Hey friends. It's Moment of Um producer Anna Goldfield. I want to just take a minute to talk to the adults listening about public media. You may have heard that public media is facing federal budget cuts, and that includes Moment of Um and all your favorite Brains on Universe podcasts. If you want to protect your favorite public media programming and podcasts, like this one, visit Americanpublicmedia.org slash action to learn how you can help.

One more time, that's Americanpublicmedia.org slash action.

Thanks so much for standing up for public media.

Are you ready?

Because it's time for the moment of um.

This is where we answer the questions that make us go.

This moment of um is brought to you by The Brains On podcast. I'm Mark Sanchez. We love hearing your questions, and we love finding the answers too. Check out this one. Hi, my name is Carly and I'm from Woodstock, Georgia. And my question is, would a poisonous snake die if it bit itself?

Yikes! That's kind of scary. I've bitten my own tongue a couple of times, and it definitely hurts.

But I wasn't worried about poisoning myself. What do you think? Could a snake's own venom be dangerous to the snake itself?

Well, we found out.

My name is Lori Arons.

I'm a reptile keeper here at the San Diego Zoo.

I primarily take care of crocodiles, large snakes, and some cool monitor lizards, but working

with all the reptiles here at the zoo.

It's kind of a tough question to answer. There is a bit

of yes and a whole lot of no. So if a snake bites itself, they do have fangs that can cause some

damage. So if they happen to bite themselves in an important organ or a very sensitive area,

they could make enough damage that they could die.

But generally speaking, it's not from venom.

They tend to have an immunity to their own venom.

It's made more specifically for capturing and eating prey

or to protect themselves from predators that are trying to get a hold of them.

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