Q: How is a mongoose able to...
Q: How is a mongoose able to kill a deadly cobra without being killed itself?
A: Its speed is important in allowing it to avoid being bitten, but recent research indicates that, even if it is bitten, the mongoose is also immune to cobra venom.
The active component of cobra venom, called alpha-neurotoxin, works by binding to and inactivating acetylcholine receptors on muscle cells in the snake’s prey. Immunologist Sara Fuchs of the Weizmann Institute in Israel recently found that the acetylcholine receptor in cobras has a slightly different shape so that alpha-neurotoxin cannot bind to it. Otherwise, the cobra would kill itself. Fuchs recently reported that the receptor in the mongoose is identical to the cobra’s, so that it too is unaffected by the viper’s sting.
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