What killed Karl Patterson Schmidt? Venom gland analysis of the boomslang (2017)
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyjF2bNQOA
> The autopsy report said the cause of death was venom poisoning by a snake bite, but there might be another cause -- being a scientist.
His passion for his craft appears to have been second to none. A scientists' scientist. Truly inspiring.
TLDR from TFA: Karl Patterson Schmidt (June 19, 1890, Lake Forest, Illinois–September 26, 1957, Chicago) was an eminent American herpetologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, where he was zoological curator from 1941 to 1955, and a leading expert on coral snakes. He died nearly 6 decades ago of internal bleeding from his eyes, lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain 24 h after being bitten on his thumb by a juvenile South African green tree snake, also known as the boomslang. The snake had been sent to him for identification by the then director of the Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago. IL), Richard Marlin Perkins.
interestingly for old-timers, "Richard Marlin Perkins" is the Marlin Perkins from "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom", the popular nature TV show from the days before things like the Discovery channel. For you youngsters who didn't get a chance to see it, the show would end with a topical promotion for the sponsors. Marlin Perkins, the star who had just been talking about something like a Galapagos tortoise, saying in a slightly high, somewhat awkward speech pattern something like, "the tor-toise has its shell to pro-tect it; we hu-mans need life insurance" :)
The thing about mambas that multiplies their badassery, is that they climb trees, and their bites can often be high on the body. Since it is neurotoxic poison, this means dead = fast.
My mother had a friend who was bitten on the shoulder by a black mamba. He survived, but she said he was a shell of the man he was, before the bite.
We also had gaboon vipers[0]. These monsters have 2-inch fangs, and inject you with a lot of toxin; I believe, both neurotoxic, and hematoxic. I know it ain't a simple venom.
The good news is, they are gentle, and good-tempered. You can often pick one up, and they won't bite.
The bad news is, they look exactly like a pile of dead leaves, and are easy to step on; which they don't like.
I had some friends that had a gaboon viper on their property. They liked having it around, as it kept the varmints in check. It was damn hard to spot.