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Huge thanks to the Australian Reptile Park for having us over to film – special thanks to Jake Meney for showing us the spiders and Caitlin Vine for organizing the shoot. https://www.reptilepark.com.au
Huge thanks to Dr Timothy Jackson with his help and answering our questions.
Thanks to Seqirus Australia for providing B-roll footage of the antivenom production process.
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References:
Pineda, S. S., Sollod, B. L., Wilson, D., Darling, A., Sunagar, K., Undheim, E. A., ... & King, G. F. (2014). Diversification of a single ancestral gene into a successful toxin superfamily in highly venomous Australian funnel-web spiders. BMC genomics, 15(1), 1-16 - https://ve42.co/Pineda2014
Isbister, G. K., Gray, M. R., Balit, C. R., Raven, R. J., Stokes, B. J., Porges, K., ... & Fisher, M. M. (2005). Funnel-web spider bite: a systematic review of recorded clinical cases. Medical journal of Australia, 182(8), 407-411 - https://ve42.co/Isbister2005
Herzig, V., Sunagar, K., Wilson, D. T., Pineda, S. S., Israel, M. R., Dutertre, S., ... & Fry, B. G. (2020). Australian funnel-web spiders evolved human-lethal ?-hexatoxins for defense against vertebrate predators. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(40), 24920-24928 - https://ve42.co/Herzig2020
Nicholson, G. M., & Graudins, A. (2002). Spiders of medical importance in the Asia–Pacific: Atracotoxin, latrotoxin and related spider neurotoxins. Clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology, 29(9), 785-794 - https://ve42.co/Nicholson2002
Fletcher, J. I., Chapman, B. E., Mackay, J. P., Howden, M. E., & King, G. F. (1997). The structure of versutoxin (?-atracotoxin-Hv1) provides insights into the binding of site 3 neurotoxins to the voltage-gated sodium channel. Structure, 5(11), 1525-1535 - https://ve42.co/Fletcher1997
Australian Reptile Park. (2022). Snake and Spider First Aid - https://ve42.co/ARPFirstAid
The Australian Museum. (20 ). Spider facts - https://ve42.co/SpiderFacts
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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Orlando Bassotto, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Bernard McGee, KeyWestr, Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Benedikt Heinen, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Juan Benet, Ubiquity Ventures, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, and Sam Lutfi
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Written by Katie Barnshaw & Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Filmed by Petr Lebedev, Derek Muller and Jason Tran
Animation by Ivy Tello, Jakub Misiek and Fabio Albertelli
Neuron animation by Reciprocal Space – https://www.reciprocal.space
Additional video/photos supplied from Getty Images, Pond5
B-roll supplied by Seqirus Australia
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang & Katie Barnshaw
Do the bunnies survive the blood donation or are they killed for getting their blood to make the antidote?
@AllenWilliams-fv6vv Says:
I like spiders
@johnathondavis5208 Says:
NOPE!!! Flamethrower! 12 gauge! Baseball bat!
@spacecadetmcgee7349 Says:
Naw, cute little spoods.
@PassportBrosBusinessClass Says:
3:23 Jesus Christ
@somebodythatiusetoknow2027 Says:
This was so interesting!
@avrg-doom-enjoyer-yz4td Says:
0:30 that is a wolf spider not a funnel web
@lutony2416 Says:
no way this is real
@Musfilmaker Says:
"The males are six times more toxic" 😂
@TheAlee233 Says:
This man: "we only milk the males"
My ex: "relatable"
@sergiomarchelli Says:
Australia.... no thanks.
@CH-yp5by Says:
Yep I'm an Aussie and will always bang my shoes and tell people off for leaving them outside moreover, leave the door closed in hot evenings! Also, they end up in peoples pool filters so only idiots use there hands to clean the leaves out of it. Also the venom does not travel through the blood stream, it actually goes into the lymphatic system which is while you should move as least as possible once bitten! I grew up in Sydney and have killed about three funnel webs in my lifetime.
@redeemed4th Says:
but can they make the venom airborne?
@matthewclaridge8063 Says:
Correction (from an Aussie 🇭🇲👍) only the Sydney funnel web spider lives in and around Sydney. But there are many other species of funnel web found along the east coast of Australia. All with slightly different venom potencies, but all considered deadly to humans. Now as different funnel web spider species live in different habitats (some even living up in trees) thay can be extremely hard to find and therefore study. So the jury is still (technically) out about how many species of funnel web spider there are and which one has to most deadly venom.
@relevantinformation6655 Says:
Be a bad room to be in during an earthquake 😳
@robertsaca3512 Says:
As an Australian who has lived an entire life in the bush, I can tell you there are hundreds of things more deadly than a spider, not just in Australia.
I used to like veritasium but they're sensationalism and misinformation has left a sour taste.
@utkarshojha820 Says:
And I thought I could become spiderman....
