A little movie of our surprise guest today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_short-tailed_shrew It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals. The saliva of the Northern Short-tailed Shrew contains a kallikrein-like protease, used to paralyze and subdue its prey. The toxin is strong enough to kill small animals, up to sizes somewhat larger than the shrew itself, and results in painful bites to humans who attempt to handle the shrew. The poisonous saliva is secreted from submaxillary glands, through a duct which opens at the base of the lower incisors, where the saliva flows along the groove formed by the two incisors, and into the prey. The toxin is very similar in structure to the one used by the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum), but evolved independently, however from the same precursor protein.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:58:18 +0000