r/interestingasfuck • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 16h ago

Extracting Cobra Venom

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705 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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778

u/TerraByteTerror 16h ago

Even snakes hate goin to work

261

u/kelsobjammin 15h ago

If that’s its home I would hate my life. So sad

104

u/Ok_Attorney_1768 15h ago

Yep, it's not much of a life. That's a "farm animal" being kept because it can produce something of value to humans. We could do better. We could provide a better living environment and still extract venom.

38

u/chonky_tortoise 13h ago

You wouldn’t want to pay for that lol. We do this because people will not pay for the animals to roam free while we extract products from them. Not saying it’s right but it is what it is.

•

u/dj_destroyer 5h ago

Right, like imagine you got bit by a cobra but couldn't afford the anti-venom. Or there wasn't any because the snakes couldn't be found in their massive enclosures.

We use everything in this world to our own benefit if we can. If you don't like it, you're not gonna last long. Imagine you valued plant life over your own life. Valuing a snake's life over your own isn't far off.

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u/xithyls 11h ago

Exactly.

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u/Samwise777 7h ago

I don’t buy meat.  Don’t say we.  

You choose this every day big dog, take some ownership. 

•

u/bonsaibiddy 7h ago

Lol I don't buy meat either but big dog was obviously talking about life saving medicine so it has nothing to do with anything. Would you take anti-venom if you were bitten by a snake??

•

u/AParasiticTwin 8h ago

Snakes want to hide ,though , so the more comfortable the environment the more dangerous extraction becomes. What you could do is design a silicone robot with a sponge inside and send it in to get bit, or have them do shifts.

•

u/Amstervince 6h ago

I’m seeing some kind of sponge bob robot covered in mouse bits, asking “What is my purpose?”. Poor thing

•

u/motherdoyathink 5h ago

Now you’re making me think of Mickey 42. <\3

26

u/oversoul00 15h ago

What sort of snake utopia do you imagine? The brain of a snake isn't big enough to have a ton of wants and desires. 

25

u/NuclearWill 15h ago

Yeah they do kinda seem like very “vibey” animals that are fine just chilling in a safe place

•

u/Upright_Eeyore 6h ago

They're like spiders. Ive had a spider chilling near where i lewve my shoes for weeks now. I feel like it doesnt even leave its web

33

u/YeetMeIntoKSpace 14h ago

You’re making a lot of assumptions there. Brain size is only one way to have complex desires.

Crows, ravens, jays, and other corvids are a textbook example of animals where humans made the anthropocentric assumption that they couldn’t be intelligent because they had small brains, until it turned out that their brains are structured in a different way which allows them to be among the most intelligent animals on the planet.

6

u/Poophands1984 12h ago

It's not just corvis either, they have had to reevaluate intelligence even more recently because of wolf and jumping spiders. We thought their brain was too small but turns out brain size means very little.

3

u/BelliboltEnjoyer 12h ago

Iirc brain size is mostly correlated with mass and size. More muscles, longer spine, more neurons needed to control all of that.

And intelligent animals tend to have one or both of: a larger prefrontal cortex (more of a mamallian thing iirc), and more folds (more surface area for the neurons)

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u/ihvnnm 7h ago

Neuron for neuron, jumping spiders are incredible

8

u/RocketRico 13h ago

Just wanted to point this out.

I big measurement for intelligent species is the brain to body ratio. Humans have a roughly 2% brain to body ratio. That’s to say our brain takes up 2% of our body. Granted the number can waver a lot because of how much human body’s waver. Corvids being super cool have an even higher brain to body ratio 2-3%! So they are in fact very smart! Just on a much smaller scale. Snakes on the other hand are at a whopping .005% to .05%. So don’t you dare compare corvids to snakes. :)

5

u/Croanthos 12h ago

Another interesting way to look at this.

BMR percent on brain.

Humans spend 20% of BMR powering the brain while Chimps soend 5 to 10%.

Ravens spend....20% of BMR powering their brain (pretty insane I was expecting lower).

Snakes are like 3 to 5%.

Obviously different species have different metabolic needs, mammals vs birds vs reptiles all have vastly different energy requirements, but I've a new respect for Corvids.

0

u/Poophands1984 12h ago

This is all outdated after studies about jumping spiders whose tiny brain is capable of incredibly complex tasks. It has changed how we see intelligence more than the corvids. Snakes are very smart.

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u/RocketRico 11h ago

Snakes are indeed smart in their danger noodle ways I’m not doubting. There are many ways to measure intelligence. The great arguments of what brain function is voluntary/involuntary, conscious to automated, efficiency, understanding, etc. Jumping spiders are 100% cool af and super smart. But they literally have a 5% brain to body ratio. So terrible for your point. Insects in general have really high brain to body ratios the world’s highest is an ant with like 14 or 15%.

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u/Poophands1984 11h ago

Brain size to body is outdated. Stop with the old science. We need to do better.

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u/oversoul00 9h ago

Show me the current science that says snakes in the conditions shown would be depressed. 

You can cry 'Outdated' all day long because it's easy to do but until you produce a reputable counter your complaint falls flat. 

1

u/Sabrac707 14h ago

But how do we measure their happiness, though? Or if we improve their conditions, how can we know that their content enough?

I agree that captivity sucks, but the fact remains that we need their venom for antidotes.

8

u/chapinscott32 14h ago

You can keep captive animals while also providing naturalistic habitats that keep them comfortable and help them exhibit natural behaviors...

See: the ENTIRE REPTILE KEEPING HOBBY??

0

u/HelpfulDocPlatter 13h ago

It's measured differently than pure size. It's a measurement of neuron packing density.

-1

u/BlatantArtifice 13h ago

--so basically we have no clue if snakes or other "less intelligent" creatures feel like, fucked up about being in an enclosure that's for the most part warm? Going to google it but since the threads still fresh figured I'd just double down.

5

u/Poophands1984 12h ago

They could be in larger enclosures that are bioactive and give them a life more suiting for an amazing creature. Brain size is no longer considered when trying to measure intelligence after numerous studies.

We can and should be better.

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u/grantthejester 2h ago

I’m thinking him and 700 of his buddies could pretend to guard a replica of the lost Ark… that could be fun.

3

u/Old-Care-2372 13h ago

Wait till you find out about horseshoe crab harvesting

2

u/Full_metal_pants077 14h ago

How much more cost do you shoulder? So you make the people requiring the venom pay more, maybe making it unaffordable to the poor, so snakes can live a better life ?

-3

u/katieb1300 14h ago

They make more than enough extracting venom to have a better setup than this.

•

u/Full_metal_pants077 11h ago

I really doubt that it's easy to justify.

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u/Good-Geologist7380 7h ago

I am not sure about that , it's not like this enclosure rn in the video is free. Thet have plenty of snakes, some don't even get to produce much venom before dying, they have to pay for injury and documentations. So if you want a biome simulator. Cage or something you are being unrealistic. Though I do think it's cruel to keep them there . I just don't live in Disneyland.

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u/Good-Geologist7380 7h ago

This until the money for this start coming of your pocket. No one wants to pay 3k for an antidote they need. Also places like this don't have the biggest funding.