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How snakes got their fangs
Phys.org ^ | 8/10/2021 | by Flinders University

Posted on 08/11/2021 8:51:35 AM PDT by LibWhacker


Types of venom fangs in snakes: Rear fangs (crab-eating water snake), fixed front fangs (taipan), and hinged front fangs (Gaboon viper); fangs highlighted in red

Ever wondered how deadly snakes evolved their fangs? The answer lies in particular microscopic features of their teeth, research led by Flinders University and the South Australian Museum suggests.

"It's always been a mystery why fangs have evolved so many times in snakes, but rarely in other reptiles. Our study answers this, showing how easy it is for normal snake teeth to turn into hypodermic needles," says lead author Dr. Alessandro Palci, from Flinders University.

Of almost 4,000 species of snakes alive today, about 600 of them are considered "medically significant" to humans, meaning that if you get bitten you are very likely to require a visit to the nearest hospital for treatment.


The fang of a Gaboon viper (attached to the bone, the maxilla). Credit: A.Palci, Flinders University

Venom fangs are modified teeth that are grooved and larger than other nearby teeth. They can be located at the back or at the front of the mouth, where they can be fixed or hinged (i.e. they can fold backwards).

Australian and overseas researchers used high-tech modeling, fossils, and hours of microscope observations to reveal that snakes possess tiny infoldings, or wrinkles, at the base of the teeth. These infoldings might help teeth attach more firmly to the jaw. In venomous snakes, one of these wrinkles becomes deeper and extends all the way to the tooth tip, thus producing a venom groove and a fang.


Skull of a taipan and sections through its left fang showing the relationship between venom groove and infoldings at the base of the tooth

"Our work also highlights the opportunism and efficiency of evolution. Wrinkles which helped attach teeth to the jaw were repurposed to help inject venom," says co-author Professor Michael Lee (Flinders University and South Australian Museum).


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: evolution; fangs; satan; snakes
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1 posted on 08/11/2021 8:51:35 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

God is THE Great Engineer.........................


2 posted on 08/11/2021 8:58:38 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: LibWhacker

3 posted on 08/11/2021 9:00:01 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: LibWhacker

by Rudyard Kipling.


4 posted on 08/11/2021 9:09:15 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (No audits. No peace.)
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To: LibWhacker

Good theory on how snakes might have evolved a hollow tooth.

To me, however, the bigger mystery is how a snake would develop a venom sack coupled to the hollow tooth containing poison harmless to the snake but deadly to prey.


5 posted on 08/11/2021 9:15:47 AM PDT by DarrellZero
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To: LibWhacker

6 posted on 08/11/2021 9:17:30 AM PDT by Vaquero (I’m in Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: LibWhacker

7 posted on 08/11/2021 9:20:42 AM PDT by Vaquero (I’m in Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: LibWhacker

Eels interbred with tax collectors. I thought everybody knew this.


8 posted on 08/11/2021 9:29:37 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: LibWhacker

But Who repurposed the wrinkle in the teeth, I wonder?


9 posted on 08/11/2021 9:44:12 AM PDT by Liberty Tree Surgeon
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To: Red Badger

Just as strange as how snakes developed fangs, one night in the 1970’s, some kid broke into the Reptile House at National Zoo in Washington D.C. He managed to steal a full sized Gabon Viper - which is a very impressive snake. He put it into a paper grocery bag, and while riding home on a city bus, the snake bit him. He survived, but only because they rushed in anti-venom in from somewhere else.


10 posted on 08/11/2021 9:47:39 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: PUGACHEV

If they had a Gabon Viper in the zoo, then the antivenin was near at hand..................


11 posted on 08/11/2021 9:50:50 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: PUGACHEV

Yes a paper grocery bag should do…. Yes.


12 posted on 08/11/2021 9:55:23 AM PDT by Vaquero (I’m in Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: LibWhacker
Genesis 3:
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
13 posted on 08/11/2021 9:56:46 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (But what do I know? I'm just a backwoods engineer.)
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To: Red Badger
I had a few things wrong. The incident happened in 1983, the kid stole two Gaboon Vipers from the National Zoo, and took them on the bus in a plastic garbage bag. They did have some antivenom on hand, but it wasn't enough, so they had to fly in more from the Bronx Zoo, and later zoos in Baltimore and Philadelphia. See the story below. As Jack Nicholson said in the movie The Last Detail, "There are more strange things in this world that you could possibly imagine".

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/06/us/zoos-come-to-aid-of-teen-ager-bitten-by-viper-stolen-from-cage-in-washington.html

14 posted on 08/11/2021 10:04:23 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: DarrellZero

It doesnt say they are hollow like a needle, it says and shows in the diagram cross sections that it has a deep groove on the back side as the fang penetrates , which keeps the venom from being wiped off.

Which was my understanding before, snake fangs are not really like hypodermic needles.


15 posted on 08/11/2021 10:08:14 AM PDT by takebackaustin
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To: DarrellZero

You know what, you are right, that last cross section is halfway down and is like a hypodermic. mea culpa.


16 posted on 08/11/2021 10:10:47 AM PDT by takebackaustin
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To: Red Badger

Genesis 49:17
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.


17 posted on 08/11/2021 11:46:18 AM PDT by knarf (qa)
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To: DarrellZero
Created that way

Genesis 49:17

Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 posted on 08/11/2021 11:47:30 AM PDT by knarf (qa)
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To: sphinx

thank you - now I have to clean up coffee from my desk


19 posted on 08/12/2021 8:21:52 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: sphinx

Only I heard it was lawyers


20 posted on 08/12/2021 8:28:11 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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