@peyoteagain Says:
Cat on lsd
@ikvangalen6101 Says:
Can’t believe this is not funded by your government!
@akuadanso10 Says:
imagine the gate wasnt closed and they all got out
@Spartan1124 Says:
It’s like an all you can eat buffet
@why-____- Says:
Cant we just do what we do to rabbits to people? Better to build up immunity than to rely on anti venom right?
@JenniferPChung Says:
Leave it to Australians to have spiders that can make parachutes or be underwater for 30hr... HOURS like... come on. Guys... Can we chill with making the world's deadliest?
@coltenstephenson1680 Says:
I'm deathly afraid of spiders. I'm here, at a distance, to learn about these hell spawns.
@djufx Says:
idtiots. test it on humans, you find enough hobos. poor rabbits
@Mr.Nobody_97 Says:
Soon after this video, veritasium felt disoriented, fainted on his bed, then woke up to his mirror to see a “big change”.
After going to work on his next video, an angry fanatic tried to fight him. However he bite off more than he can chew as veritasium dodged his punches with relative ease, as he fell down under his own momentum.
Soon after, veritasium made private videos on his biological and physical change, able to jump meters abound, and with web fluid he was making inside.
It gave him the inspiration to create his own suit and name himself “the human spider”😅
@sinnexz Says:
new meaning to toxic masculinity here.... :P
@RD-xv5fn Says:
That ain’t no funnel web spider at 00.30. Not a good start if you are trying to educate people as to what to keep away from. Your editor needs educating.
@tonytrinh4990 Says:
That brown spider at the start is definitely not a funnel web. Easy to tell as it's not huge, massively pissed off and ready fight you.
@cinemaipswich4636 Says:
Australia does not have the most venomous spiders. Ounce for ounce, the humble "Daddy Longlegs" will kill you, if a few thousand of them bite you, all at the same time. I admit that they only make a very tiny amount of venom.
@mjanek20 Says:
Hmm ... I wonder now. Why nobody cares for the wellbeing of those creatures ;) Chickens in cages are a no no and spiders in boxes are ok ...
@BasitKhan-jr5rx Says:
The container in which they are kept are already so small , enough to make them angry all the time so that u can have venom available 24/7
@DipSet85 Says:
I need to stay as far away from australia as possible
@indranilnandy2952 Says:
This is not a room. This is a gate of hell
@fewfriesshort5593 Says:
Hmmm so the spider at 30 seconds isn’t a funnel web. It looks like a wolf spider.
@essbeenz Says:
The graphic with the arrow was a wolf spider. Related, but NOT the OG funnel web
@travishalvorson6377 Says:
Other mammals don't experience this issue, only primates
@dabratt3635 Says:
The facts are so wrong 😂 up to one centre metre long fangs 😂
@TheFashioncore Says:
I live in sweden and we dont have any dangerous spiders, but they still scare the living daylights out of me. I could never visit australia for that exact reason.
@shady5427 Says:
Why won't the spiders come out if the lid is open
@ProdProddy Says:
Imagine the fear, confusion and suffering of being trapped in a 5x5cm plastic pot to be milked daily. Pretty messed up idea too tbh😂
@brokerhenry Says:
Even though we live in Minnesota now, my kids shake the hell out of their shoes before they wear them. I can't stop either. It's ingrained in all Australians to shake shoes and to NEVER reach where we can't see ha ha!
@crewrangergaming9582 Says:
**Man casually plays with nature and tortures animals**
Man: It's for a good cause 🗿
@leroy7246 Says:
There’s actually loads of different species of funnel web - the one that lives near Sydney is the Sydney funnel web, nearby there you also have the blue mountains funnel web.
@MountainRaven1960 Says:
0:30 that’s not a Funnel Web! It’s a Wolf Spider!!
@belindadekker2629 Says:
Some of your reference images were wrong. Especially the “this is a funnel web spider image” it was not a Sydney funnel web. I live in Sydney.
@amandajoslin-kk5zc Says:
I work at a hospital in billing, and I’ve always wondered why anti-venom was crazy expensive. This video I think explains why. For other pharmaceuticals, that have been proven are cheep to produce, there’s no excuse.
@Shazzkid Says:
At 0:30 you refer to a spider as a funnel web spider, it is infact actually of the few web building wolf spiders, such as those in the genus Sosippus. Many people here have tried to correct you and say its a funnel weaver in Agelenidae, but they too are wrong. Observe the eye arrangement to confirm, 2 large forward facing Posterior Median Eyes, and 2 medium sized Posterior Lateral Eyes, set further back on the head, with the remaining 4 Anterior eyes, smaller and of equal size, aligned in a straight row beneath the PMEs
@Punkrockfan001 Says:
STOP testing on animals for human cures. Use sexoffenders to test on
@EphemeralProductions Says:
She is still pretty, and I still love to watch her. :). Glad she remained safe during this experiment, as it were. Too bad the techs have to get them stressed and defend themselves to get what they need from them.
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