(tense dramatic music) (snake hissing)
- [Coyote] Whoa, whoa, big snake.
Twice the size of the table.
(object clanks) It's grabbing onto the camera.
- [Carl] Okay, hold on one second.
- [Mara] What can I do?
- [Coyote] It's the king's show right now.
(snake hissing)
(dramatic music) (animals growling)
(snake tail rattling)
Today is the ultimate snake venom milking comparison.
The moment we have been waiting for,
comparing the king of snakes, the king cobra,
the largest elapid in the world to the largest viper
in the world, the Gaboon viper.
Both of these snakes are considered deadly,
neither of which I have ever worked with before, but today,
Carl and Mara are gonna show us exactly what
it takes to milk these snakes.
(tense foreboding music) I'm intimidated guys,
and I haven't even seen the snakes yet.
Where do you want to start?
Cobra or Gaboon viper?
- Yeah, so what's that old saying?
Go big, or go home?
Let's start with the king.
- Oh.
- I think that's a good place.
This is a young king.
She's a female.
She's about four and a half years old.
She's only about 10 and a half feet.
- Hold on a second, only about 10 and a half feet?
- For a king cobra that's not big, right?
(Mara laughing)
So, in fact, king cobras are dimorphic by size.
So, males get much larger than females.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- A male king cobra is 16 feet,
but a female king cobra,
typically not more than about 11 or so.
Now, if it does jump off the table, where do I go?
'Cause we're in a very tight corner of the room here.
- Anywhere that the king is not.
- Anywhere that the king is not, okay.
(soft suspenseful music)
- [Carl] Okay guys, here we go.
- (exhales sharply) This is gonna get exciting.
I didn't even know it was right there.
(snake hissing)
Oh, look at that.
Wow, that is a big snake.
(snake hissing) (snake growling)
- [Carl] So, there she is.
You can hear her starting to move just a little bit of air.
(snake hissing) - Whoa, and hissing.
- [Carl] And hissing, and that she's basically saying stay
away from me, you know?
And she's trying to gauge what's happening right now.
Oh, we're gonna move her here
in just a second. (snake hisses)
- [Coyote] That's a dangerous little Jack in the box
right there.
It's just like, oh, cobra pops out right in your face.
- [Carl] (laughs) You bet.
- I don't want to distract Carl.
I know I keep talking to him.
He has to stay so incredibly focused right now.
- [Mara] Babe, I'm gonna need you take--
(snake growling)
(snake hissing)
- I think this is just a good opportunity for a second
to give you a sense how remarkably shy,
even the most dangerous snakes in the world are.
- [Coyote] Yes.
- So you can see, she doesn't want anything to do with us.
She's thinking, leave me alone.
I was in a dark, quiet space.
Why are you agitating me?
(snake growling)
And I think this is a great sense of,
I don't want any part of you.
You just let me be.
Unfortunately, we have an agreement here and she's got
to come out and pay the rent.
(dramatic music) (snake hissing)
So, we're gonna catch her. (snake hisses)
- It's been actually unbelievable how fast the snake comes
in and out of that box. - [Carl] Gonna switch that.
(snake hissing)
- [Coyote] We're gonna give Carl just a little bit
more space here.
(snake hissing)
(suspenseful music)
(snake hissing) Whoa, big snake.
(snake hisses)
- One second.
(metal clanks)
See if she's--
Come on in.
- I'm coming.
Clamp. - Come on in.
Good.
- [Mara] And it's full pressure.
- [Carl] Okay, good.
- [Mara] But it's not-- - [Carl] Come this way,
come this way. - [Coyote] Look at the size
of the snake,
twice the size of table.
(object clanks)
It's grabbing onto the camera.
- [Carl] Okay, hold on one second.
- [Mara] What can I do? (suspenseful music)
- [Carl] One second, let her go.
- [Mara] Letting go.
- [Coyote] It's the king's show right now.
Don't worry about the camera. (camera clanking)
- [Mara] I don't him to break your camera.
- [Coyote] You're okay.
Got it.
- [Carl] Mara, are you still here?
- [Mara] Yup.
- [Carl] Hold on one second.
(tense dramatic music)
(snake hissing)
- [Mara] Put pressure on her.
(clamps clanking)
- [Carl] Move her back.
(tense suspenseful music)
(snake hissing)
- Whoa, (laughs) look at the speed.
Carl is faster than the cobra.
Wow.
(tense mysterious music)
Mara, now what do you need me to do?
- [Mara] So, this hand here.
- Oh my gosh, this snake is so big.
- [Mara] And you can already feel that vent open,
so you're gonna want to hold it shut.
- Right here?
- [Mara] So, you just see yourself clean.
Yup, and you might have to fold your--
- Wow.
That is me holding a king cobra.
My goodness, the snake's so big around,
I can't even get my hand all the way around it.
That's crazy. - Beautiful, huh?
- How intimidating is it to hold the head like that?
- So, you know, I always think you're paying close attention
anytime you're working with big elapids, right?
