Some poisonous snakes inject venom into their prey, release the prey
and then track it down with their tongue after the venom has done its
job of killing it. The venom contains digestive enzymes that start
digesting the prey from the inside.
Snakes grow rapidly till they mature and then continue to grow very
slowly till their death. As they grow, they outgrow their skin so they
moult the old one after a new skin has formed under it. The snake
splits the old skin at the nose and literally crawls out of the old
skin. During moulting, the snake stops eating but becomes aggressive.
A bite from a poisonous snake affects either the nervous system
(neurotoxic) or the blood vessels (hemotoxic) of human beings. The only
cure against snake bite is snake anti-venom. It is made by injecting
very small doses of raw venom (about one-tenth of the fatal dose) into
a horse and then gradually increasing the dose, making the horse immune
to snake venom. The blood of the horse is then drawn, frozen and
processed after separating the antibodies and crystallized into a
powder. This is anti-venom as we know it.
When a snake bite occurs, the following first aid measures should be
taken. Panic should be avoided and the patient should be kept warm and
reassured. The wound should be checked to see if it is a poisonous or
non poisonous bite.
Pages:
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73