{"id":41263,"date":"2024-08-21T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T12:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4c20036f-9065-411c-a34a-dce64e06e846"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:27:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T13:27:28","slug":"the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes\/","title":{"rendered":"The animals that can tackle and eat the world&#8217;s most venomous snakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\">Do any animals enjoy a tasty meal of venomous snakes? Steve Harris looks at the species that are resistant to deadly venom <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2024 at 12:30 PM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p><strong>Can any animals eat deadly venomous snakes?<\/strong> <strong>Several species of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/banded-mongoose-facts\">mongoose<\/a> hunt such fearsome prey as venomous snakes, says Steve Harris.<\/strong><\/p><p> Being fast and agile they often avoid the snakes&#8217; strikes, but they are also resistant to the reptiles&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/poisons-vs-venom-vs-toxin\">venom<\/a>.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/deadliest-reptiles\">Discover deadly reptiles, from snakes to lizards<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/snake-venom-cure-artificial-blood-vessels\">Snake venom cure: Scientists develop fake blood vessels to help reduce deadly bites<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>The active ingredient most commonly found in snake poison, alpha-neurotoxin, blocks the messages from the nerves to the muscle cells, paralysing and ultimately killing the victim.<\/p><p>Mongooses exhibit a high degree of resistance to venom, thanks to small changes in the acetylcholine receptors that relay the messages to the muscles.<\/p><p>Mongooses that are bitten generally recover, though Flower, one of the stars of the TV series Meerkat Manor, died after being bitten by a cobra.<\/p><p>A few other mammals also hunt poisonous snakes. The best-known of these is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/honey-badger-guide\">honey badger <\/a>(or ratel), which tackles large <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/king-cobra-facts-2\">cobras<\/a>, puff adders and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/black-mamba-guide\">black mambas<\/a> &#8211; some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/deadliest-snakes\">world&#8217;s deadliest snakes.<\/a><\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/why-are-honey-badgers-so-aggressive\">Why are honey badgers so aggressive?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>The honey badger&#8217;s strategy involves targeting the back of its reptile victim&#8217;s head. This mammal&#8217;s thick skin helps to protect it from snake bites but, like mongooses, it is also resistant &#8211; though not immune &#8211; to snake venom.<\/p><p>Finally some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/why-do-snakes-eat-each-other\">snake species hunt and eat venomous snakes too.<\/a><\/p><p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do any animals enjoy a tasty meal of venomous snakes? Steve Harris looks at the species that are resistant to deadly venom <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":41264,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes.jpg",2560,1605,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-300x188.jpg",300,188,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-768x482.jpg",768,482,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-1024x642.jpg",800,502,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-1536x963.jpg",1536,963,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/the-animals-that-can-tackle-and-eat-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes-2048x1284.jpg",2048,1284,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Do any animals enjoy a tasty meal of venomous snakes? Steve Harris looks at the species that are resistant to deadly venom","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/41263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}