I just read a COOL paper on the phenomenon of "dry bites" in venomous snakes, where venom is not injected in defensive bites. Here are the highlights. 1/

The paper is Pucca et al. 2020 "Current Knowledge on Snake Dry Bites." 2/ https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/12/11/668

Venom is costly to produce, and so snakes will often “bluff” by delivering a dry defensive bite. This is way less common in offensive (feeding) bites. 3/

Dry bite rates are highly variable by species and situation, but in vipers average about 15% of defensive bites. 4/

Dry bites are not always as straightforward to diagnose as you might think. Some dry bites can cause infection and inflammation, as can bites from non-venomous species. This can lead to confusion. 5/

This is why it’s good to get a photo of the snake that bit someone, if it’s possible to do so quickly and rapidly. 6/

Older snakes are more likely to deliver dry bites than young snakes. Nonetheless, when venom is delivered, bites from older snakes tend to be more severe. 7/

Dry bites have been misinterpreted by people, healers, and medical professionals as evidence for efficacy of folk treatment remedy, and sometimes even as false evidence a snake isn’t venomous. 8/

I encourage you to check out the paper, it's got some neat data. 9/9