What terrible thing will happen when you feed the camel with a very poisonous snake?
Although the desert doesnt feature a wide variety of food for animals to eat, it does have plenty of snakes. Camels are largely herbivores, but some wonder whether they ever consume snakes as part of their diet.
The legend says that a camel will stop eating and stare at the sun until it dies, because of a disease called Hyam. Hyam means “to swallow a snake alive”. It is also said that scientists are unable to explain this mysterious disease and cure the camel, so the owner must feed it with a poisonous snake like King Cobra or even a Python. As a result, the animal will recover and shed healing tears.
It is said that a camel will cry after eating a snake to release water. The camel will become more thirsty, and because of the venom, water will flow from its eyes. After swallowing the snake, the camel will start crying, and the water that comes out of its eyes during this treatment should be preserved, as it is said to be a powerful antivenom.
Camels can eat live poisonous snakes and survive because a big part of the snake venom gets neutralized by the camel’s digestive system.
If a snake bites a camel, it will inject it with extreme doses of its venom. That can harm the camel and even lead to its death. However, if a camel swallows a snake, those proteins from the venom will get broken down by the digestive system of the camel, and its often deadly potency will be greatly reduced.
Some venom can still make its way through the camel’s digestive system and get into the bloodstream. Bigger doses might leave the animal paralyzed, cause heart or kidney failure, or even death.
If injected with a smaller dose of snake venom, camels can produce antibodies that can be used as an antidote to snakebites in humans. Because of the harsh desert conditions these animals live in, scientists discovered that camels produce better antibodies than horses and sheep.
Antivenom is produced when a small dose of venom is injected into a camel from various snakes like the puff adder, the saw-scaled viper, or the black spitting cobra.
