eli5: Why do some tiny animals contain enough venom to kill thousands of humans, isn’t that just overkill?

Question

eli5: Why do some tiny animals contain enough venom to kill thousands of humans, isn’t that just overkill?

In: 356

Answer 1

They’re not doing it to kill thousands of humans.

They’re doing it to kill *anything* big that might annoy it (like a gorilla, or an elephant).

Humans just aren’t that big.