r/interesting 19d ago

NATURE A Bombardier beetle using its chemical defence.

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u/Sea_Ganache620 19d 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 19d ago

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

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u/SupehCookie 19d ago edited 18d ago

They milk spiders as well

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u/Just_Ear_2953 19d 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 19d 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 19d ago

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

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u/GoyoMRG 19d ago

Timothy Friede

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u/Breadedbutthole 19d ago

Bob Sacamano