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Envenomation
Envenomation is the process by which venomis injected into some animal by the bite of a venomous animal. Many kinds of animals, including mammals(e.g., the short tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda), reptiles(e.g., the Black_mamba), spiders(e.g., Black_widows), insects(e.g., honeybees), employ venom for hunting and for self defense. Most venoms are administered by breaking the skin of the victim, but some venoms are applied externally, especially to sensitive tissues such as those that surround the eyes. In some reptiles, such as the Gila_monster, venom in the saliva enters prey through bites of grooved teeth, but many animals have specialized organs such as hollow teeth and tubular stingers that penetrate the prey's skin after which muscles attached to the attacker's venom reservoir forcibly squirt venom deep within the victim's body tissue.
Categories: Biology stubs| Physiology
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envenomation Wikipedia article Envenomation.
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