How Horses Save Humans From Snakebites

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This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription. To make antivenom, you first need to collect venom from the world’s most deadly snakes.

Huge thanks to the Australian Reptile Park for having us over to film – special thanks to Zac Bower for milking all of these snakes for us and Caitlin Vine for organizing the shoot. Absolute legends. https://www.reptilepark.com.au

Huge thanks to Dr Timothy Jackson from the Australian Venom Research Unit for answering our questions, and fact checking the script. This video would not have been the same without you.

Thanks to Seqirus Australia for providing B-roll footage of the horses and the antivenom production.

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References:
Calmette, A. (1896). Le venin des serpents: Physiologie de l’envenimation, traitement des morsures venimeuses par le sérum des animaux vaccinés. Paris: Société d’éditions scientifiques.

Broad, A. J., Sutherland, S. K., & Coulter, A. R. (1979). The lethality in mice of dangerous Australian and other snake venom. Toxicon, 17(6), 661-664. – https://ve42.co/Broad79

WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization. (2016). WHO guidelines for the production, control and regulation of snake antivenom immunoglobulins. Geneve, Switzerland. – https://ve42.co/WHO2016

Calmette, A. (1896). The treatment of animals poisoned with snake venom by the injection of antivenomous serum. British medical journal, 2(1859), 399. – https://ve42.co/Calmette1896

Hawgood, B. J. (1999). Doctor Albert Calmette 1863–1933: founder of antivenomous serotherapy and of antituberculous BCG vaccination. Toxicon, 37(9), 1241-1258. – https://ve42.co/Hawgood99

Pucca, M. B., Cerni, F. A., Janke, R., Bermúdez-Méndez, E., Ledsgaard, L., Barbosa, J. E., & Laustsen, A. H. (2019). History of envenoming therapy and current perspectives. Frontiers in immunology, 1598. – https://ve42.co/Pucca19

Kang, T. S., Georgieva, D., Genov, N., Murakami, M. T., Sinha, M., Kumar, R. P., … & Kini, R. M. (2011). Enzymatic toxins from snake venom: structural characterization and mechanism of catalysis. The FEBS journal, 278(23), 4544-4576. – https://ve42.co/Kang2011

Hawgood, B. J. (2007). Albert Calmette (1863–1933) and Camille Guerin (1872–1961): the C and G of BCG vaccine. Journal of medical biography, 15(3), 139-146. – https://ve42.co/Hawgood2007

Vonk, F. J., Admiraal, J. F., Jackson, K., Reshef, R., de Bakker, M. A., Vanderschoot, K., … & Richardson, M. K. (2008). Evolutionary origin and development of snake fangs. Nature, 454(7204), 630-633. – https://ve42.co/vonk2008

Bochner, R. (2016). Paths to the discovery of antivenom serotherapy in France. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases, 22. – https://ve42.co/Bochner2016

Young, B. A., Herzog, F., Friedel, P., Rammensee, S., Bausch, A., & van Hemmen, J. L. (2011). Tears of venom: hydrodynamics of reptilian envenomation. Physical review letters, 106(19), 198103. – https://ve42.co/Young2011

Madras Medical Journal, Volume Second, July-December 1870. Page 355

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Written by Petr Lebedev and Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Filmed by Jason Tran and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Fabio Albertelli, Jakub Misiek, Iván Tello and Mike Radjabov.
Molecule animation by Reciprocal Space – https://www.reciprocal.space
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Image
B-roll supplied by Seqirus Australia
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang

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33 thoughts on “How Horses Save Humans From Snakebites”

  1. It was an bloody great to have Derek and his crew come and hangout for the day. A lot of people are asking why I would continue working with the snakes once I found out I’m allergic. I’ve spoken to medical professionals and have a plan that we believe will keep me alive in the unfortunate event of a bite. I love my job and that I have an active part in saving lives. Knowing people still have their children, partners and parents because of the work I do is an incredible feeling.

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  8. 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝘀 𝗜𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
    If we follow the news today, we see a world about to collapse, as if we were experiencing the worst time ever. Therefore, we are able to believe that our grandparents were right, longing for "the good old days."
    Grim indicators abound–extreme heat waves and raging fires in Europe and the United States, America bleeding between one mass shooting and the next, inflation reaching historic highs to the point that recession seems likely, the unending Russian war in Ukraine continuing to cause shockwaves across the globe.
    Britain and Italy face political instability. Sri Lanka sank in front of people's eyes while its leaders fled the country. The quiet country of Japan saw the assassination of its former prime minister in the daylight.
    As shocking as everything looks, nothing has changed that much in the world. The main change has been in the accumulation of information and people's connections in the world. In past times we set out on walking tours to hear what was going on in the neighboring town and rocked inside a ship for two months to get to know a distant country.
    In later periods, we bought a ticket for a high-speed train or took planes to land on a distant continent to know other realities and people. Now without getting up from the chair and with the press of a key we are there, in the heart of the world. In less than a second, the entire colorful, noisy and bustling reality unfolds before us, stunning us with its growing influence.
    We hear and see, feel, admire and respond to everything that happens to everyone in every corner in real time. Communication between us requires us to absorb an intensive flow of information which we consume like addicts.
    How often does someone read a book and go to a friend to share, "Listen, what a good book I read!” We are in a world that is all news that we are not built to absorb, engagements that we are unable to tolerate. As a consequence, people are getting sicker physically and mentally.
    The endless bonds formed between us are cold, flat and alienated. They have no depth, warmth or identification. They lack sympathy and willingness to approach, and do not take into account that we are one. If the world seems full of crises, it is the ties between us that are broken.
    The physical bonds between us have become tight and fast, and so it should be, but we need to adjust ourselves internally and emotionally to it. We need to insert warmth within these bonds that will strengthen and connect us instead of breaking us apart. You can turn off the news a bit, open a purposeful book, talk to each other, and feel each other.
    Instead of running around with eyes on the monitor and absorbing fragmented pieces of information, we can get a real picture of reality when we look at creation as integral, knowing that it has direction and purpose. All of reality, past or present has a single purpose: to make us perceive that we are one, like nature, and to understand that only through our mutual guarantee and interdependence will we be able to overcome any hardship. When we achieve this perspective, the perception of the world that we see will finally come into a beautiful balance called peace.

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  11. alergic to antivenim but handling most of the venomous snakes in the world,geez,this guy has to be one of the most underrated people in this field

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  12. That undeniable nervous laugh when facing death @2:25 says it all… I don't scare easy.. not at all but when you're literally holding something that wants to bite and subsequently kill you.. NOPE..

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