely see big predators going for the adults of their prey animals – you won’t see lions attacking adult water buffalo or adult zebras unless the lions are really hungry or the animal is sick, wounded, and alone.
The stronger the venom is, the faster the prey will stop fighting back. That’s still true when the venom is used primarily for defense, too. However, *most* animals that use venom for defense don’t have venom that is deadly strong, just *extremely* painful. Often, humans don’t die directly from the venom, but because they are in a dangerous place, like out in the ocean or alone in the wilderness and being unable to swim or move is what kills them.
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