Fact-O-Matic: Venom Day

Alright everybody - you've heard of Valentine's Day. Well, well well - why didn't anybody invent Venom Day, where we give Valentines to venomous creatures? In case anybody doesn't know what venom is, it is like an acid that can kill creatures. It helps a predator kill its prey.

Now there are different ways to get the venom inside the victim. Well there's a difference between a komodo dragon and a kind of venomous snake, well let's just say king cobra. Now the snake has fangs and when it bites its prey it shoots out the venom. But the komodo dragon cannot do that. It's a little less organized with the shot of the venom. It's sort of just squirts out a puddle of the venom on its mouth and then pretty much bites the prey and waits for it to die.

And here are some different types of venomous creatures.

Venomous creature #1: funnel web spider. Now these creatures unfortunately like to go where the humans go: somewhere nice and shady. On the bright side, they live in Australia. Well at least it's good for all Americans looking at this. And I hope this creature does not go in your shoe, or else!

Venomous creatures #2: stone fish. Now the stone fish doesn't have a killing venom but let me tell you something - it may not kill its prey, but EXTREME PAIN! It hurts so much you would probably be rolling on the beach and trying to get the pain off. And the plus side, another danger, the stone fish is unfortunately camouflaged and yet again, it lives in Australia. Here's how you may get hurt by this venomous stone fish: they have spines on their back, and when you step on it, that's how you get the pain.

Venomous creature #3: the black mamba. I told you about this in another post. The black mamba breaks the record for most venom ever. It can kill at a time table from 30 minutes to up to an hour. So I'm pretty sure this creature actually lives in Africa. But remember, like I told you about the honey badger, it's one of the only creatures that will withstand the venom.

And here's creature #4: the man-of-war, a jellyfish from Australia. And this is unfortunately one of the fastest jellyfishes in the world, I think. Anyway, there is a weapon for the venom and you may have it in your kitchen. It's olive oil.

Okay, here's the final creature: the scorpion. The scorpion is a venom monster. Its got a venomous tail. A venomous bite. The tail is for defense, the bit is for prey and the claws are for keeping the prey in place.