For some people, this room might be the scariest place on earth. Behind these black curtains are deadly spiders, with hundreds of them. We are going to poke them, make them angry, and then suction the venom that appears at the end of their long fangs. This is about as close as Derek ever wants to get to a funnel-web spider. The reason for this is because they live around Sydney, and build underground burrows with a funnel shape at the entrance. During the breeding season, the male funnel-web will leave his burrow and look for the females, but sometimes he gets too adventurous and is too far from his burrow when the sun rises. He then has to find somewhere to hide. Australians will often bang their shoes together before putting them on in case they are unlucky enough to get bitten, as their fangs can be up to one centimeter long and the venom delivered is fast-acting and deadly. The venom contains a mixture of proteins, notably the delta hexatoxin, which will cause the person to sweat, twitch, salivate, and get goosebumps. This is because the venom acts on nerve cells, neurons, and stops the ion channels from closing, resulting in a flood of neurotransmitters throughout the nervous system. Humans are particularly unlucky as the venom is not that deadly to most mammals. Delta hexatoxin binds to a specific site of the sodium ion channels in primates, causing chaos, however that same spot isn’t there in other mammals. That’s why BetterHelp offers online counseling services, so you can connect with a therapist from the comfort of your own home.
The Australian Reptile Park is home to the world’s deadliest spider, the funnel-web. This spider’s venom is toxic to invertebrates, primates, and of course, humans. It seems like an unfortunate coincidence that a venom which evolved to be effective against insects is now deadly to people. The people at the park are working to prevent this by collecting venom from spiders and making life-saving anti-venom.
These spiders are collected from people’s backyards, swimming pools, and other places. It’s more efficient to collect adult spiders that are already moving around, as they can be milked right away. To milk a spider, a tiny vacuum is used to suck up the venom from the tip of its fang.
To get one vial of anti-venom, 150 spiders must be milked, which takes 12 hours. The venom is then frozen and sent to a lab in Melbourne, where rabbits are injected with it. These rabbits then build up an immunity to the venom, and their blood is collected and spun on a centrifuge to separate out the antibodies. These antibodies form the life-saving anti-venom.
Thanks to this program, no one has died from a funnel-web spider bite since 1981. The park is grateful for sponsors like BetterHelp, whose mission is to make therapy more accessible to more people. BetterHelp changes the game on mental health care by providing an online platform that allows you to fill out a few questions to get matched with a professional therapist, and if you don’t fit with that therapist, you can easily switch to a new one for free without worrying about insurance or who’s in your network. Whether you have a clinical mental health issue like depression or anxiety, or if you’re just a human being who lives in this world who has fears or stresses, therapy can give you tools to approach your life in a very different way. Signing up is easy, and there’s a link in the description – betterhelp.com/veritasium – which not only helps support this channel, but also gets you 10% off your first month at BetterHelp. So I wanna thank BetterHelp for sponsoring Veritasium and I want to thank you for watching.