You’ve been bitten by one of the most
venomous snakes on Earth.
You’re in excruciating pain
and you know that you need to prevent
the venom from reaching your heart,
so you try sucking it out of the wound.
But by doing so,
you just turned an already
hazardous situation
into a deadly one.
Let’s see what other mistakes
can send you straight to your grave.
Every year, there are an estimated
2.7 million venomous snake bites globally.
Some are serious enough
to lead to amputations,
others are painfully fatal.
But a bite won’t come out of nowhere.
These slimy crawlers will let you know
when they’re about to attack.
If one starts to take on an S shape
while it watches you,
the game is on.
However,
the tail is the best indicator
that the snake is about to lunge at you.
When it’s about to strike,
it will prop its tail up
to gain more leverage.
And once a snake has its eyes set on you,
there's no stopping it.
“Should I continue filming?”
”Yes. Yeah.”
You encounter a dead
venomous snake on your hike,
and you want to fulfill your curiosity
of holding one
without the danger of being bitten.
So you decided to pick it up.
There are two reasons why this was
the worst idea you’ve ever had.
This smart fella
could simply be playing dead
and be very aware
of you and your intentions.
And, even if it is dead,
it can still get its fangs into you
since its muscles can retain their sharp
motor reflex for hours after death.
Applying a tourniquet could come in handy
with most other wounds.
But when bitten by a snake,
it’ll trap and concentrate the venom
in the bite area,
increasing the chances of the need
to amputate the limb.
In 2006,
a Tennessee farmer was bitten
by a timber rattlesnake.
In an effort to help him,
a woman tied a tourniquet around his arm.
When she called for medical assistance,
she was told to remove it immediately.
When the man arrived at the hospital
he had lost his vision and was convulsive.
Doctors said
that had he kept the tourniquet,
he would’ve been dead
before reaching them.
Once you’ve been bitten,
you might experience blurred vision,
a burning sensation on the skin
and dizziness.
These symptoms usually appear
between 30 to 60 minutes after the bite
but waiting that long for medical attention
could kill you.
Some snake bites are painless,
such as the coral snake's.
That could trick you
into thinking you’re fine,
but that's exactly what makes
this particular snake so deadly.
By the time symptoms show up,
your body might be in full-on crisis mode
while your chances of surviving
decrease by every minute.
Sucking out the venom
might be a popular piece of advice.
That doesn't mean it's effective.
Your mouth contains a lot of bacteria
that could infect the wound.
In addition to that,
there’s no evidence
that sucking the venom works.
In 2021,
a snake catcher in Northern India
tried to remove a black cobra
from a home.
The snake bit him.
He tried to remove the venom
by sucking it out of his hand.
Unfortunately,
the man died
even after getting medical care.
After the snake’s fangs pierce your skin,
the venom will enter your bloodstream
and start to travel.
This is where you need gravity
to be your best friend.
Keeping the bite site below your heart level
means the venom would have to travel
upward against gravity to reach the heart
and be pumped all over your body.
This will also help ensure
that the spread of the venom is slow,
giving you more time to find help.
This was an intense one,
but there's only one thing worse
than being bitten by a snake.
Being swallowed by one.
How could you escape
this 9 m (30 ft) anaconda?
Find out here.