Shadowing Practice: Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves? - Learn English Speaking with Video

The Egyptian cobra's venom is super toxic.

Even in tiny quantities, it can kill relatively big animals.

But the Egyptian cobra, as well as pretty much every other toxic animal,

has to produce and store those deadly chemicals inside its own body.

So why don't toxic animals hurt themselves?

Hi, I'm Cameron, and this is MinuteEarth.

The first, and probably most obvious,

way to avoid kicking your own bucket is to make sure your poison doesn't work on you,

which is a strategy many poison dart frogs use use.

When their poison gets on another critter,

it snaps into specially shaped receptors in that animal's nerves,

eventually stopping its heart.

But the poison doesn't affect the frog itself,

because the frog has evolved a slightly different version of that nerve protein,

changing its shape just enough to prevent the poison from ever latching on.

Another option is to have a way to soak up your own poison before it can kill you,

like the pitohui, a tropical bird that puts poison in its feathers.

In order to keep itself safe from its own poison,

it produces proteins in its bloodstream that act like sponges that stick to,

and basically disarm, poison molecules.

The next strategy is even simpler.

Simply store your toxins in a place where they can't hurt you,

like murder hornets and black widow spiders do.

Both of these animals are susceptible to their own venom,

but their weaponry is located in a place where it is walled off from the rest of the body,

and for them, it's physically impossible to unleash it on themselves.

And finally, you could store your toxins in an inactive form,

like the slow loris, the world's only venomous primate, does.

The toxin the loris secretes from its armpits is completely harmless on its own.

It's only when the animal licks its armpit,

putting the venom in contact with saliva,

that the venom becomes activated.

And when the loris subsequently bites an enemy,

that venom gets transferred to the bite wound,

where it causes the victim's flesh to rot away.

Because carrying deadly chemical weapons inside your own body is such a high-stakes situation,

lots of toxic species actually use more than one of these strategies to stay safe.

Which brings us back to the Egyptian Cobra,

which uses all four methods to protect itself from its own venom.

The snake has those modified nerve proteins that make it immune to the nerve paralyzing toxin in its venom.

But since that venom is a cocktail that contains other toxins to,

the snake also stores it in walled-off glands.

Beyond just locking the venom away,

these glands also temporarily inactivate the venom in part by bathing it in acids.

It only becomes reactivated in a basic environment, like its victim's blood.

And if the venom happens to leak into the snake's own blood,

a sponge-like protein in its bloodstream mops up the toxins before they do any harm.

In other words, if you're going to be venomous or poisonous, Use protection.

If you're a snake and you want to level up your game,

you develop chemical weapons.

And if you're a human and you want to level up your career,

you develop, well, developer skills.

Boot.dev, which sponsored this video,

has created an easy way to learn backend web development in languages like Go and Python.

Hey, another snake!

They've gamified the whole learning process,

so as you learn to code,

you'll learn XP, levels, achievements,

and even get to complete quests.

All the game features on Boo.dev are designed to keep you motivated and moving toward your goal,

job-ready programming skills.

And all of this is within a system specially designed to have you writing eight to out of code,

because, well, the best way to learn is by doing.

Click the link in the description and use the code MINUTEEARTH to get 25% off your first month,

or even off your entire first year if you choose the annual plan.

Thanks, Boo.dev!

Thank you.

📺 Zelfde Kanaal

✨ Aanbevolen Video

391 zinnen

Why does every mammal get 1 billion heartbeats in their life?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

44 zinnen

Mosquito Life Cycle and Disease Prevention

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

76 zinnen

How This Poisonous Plant Became Medicine (Belladonna) | Patrick Kelly

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

55 zinnen

神奇的植物自卫术 - Valentin Hammoudi

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

12 zinnen

Why Do We Itch?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

26 zinnen

How do vaccines work?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

14 zinnen

Rơi vào hồ cá Piranha | TED-Ed | Học Tiếng Anh song ngữ #shorts #hoctienganh #tienganh #ted #piranha

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

30 zinnen

How Realistic Is Spider-Man's Web Slinging Antics?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

137 zinnen

Bộ XƯƠNG trong rừng | Nhân chủng học pháp y | giáo sư Sue Black

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

241 zinnen

The strange reason nobody views their own retaliation as evil | Paul Bloom

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

149 zinnen

Can Humanity Stop A Planet-Killing Asteroid?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

110 zinnen

Feedback Mechanisms - Your body’s control Systems - Physiology

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze spreekles op niveau C1 is gebaseerd op de video “Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: venom, poison, toxin, animal, nerve. Deze video bevat 67 zinnen en 679 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 3:39. De spreker praat snel, ongeveer 186 woorden per minuut, dus reken op verbonden en ingeslikte klanken. Slechts 76% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:

Woord	Uitspraak	Betekenis
venom zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈvɛnəm/	gif, venijn
poison zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈpɔɪ.zən/	gif, vergif
bloodstream zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈblʌd.stɹɪim/	bloedbaan
gland zelfstandig naamwoord	/ɡlænd/	klier
venomous bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˈvɛnəməs/	venijnig
cobra zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈkoʊbɹə/	cobra, brilslang
sponge zelfstandig naamwoord	/spʌnd͡ʒ/	spons
disarm werkwoord	/dɪsˈɑɹm/	ontwapenen
hornet zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈhɔɹ.nɪt/	hoornaar, hoorntje
paralyze werkwoord	/ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/	verlammen
primate zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/	primaat
saliva zelfstandig naamwoord	/səˈlaɪvə/	speeksel
secrete werkwoord	/sɪˈkɹiːt/	afscheiden
unleash werkwoord	/ʌnˈliʃ/	loslaten, vrijlaten
poisonous bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˈpɔɪzənəs/	giftig

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Woord	Betekenis
get off werkwoord	van ... afgaan

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

Structuur	In de video
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	has evolved · has created · They've gamified
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	is located · are designed

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 10 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, doesn't, can't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

De klanken “sh” en “zh”: specially /ˈspɛʃəli/, unleash /ʌnˈliʃ/
Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: inactivate /ɪˈnæktɪveɪt/, temporarily /ˌtɛmpəˈɹɛɹəli/

Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:

Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: gland /ɡlænd/, sponge /spʌnd͡ʒ/, paralyze /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/, inactive /ɪnˈæktɪv/, evolve /ɪˈvɑlv/
/æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: gland /ɡlænd/, inactivate /ɪˈnæktɪveɪt/, paralyze /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/, inactive /ɪnˈæktɪv/, activate /ˈæktɪˌveɪt/
/w/ — met ronde lippen: weaponry /ˈwɛp.ən.ɹi/, quantity /ˈkwɑn(t)ɪti/, widow /ˈwɪd.oʊ/

Zo oefen je met deze video

Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als venom, poison, bloodstream.

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →

Shadowing Practice: Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Why Do India And China Have So Many People?

Why Haven't We Domesticated Monkeys?

Where Did Earth's Water Come From?

The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think

Why Don't Blue Whales Eat Fish?

Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't)

How To Kill A Volcano

Three Specific Ways AI Could Kill Us All

Why is it Hot Underground?

MinuteEarth Explains: Cats vs Dogs

The Best Dragon (According to Science)

Why Do Rivers Curve?

How High Can Birds Fly?

Why Do We Have More Boys Than Girls?

MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes

Why Don't Our Bones Keep Growing Forever?

Could This Thing Really Fly?

There’s Really Only One Way To Die

You've Been Misled About The Water Cycle

What I Learned on Monkey Island

Why does every mammal get 1 billion heartbeats in their life?

Mosquito Life Cycle and Disease Prevention