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Comment by taneq | Hacker News Reader

    Why does a snake possess the capability to kill hundreds of thousands of mice with each bite?

Why not? If it doesn't cost anything significant then it won't be selected against.

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"Furthermore, one experiment conducted with pit vipers demonstrated an 11% increase in metabolic activity following venom extraction, indicating a link between physical exertion and venom production."

The article points out in a few places that venom production does have significant costs.

So replenishing venom supplies may result in an increased metabolic load post-extraction, but that increase may not be so much when compared to another method of hunting. For example, it's probable that the heightened metabolic load associated with a python crushing/strangling its prey is a substantial increase from the animal's ~ergodic resting state.

If anyone has numbers on this, please link them!

Also, injections are probably not going to be clean and ideal. Having a toxin that does the job o(1000)-fold with a full delivery volume will still do the job with a tiny fraction of that in the event of a partial toxin delivery. This will still result in the death of the prey with a single, albeit flawed, attack.

> The article points out in a few places that venom production does have significant costs.

You are confusing venom production with the lethality of said venom.

Nowhere does it imply that making a very lethal venom costs more than making a less lethal one.

> Why not? If it doesn't cost anything significant then it won't be selected against.

Much of the point of the article is that it does have significant metabolic cost.

Significant metabolic costs that have proved for several thousands of years a compelling survival strategy. Nature is the ultimate field tester.

And yet it wasn't selected against. :)

Evolution and natural selection were probably not designed by an engineer. Or if it was, then they also probably designed the DC-3, which I have jumped out of when I was skydiving years ago. Exceptional longevity and reliability. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3

Sure, but there's no guarantee that evolution produces optimal outcomes at any given point in time (eg, the present day). Too much is a lot safer than too little. As long as you're alive, you can always eat a bit more.

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