Snakes Reveal Venom Injection Secrets in High-Speed Footage

In a groundbreaking study published just last month, scientists have uncovered fascinating new insights into how venomous snakes strike and inject venom into their prey. Using high-speed cameras, researchers recorded over 100 videos of 36 different snake species attacking a fake prey target, capturing the strikes from multiple angles.

The footage revealed three distinct attack strategies employed by these reptiles. Most vipers were found to bite their target within 0.1 seconds of lunging, faster than the startle response of most mammals. This means their prey would have little chance of escaping. Some elapids, like the rough-scaled death adder and Cape coral snake, were just as fast, but others took over 0.3 seconds to reach their prey.

The way the snakes injected venom also varied by family. Vipers would strike quickly from a coiled position, but sometimes didn't get a good angle on their bites. If that happened, they would pull out a fang and reinsert it in a better position before injecting venom. Elapids, on the other hand, would slither up close to their prey to reduce the distance they had to lunge, then bite down several times to prolong the venom flow.

The researchers also observed two "rear-fanged" snakes from the colubrid family, which inject venom through teeth at the back of their upper jaw. These snakes dragged their fangs back and forth across the fake prey, creating crescent-shaped wounds to help deliver as much venom as possible.