BT Snake Nr. 42-50697219
by Mattias Klum - © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. - © Mattias Klum/National Geographic Creative/Corbis
The hollow fangs of the Jameson's mamba deliver toxins that can lead to a person's death within hours.
29 Aug 2011, Cameroon --- Jameson's mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) in Ndop. The snake lives in trees. It is a front-fanged elapidae snake. The Jamesons Mamba, and other mambas, are a big hit for biomedicine; they produce one of the most used tools to understand how the human nervous system works and their toxin is a template for a heart failure medicine in clinical trials. Most snake venoms kills by either of two mechanism, respiratory failure and loss of blood pressure. Mambas are unique, they employ the both strategies at the same time. Mambas have highly toxic venom which consists mostly of neurotoxins. The bite can be fatal to humans without access to proper first aid and subsequent antivenom treatment, as it shuts down the lungs and heart. Toxins work like key finding a lock. Once a toxin (key) finds its targets (lock) then it specifically fits there and prevents the lock from open / c --- Image by © Mattias Klum/National Geographic Creative/Corbis
