I had such a great day with my family today. My oldest son is fan of biologist Dr. Freek Vonk. Basically our dutch version of Steve Irwin. It came to his attention that there was an exhibition by him on poisonous animals called Poison ! and he desperately wanted to go. So go we did, because I love his interest in science.
Poisonous animals
Here are some pictures I took of the various poisonous animals that were on display at the exhibit. Obiously, these are all LIVE animals.
When you enter the exhibition you walk straight into this King Cobra | Ophiophagus hannah, which they lovingly nicknamed Batman
The next room held this Gaboon Viper | Bitis Rhinoceros
Apparently, eventhough it's venom isn't that strong, it enjects so much of it, it can easily kill large prey.
Across was a row of spiders amongst which was this Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula | Acanthoscurria geniculata. It shoots venomous hairs as defence.
Next to it is the most famous of them all. The Black Widow | Latrodectus hesperus. Apparently, despite it's reputation, it only bites when threatened.
In the next room was this large beast a Smooth-sided Toad | Rhaebo guttatus. I overlooked him at first because the other cases held very small frogs, so I was looking for tiny. This fist-sized giant spits it's venom up to 2m distance !!
Last up is the Waxy Monkey Frog | Phyllomedusa sauvagii. This cool looking dudes skin is poisonous but holds a painkiller 40 times stronger than morphine.
Obviously there were a lot more poisonous animals on display, but these were to me, the most interesting. My son was totally in awe of the King Cobra and ran from display to display the entire time. It was a great day.
