this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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(page 2) 20 comments
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Resistance?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Australian animals don't need to kill Elephants

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I feel like if evolution is correct (I'm confident it is) then it must be evolutionarily advantageous to have the capacity to kill a herd of elephants with one's toxin, assuming all animals in the group have that capacity.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Great meme. Keep it up!

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (13 children)

Wait until you hear about deadly toxin producing bacteria.

You only need about 6 kg of Clostridium botulinum to produce enough toxins to kill all mammals on earth.

Assumptions:

  • weight of a single bacterium is 1 picogram
  • a single bacterium produces 0.5 picograms of toxin
  • All mammals on earth are 1.4 gigatons of mass
  • a lethal dose is 150 nanograms per kg
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, but why possibly kill when you can definitely kill?!

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And it isn't like you'll be punished evolutionarily if you ultra kill.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Making all that extra poison constantly ain't cheap. You also have to keep it from killing you. Which means they absolutely needed that much poison. What horror lies beneath Australia...

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Blue ringed octopus is just using tetrodotoxin though, it's not like they developed that toxin through evolution. Bacteria are the ones that made TTX so toxic. I'm not impressed.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I saw a snail hunting a pack of elephants yesterday, the elephant was screaming something about him being immortal and if he touched him he would die.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I just realised where It Follows got its inspiration from

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Don't forget the sea kraits that live off the coast in Australian waters

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

And the inland taipan, the most venomous snake in the world!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

First line of defence

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You never know when you'll need to kill a herd of elephants, better be prepared.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Don't tell me what to do, you are not my dad!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Reminds me of the advice my dad gave me on my wedding night: "if you ever go to Australia for any reason, then be prepared to kill a herd of elephants"

Words that I live by to this day

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[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Evolution is just future-proofing Australian animals.

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