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An Indiana zoo will soon welcome a lethal addition to its animal kingdom: A black mamba snake. The Indianapolis Zoo is adding the black mamba, which is typically found in southern and eastern Africa, in May 2019. The serpent will join the zoo’s Deserts Dome exhibit, which will feature the black mamba and other exotic snakes, the Associated Press reported. The black mamba is a “fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive” reptile, National Geographic reported, which also noted this snake is considered to be the deadliest in the world.The black mamba, which can grow as long as...

Study of snake venom in mice reveals potential new strategy for relieving agony A snakebite may bring on a world of hurt, but a substance found in black mamba venom could actually relieve pain. The finding reveals a new possible approach for pain treatment, researchers report online October 3 in Nature. The black mamba, Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis, is one of the most lethal snakes on Earth. But a team of researchers in France found that compounds in the snake’s venom have the same pain-banishing effect on mice that morphine does. The compounds, called mambalgins, appear to work by blocking certain...

BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 4, 2006 Friday Excerpt from report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 4 August Belgrade, Zagreb, Banja Luka, 4 August: The 11th anniversary of Croatia's military Operation Storm was marked with a commemoration in St Mark's Church and a gathering in Nikola Pasic Square [in central Belgrade] today. Following the commemoration, a protest walk from St Mark's Church to Nikola Pasic Square was organized by the Association of Families of Missing Persons from Krajina [part of Croatia formerly with Serb majority]. A resolution was read out in Nikola Pasic Square to several hundred Serbs from...

LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police have essentially closed the case on the mysterious death of a Scotsman who picked up some poisonous snakes at the city airport that were later found abandoned at an intersection. "We're basically done with it," said Little Rock Police Department spokesman Terry Hastings. "This is not a criminal investigation, it was ruled an accidental death and it's handled the same way as someone falling off the roof of a house." Garrick Wales, a 48-year-old Scotsman, was found dead in a rented Chevy Blazer near Little Rock's airport May 13. Days later police found...

Thailand's Boonreung Buachan, holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title for spending the most time penned up with snakes, was killed by a cobra that bit him during his daily show, a hospital doctor said on Monday. Boonreung, 34 and dubbed Snake Man, was rushed unconscious to Prai Bung Hospital near his home town, 350 miles northeast of Bangkok, Dr Wipa Praituan told Reuters. "He was brought here with no signs of life. He wasn't breathing and his heart didn't beat," she said. Boonreung was listed by the "Guinness Book of World Records" in 1998 after living with...