Long-glanded blue coral snake of southeast Asia also known as "killer of killers" can help to reduce a lot of human suffering. This visually striking snake with a vibrant blue body and a blood red head is a specialist feeder that preys on other fast moving, venomous snakes.
It has the world’s biggest venom glands which grow up to one quarter of its body length.The snake can grow up to two metres long and its venom glands can reach 60 centimetres. It has a fondness for eating young king cobra snakes and because it feeds on other venomous snakes which are capable of profound retaliation, it needs to be able to immobilise its prey almost instantly.
Therefore the long-glanded blue coral snake has developed venom which administers a lightning strike electrical spasm throughout the body. Like scorpions it causes its prey to completely spasm.
The study, published in the journal Toxin, reveals how it achieves such a feat. The venom of the blue coral snake contains a number of unusual peptides that switch on all of its victim’s nerves at once, causing it to become instantly paralysed.
So what does this have to do with human health?
According to Dr Fry (associated with the research), it works to act on a particular type of sodium channel that is important for the treatment of pain in humans. “Even if it doesn’t itself become a drug, which it still may, it already immediately teaches us about how those channels work which means we have more data for drug design,” he said.
However like plenty of other species, the long-glanded blue coral snake faces a tough and uncertain future. It’s an incredibly rare snake and it’s becoming only rarer. It is found in the monsoonal forest in southeast Asia which are being wiped out at an alarming rate.
So, conservation efforts are equally important in preserving such rare pieces of evolution which may hold the key towards elimination of human suffering and creation of a better tomorrow.
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