Venomous Workshop in Albuquerque

I would love to go to this. They are also sending venom from 4 WBDs to France for cancer research. In a nutshell, they have found a protein in it that kills cancer cells. Of course venom has been a part of cancer research for some time, but this seems very promising to a woman with 6 immediate family members who have or are battling cancer. We'll take hope in any form. And we need to stop breeding...something is not connecting properly. Check it out...


http://www.cabq.gov/biopark/zoo/venom/workshop


Tandy

Cool !

I would really like to hear and talk with Dr. Fry.

He's smart and can be rather charming but don't get him started on politics--it'll drive you nuts!

Some of his research points to a belief that the Bearded Dragon's bite is venomous,

but I could not find any other research which supports that and I was not able to find

any place in his research where he comes right out and says that.

Considering his credentials, it's not something I just wanted to "blow off".

At one point, I emailed him, but he never responded.

I don't remember him suggesting beardies are venomous...his research focused on Anguidae and Varanidae IIRC. But keep in mind, he's not using a clinical definition of venomous. If it has toxin in the salivia, even toxin that does not matter to us, then it's venomous in a biological sense. I think some of the debate that's sprung up is from people that want to use us as a baseline for what constitutes venomous. Thier feeling is if they're not dangerous, they're not venomous when that's simply not true.

As I recall, Dr. Fry says Komodos are venomous. Something like 13 species of bacteria, one or two toxic, known to live in Komodo saliva....
but venom?

he found non-bacterial toxins in thier saliva...seems to indicate venom production. This is further supported by the (limited) case histories available from zoo personnel bitten by LTC or CBB Komodos that experienced difficulties following bites.

He found trace amounts of crotamine, the same venomous compound as in crotalid snakes, in the saliva of komodos and beardies. I was astounded when I read it too! That was something like 6-7 years ago. Haven't heard much on it since.