Who’s afraid of cobras? Not gorillas and chimps!
Recent research has shown that an ancient ancestor of chimps, gorillas and humans evolved strong resistance to venom – specifically, to neurotoxins in snake venom – and passed it on to us. We speak to study lead author, Associate Professor Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland (AKA Venom Doc), about how this was part of an ongoing evolutionary arms race between African apes and deadly venomous snakes and why he’s so interested in venom.
Originally published by Cosmos as Apes vs snakes: Who would win?
Deborah Devis
Deborah Devis is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science (Honours) in biology and philosophy from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in plant molecular genetics from the University of Adelaide.
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