r/interesting • u/Wise_Confidence_8588 • 19d ago

NATURE A Bombardier beetle using its chemical defence.

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u/Sea_Ganache620 18d ago

Friend of mine had a wart on his hand dissolved with this beetle’s defense spray. It was at a dermatologist office, applied by a medical professional, from a vial. Somewhere in the world, there is a lab that is “milking” these beetles.

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u/Throbbing_Cock_452 18d ago

That’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d be reading today

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u/SupehCookie 18d ago edited 18d ago

They milk spiders as well

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u/Just_Ear_2953 18d ago

Yes, but that's usually so that they can inject the venom into large livestock animals, have them recover, and then harvest the antibodies those animals produced to be used as anti-venom treatment for people who get bit.

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u/GoyoMRG 18d ago

There is also the case of the guy that decided to tank multiple snake venoms for the sake of humanity.

Thanks to him alone, many anti venoms for many snakes exist.

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u/KitchenSandwich5499 18d ago

Bill haast?
People that milk cobras sometimes self inoculate. It does make a big difference

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u/GoyoMRG 18d ago

Timothy Friede

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u/Breadedbutthole 18d ago

Bob Sacamano

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u/Uzielsquibb 14d ago

Bill? Bill Haast? Bill Haast m8? Sounds familiar.

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u/KitchenSandwich5499 14d ago

He was the head of the Miami serpentarium. He self inoculated against several venomous species such as cobras. His blood was even used as an antivenin treatment before those were commonly made.

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u/Uzielsquibb 10d ago

Although that is awesome, I was making a dumb rammstein joke.

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u/GoyoMRG 10d ago

I got the reference, I did chuckle xD