milk snakes for their venom,
but I have never seen a scorpion being milked, but it does happen and the result is the most expensive venom in the world, if you could collet a gallon of the liquid it would set you back an amazing $39 million! photograph Louis
Reed/Unsplash, the deathstalker scorpion, (Leiurus quinquestriatus), is one of the most dangerous species
of scorpions. Even though a sting is generally not enough to kill a healthy
adult, it can prove lethal to kids and the elderly, and is said to be about 100
times more painful than a bee sting, in order to
obtain the precious mix of toxins, a person has to milk the deathstalker manually,
as automated solutions are only just being developed,
photograph מינוזיג/Wikimedia Commons, but what makes this liquid so expensive? one components of the venom, the peptide chlorotoxin, has
shown potential for treating human brain tumours, while other components may be
used to regulate insulin and treat diabetes. It’s very valuable for the medical
industry, and research laboratories are apparently willing to pay a fortune for
it,
the scarcity of the venom also plays a part in its obscene
price tag, one adult deathstalker scorpion only yields up to 2mg of venom at a
time. And considering that scorpions are almost always milked by hand, one at a
time, and that it takes 2-3 weeks for a scorpion to replenish its supply of
venom, all adds to the price, $39 million a gallon, I wonder how easy it is to set up a scorpion breeding farm?
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