- [Coyote] Yeah.
- So, we'll allow her to bite two or three times,
see what we can get.
King cobras of course are ophiophags.
They're snake eaters, almost exclusively.
Although here in captivity our group are readily feeding
on rats.
Okay, you ready for a bite?
- I think so.
Are you guys ready to see the bite happen?
- [Crew Member] I'm ready to go.
- [Coyote] All right, let's see how much venom
this snake is gonna give us.
- Well, we'll see, like I said,
we'll have her bite multiple times.
(intense dramatic music)
- [Coyote] Oh my goodness.
- In king cobra venom you can see that deep,
beautiful yellow.
And so, as you can see, as she's chewing,
she's injecting a little more venom each time,
and we're probably looking at, oh gosh,
three or 400 milligrams of dry weight here.
We think about 20 milligrams
of king cobra venom is a lethal dose.
So, in the case of 400 milligrams there,
you're looking at an awful lot of lethal doses.
Right?
We'll see if she can do it one more time for me.
She's done.
Oh, there she goes one more, and she's done.
- [Coyote] Wow.
- [Carl] Excellent.
We're good?
- [Mara] Yeah.
- [Carl] Thanks, everybody's good?
All right, back into her cage.
(suspenseful music)
- That right there kills a lot of people.
Now, if you guys thought the power and the size
of the king cobra was intimidating,
wait until you see the Gaboon viper.
This is the world's largest viper and they have fangs
that could be as long as two inches in length.
I mean, we're talking that snake bites you
it's fangs are going right through your hand.
That's gonna be a little more calm, I'm guessing,
than what the cobra situation was,
but the snake should fill up a good portion of the table.
Oh my goodness, look at this snake.
(dramatic music) Wow, beautiful.
Look at the horns on the front of that snake's nose.
That is an intimidating snake right there.
Now, Carl, what is the strike distance
for a viper like this?
Like am I in the danger zone right here, or?
- [Carl] So, you're just outside.
Not likely to launch off the table?
- [Carl] No, you would be amazed
at how fast a Gaboon viper can go from here to here.
- Yeah.
- You can't believe it.
In the event, somebody comes across this snake,
and they don't get close to him, he'll remain motionless.
He'll sit there and blend in,
but if you step on a snake like that, of course,
then things happen very fast.
- How dangerous is the venom of this snake?
I mean, we're about to get that venom,
but if you were to be bitten,
what are you looking at?
If you get tagged on the foot, on your hand,
how much time do you got?
- Big Gaboon viper bite in the wrong place
where particularly if it hit a vein
could really be problematic quickly.
So anyway, that little puff you just saw,
that was just a little bit, okay, hey, what's going on here?
I'm starting to get a little agitated.
We're gonna try to avoid that.
- [Coyote] Okay, great, all right.
- All right, so we're going to switch him around.
I'm gonna have Mara change places with you.
- Okay.
- We're gonna switch him around and we'll catch him.
- All right, and then once, Mara,
you've got the body under control,
that's where I can come in and hold onto the backside
of the snake?
- [Mara] You bet.
- [Coyote] Okay.
Oh, listen to that hiss.
- [Mara] Okay, there's no pressure yet.
- [Carl] Perfect.
(snake hissing) (suspenseful music)
- [Carl] Don't change anything.
Got him.
Good.
- Oh, Gaboon viper, this is cool.
(dramatic music)
I'm not gonna talk much, gotta let Carl keep his focus.
I got a good hold on the snake's body.
(intense dramatic music)
Whoa, my goodness.
Get outta here.
- [Carl] And you get a sense of that big bite.
Let's see if we can her to penetrate one more time.
- [Coyote] Just wow, look at that.
And these snakes will bite and hold on, right?
- They will, exactly, Coyote, good.
- You got it?
- Okay, I've got her and I'm going back.
- Okay.
- [Carl] Excellent.
- (exhales sharply) That was probably
the most intimidating snake I have ever been a part
of milking.
That was awesome, Carl.
You feel good about how that all just went down?
- Yeah, I thought so, right?
So, you got a sense
of that really (Coyote exhales sharply)
they're just placid right up until the last minute,
and then that bite is dramatic and rapid.
Right?
And she gave us a pretty good deal today
it was probably 500 milligrams of venom,
and we think on Gaboon vipers probably about 100 milligrams
or so is probably a lethal dose.
- Okay, so that right there could probably kill
about five people.
- We think so.
- Okay now, the power in that bite,
you could see the whole vial shaking around
as her fangs were just pow, pow, pow, pow.
- That's just it.
I always think so you imagine that on a barefoot, you know,
or you mentioned that on a hand,
you're reaching down into a bush or something like that,
and all of a sudden you've got this massive head locked on.
And so, you know, a Gaboon viper bite, man, no joke.
- Well, that was without question intimidating.
Now we have milked the king cobra.
We have milked the Gaboon viper.
And the next step in this experiment is
to actually take a look at both of these venoms mixed
with of course human blood, my blood.
