Older, wiser, deadlier: "blood nuking" effects of Australian brown snake venom acquired with age

A shield-snouted brown snake (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha) from Northern Territory, Australia. Photo by Christopher Watson There's an age old belief that baby snakes are more dangerous than adult ones. There are generally two proposed reasons why this could be: either a) young snakes have yet to learn how to control how much venom they inject, so they deliver all of their venom per bite, or b) that because the snakes are smaller, they need more potent toxins to successfully take out their prey. The first is misleading, because even if baby snakes did dump all their venom into each bite, they still have so much less venom than adults that it doesn't matter (and there isn't any real evidence they lack self-control*). The second, though, warrants closer investigation: do younger, smaller snakes really have deadlier venoms? A new study on brown snakes in Australia says no—and in fact, the opposite can ...