в чем разница между poison и venom
Difference Between Venom and Poison
May 9, 2011 Posted by koshal
Venom vs Poison
There is a difference between venom and poison. Wait, what? Venom and poison! Are not they supposed to be one and the same thing? As far as the common perception is concerned, venom and poison are synonyms but the reality is that they are different from one another despite having many similarities. This article will explain these differences by highlighting the features of venom and poison so as to remove any doubts in the minds of the readers. As words, venom is only used as a noun while poison is used a noun as well as a verb. Interestingly, both venom and poison have their origins in Middle English.
What does Venom mean?
On the other hand, venom is non-toxic if swallowed but becomes toxic when injected under the skin by venomous creatures like snakes and spiders. This venom then goes inside the tissues of the body that are normally protected by the skin and this is why a snake bite is considered to be harmful.
The dichotomy of poisonous and venomous is helpful in understanding the difference between venom and poison. There are organisms that are venomous and there are organisms that are poisonous. Why this dichotomy? The answer lies in the effect of their toxins on human beings. It is animals that are called venomous as they only can inject or administer the toxin in human bodies that is harmful. Venom is produced and is contained in special organs used by the organism for this very purpose.
What does Poison mean?
Poison is a substance that is a toxin and causes harm when eaten, inhaled, or swallowed. Since there are a number of poisonous and venomous organisms let us see what is meant by poisonous organisms. It is the plants and animals that, when consumed and are harmful to us, are referred to as poisonous. Poison is a toxin that is produced in a large part of the body of the organism that contains it.
Other than this basic meaning as a word in English language the word poison has other meanings as well. In the informal context, when someone asks “what’s you poison?” it simply means what do you like to drink.
What is the difference between Venom and Poison?
• Venom and poison are similar meaning words, but both are different from each other.
• Poison is a toxin that can harm us when swallowed or inhaled while a venom turns into a toxic substance only when it is injected or administered into our bodies by animals like snakes and spiders.
• Poison is a toxin that is produced in a large part of the body of the organism that contains it while venom is produced and is contained in special organs used by the organism for this very purpose.
• Venom, because it is injected into the bloodstream directly through a bite or a sting has a much faster action than a poison that has to be eaten or swallowed and thus slowly reaches the bloodstream.
Venomous vs Poisonous: 6 Differences Between Venom and Poison
Posted on Last updated: May 5, 2021
Venomous vs poisonous? In this post, you’ll find an easy-to-understand breakdown of the two, plus some common examples of each. Poison and venom are quite different and it could be the difference between life and death.
Venomous vs Poisonous
One of my pet peeves as an animal blogger is seeing how other writers use these terms interchangeably when they are very different.
So, whether you want to ace your school paper or just straighten out that thread on Reddit, this is the post for you!
Here’s a quick little breakdown of the differences between venom and poison.
6 Differences Between Poison and Venom
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into the details!
Poison: What You Need to Know (3 Delivery Methods)
As mentioned, poison has a wide variety of delivery methods.
1. Ingestion
Ingestion: Ingesting (or eating) a poisonous plant or animal is bad news.
Fortunately for the predators of the animal kingdom, animals such as poison dart frogs and monarch butterflies are brightly colored to warn predators “If you eat me, you’ll be sorry!” (This is called aposematic coloration.)
Another example of a poisonous animal is the puffer fish, a delicacy in Japan called “fugu.” A poison called Tetrodotoxin is found in the fish’s organs, so the fish must be prepared in a very deliberate manner.
There roughly 5 Japanese people die every year because their fugu has been prepared badly. Certainly not a dish for the faint of heart!
2. Absorption
Absorption: Absorption happens when you touch or hold a poisonous animal. In the case of the poison dart frog, their aposematism also warns that they should not be touched.
It depends on the variety of dart frog, as some are not potent enough to kill you. Better to respect the warning and not risk it unless you are a trained professional. No, hours of educational YouTube does not count.
An example of a poisonous plant would be poison ivy or poison oak. If you touch it, the poison is absorbed into your skin which causes that horrible itching and burning.
3. Inhalation
Inhalation: Or breathing in a poison, is extremely scary. An example of an inhalable poison is Cyanide.
Venom: What You Need to Know (2 Delivery Methods)
Venom is a specialized type of poison that is generally delivered via bite or sting. The bottom line is that it has to enter the bloodstream to be effective.
1. Bite
Bite: When you think of a biting venomous animal, likely the first thing that comes to mind is a snake. While not all snakes are venomous, many are and you don’t want to be bitten by one.
Venomous snakebite side effects range from a light swelling and pain similar to a bee sting (also venom) to paralysis or even death.
If you haven’t antagonized it too much, some snakes will give what is known as a dry bite: no venom is delivered, but you are still stuck with those nasty fangs.
Snakes give dry bites because concocting that venom is a lot of hard work and they don’t want to waste it… but that’s not a risk I’m willing to take!
2. Sting
Sting: An example of a stinging venomous animal is the hornets in your backyard (or the Japanese giant hornets).
Now, the general yellow jacket’s venom won’t kill you. But if you do get stung, the burning pain and itching is a result of the venom that has been injected into your skin.
While venomous animals are often insects and reptiles, there are some venomous mammals as well.
Why it Matters
This may all seem like technicalities that don’t really matter. But, this is a very important subject, especially for animal handlers.
The brave-hearts that handle venomous snakes wouldn’t be able to do so bare handed if the snake was potently poisonous.
In this video, they handle a tiger keel-back snake which is poisonous and venomous (we’ll talk about that later on).