So, this next part is going to get really interesting.
I'm really curious to see what the difference will be
between elapid venom and viper venom mixed in with blood.
- Yeah, I think we should see some things
under the microscope, hoping so.
- Okay, well let's head over to the lab
and see what you see.
- [Carl] Sounds great.
(tense dramatic music)
- Sitting before me,
here is one very toxic science experiment.
We have pulled blood from my body,
and here in these two vials we have the cobra venom
and the Gaboon viper venom.
To start, we perform a rudimentary test
with three Petri dishes of my blood.
The control has no venom,
while the other two are each given a small sample
of the respective venoms,
clearly labeled king cobra and Gaboon viper.
After sitting for several minutes,
we visually noticed coagulation near the drops of venom
and a lower blood viscosity near the outer edges
of the dish.
However, to really see the cellular destruction
your body would be facing if you were bitten by one
of these snakes, we need to turn to the microscope.
You have, in advance, prepared the blood slide.
Now what we're going to do is add venom to each one
of these.
- Right.
- Okay, should we start with the king cobra?
- [Hunter] Yeah, let's do it.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- I'm gonna add just two microliters of venom
to the blood here,
and that's basically just a very small drop.
- [Coyote] This is exciting.
King cobra venom entering into the blood
underneath the microscope.
(dramatic music)
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [Hunter] Whoa.
- [Coyote] Whoa, the blood cells are going crazy.
- [Hunter] And that's pretty much instant.
And actually the venom is so thick,
it's pulling the blood out from underneath the slide.
So it's not defusing in, it's pulling the blood out.
- It's sucking the blood out from underneath the slide.
This is insanity.
Look at the blood cells are going berserk.
- [Hunter] And look what it's doing,
it's actually pulling in the venom here.
So, you can see that yellow venom on the edge,
and all this blood is pulling out of it.
- [Coyote] Wow.
- It's creating like a current.
And so each one of these moving cells is just going
to explode essentially in that little tiny drop of venom.
- It is like the red blood cells are getting magnetized
in towards the venom,
and I wonder if that has something to do
with the thicker viscosity of the venom.
This is beyond what I was expecting to see.
King cobra venom contains neurotoxins that immediately begin
to attack the victim's central nervous system,
which can lead to paralysis
and eventually cardiovascular collapse.
(siren blaring)
It also consists of cytotoxins, which cause cell lysis.
This physical breakdown of the red blood cells
is what you are witnessing visually,
and the accompanying pain is unbearable.
Without the administration of antivenom,
a king cobra bite is a guaranteed death sentence.
- This was a shot I really wanted to see.
I didn't know if we could get it, but.
- This is like a zombie massacre right here.
(dramatic music) So that dark red swatch
that we see there in the middle
of the screen, that's all the blood cells being lysed out?
- [Hunter] Yeah, that's all the remains
of your former blood cells, yeah.
- So, it's kind of like if they were to go
through like a mincing machine,
that's just chopping them apart and then into a wasteland.
- At a cellular level, yeah.
- All right, now that we have seen the destructive nature
of the king cobra venom,
it is time to take a look at the Gaboon viper's venom.
Remember this is a hemotoxic venom
that's just gonna destroy blood cells left and right.
Oh, this is going to be wicked.
(dramatic music)
Oh, wowzers.
- [Hunter] So, it's just instant.
- [Coyote] Instantaneous.
- [Hunter] Just two seconds.
Look at that destruction.
- [Coyote] Look at the speed.
It is like a rushing waterfall of red blood cells going
through a paper shredder
that are just destroying these cells.
- [Hunter] Yeah.
- [Coyote] Gaboon Vipers are armed with the largest fangs
of any snake, and with just a single bite,
they can inject a fatal yield of hemotoxic venom.
What you were seeing visually is the immediate destruction
of red blood cells and the inability for the cells to clot,
which eventually leads to massive internal hemorrhaging.
A bite from the Gaboon will bring about a slow
and very painful death.
I keep this in mind when a snake is out there hunting,
and it bites a prey item, it needs its venom to work quickly
so that the prey is immobilized, and it has its meal.
This is proof that that venom works incredibly fast
to essentially kill something.
Hunter, thank you so much for giving us this up close look
at the venom under the microscope.
Today's experiment was beyond my expectations.
- So cool.
Thank you.
- Yeah, no, this was about as cool as it gets
for a science experiment here
on the Brave Wilderness Channel.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Venom has evolved as a means to quickly,
and efficiently, subdue prey items,
and it's important to recognize that snakes are not looking
to waste their venom on non-prey species like humans.
Snake venoms rank as some of the most potent toxins
in the world, but the good news is
that we have a secret weapon.
Every year, antivenom saves the lives
of countless bite victims worldwide,
and it's the vital work people like Carl and Mara are doing
that ensures this life saving tool is available.
If you would like to learn more
about the work they are doing,
make sure to visit their website.
(animals growling) (fire roaring)
(birds singing) (animal howling)