On the back of its head, it has poison glands that prevent Coyote from “heading” the snake (holding the snake behind the neck so it can’t bite).
As mentioned before, the Japanese dish fugu wouldn’t be so dangerous if the puffer fish was venomous instead of poisonous.
If you picked up a golden poison frog thinking that it’s venomous, you might be in some trouble.
Plus, all this talk about venom vs poison and the delivery methods raises an interesting question…
Could I Eat Venom?
That’s the big question: Can you drink venom? Since it is delivered through a bite or sting directly into you’re bloodstream, it’s a logical question.
Here are the facts:
Here’s why: Theoretically (very important word…) you possibly plausibly technically maybe kinda might not die if you drink venom. That’s a lot of variables I don’t want to risk, but here’s why it is possible to drink deadly venom and live to tell the tale (or die and get your name on the news…).
If you had no cuts, scrapes, or pricks in your mouth and throat and no ulcers in your stomach then the venom would slide down your esophagus into your stomach.
Then, it would be broken down like any other protein before it could reach your bloodstream and do its nasty work. This is why the mongoose can eat a venomous snake with no side effects.
More About Venom vs Poison
There are animals that are both poisonous and venomous.
One example is the tiger keel-back snake that we mentioned earlier. Another is the blue-ringed octopus.
These tiny monsters have a venomous bite, but they are poisonous if eaten. This is another example of an animal that uses aposematic coloration (bright colors as a warning)!
And the same toxin can act as a poison or a venom depending on the animal it’s found in.
Tetrodotoxin, which we talked about earlier in regard to the puffer fish, is one such toxin. In puffer fish, it makes them poisonous and in the blue-ringed octopus, it is delivered through a bite making it venomous.
Your Turn
I hope I’ve helped you understand this complicated subject a bit better. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll try to help clear it up for you. Now check out some venomous mammals!
Drew Haines is an animal enthusiast and travel writer. She loves to share her passion through her writing.
Poison vs. Venom
The terms poison and venom are often used interchangeably, but they actually have very different meanings. It is the delivery method that distinguishes one from the other.
Poison is absorbed or ingested; a poisonous animal can only deliver toxic chemicals if another animal touches or eats it. Venom, on the other hand, is always injected. Every venomous animal has a mechanism (e.g., stingers, fangs, etc.) to inject toxins directly into another animal. It is for these reasons that frogs are can be poisonous to touch or eat, while snakes are venomous when they use their fangs to bite.
Comparison chart
 | Poison | Venom |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Inflicts pain or illness | Inflicts pain or illness |
| Delivery method | Absorption or ingestion | Injection |
| Form | Fluid, gas or some type of solid | Usually fluid |
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Comments: Poison vs Venom
Anonymous comments (5)
The above definition is correct from a scientific and zoological perspective. In regards to the previous comments below:
1) The verb you are looking for is envenom or envenomate. «The spider envenoms its prey.» Or «The cricket was envenomated by a spider.» Both are correct.
2) In an etymological sense, venom is a subset of poison, so venom is not different than poison, but poison can be different than venom. Also venom’s other primary function is defensive in nature, just like poison (e.g. platypus, lion fish, sting-ray, etc.).
Venom is a type of poison. Poison is a broad category of a substance that can cause illness, injury, or death, especially by chemical means. Poison can be ingested, inhaled, absorbed, applied, injected, or developed in the body. Venom specifically refers to the poisonous secretions of an animal (insect, spiders, scorpions, etc.) usually transmitted by a bite or sting.
@stephen huber to bad they cant kill you.
My friend and I have been arguing over this for about an hour now. Once the venom has entered your body isn’t it poisoning you?? Right?? It’s not venoming you! They are both toxic so wouldn’t that mean they are both a form o poison? Therefore the act committed would be poisoning? Somebody help.
This is perfect proof to my science teacher that venom and poison are different things?
Edit or create new comparisons in your area of expertise.
В чем разница между poison и venom
Venom is the poison that flows from a snake bite.
The snake bite immediately filled my finger with venon that turned my whole arm numb.
Poison could be any substance that would create serious illness on contact or absoprtion.
The baby drank the poison under the sink.
My son got a rash when he touched the poison ivy in the back yard.
Символ показывает уровень знания интересующего вас языка и вашу подготовку. Выбирая ваш уровень знания языка, вы говорите пользователям как им нужно писать, чтобы вы могли их понять.
Мне трудно понимать даже короткие ответы на данном языке.
Могу задавать простые вопросы и понимаю простые ответы.
Могу формулировать все виды общих вопросов. Понимаю ответы средней длины и сложности.
Понимаю ответы любой длины и сложности.
Решайте свои проблемы проще в приложении!
( 30 698 )
В чем разница между poison и venom
poison you have to drink. Venom you have to be bitten.
Hence you can drink venom without dying. But if you drink poison or inject it; it will harm you.
poison you have to drink. Venom you have to be bitten.
Hence you can drink venom without dying. But if you drink poison or inject it; it will harm you.
Символ показывает уровень знания интересующего вас языка и вашу подготовку. Выбирая ваш уровень знания языка, вы говорите пользователям как им нужно писать, чтобы вы могли их понять.
Мне трудно понимать даже короткие ответы на данном языке.
Могу задавать простые вопросы и понимаю простые ответы.
Могу формулировать все виды общих вопросов. Понимаю ответы средней длины и сложности.
Понимаю ответы любой длины и сложности.
Решайте свои проблемы проще в приложении!
( 30 698 )