The instantly painful defensive venom trait evolved independently in spitting cobras on three separate occasions.
Sources
- Spitting Cobra venom reveals how evolution often finds the same answer to a common problem | ScienceDaily (sciencedaily.com)
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb9303 (science.org)
- https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.08.192443.full.pdf (biorxiv.org)
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790307002667 (sciencedirect.com)
- https://theconversation.com/spitting-cobras-may-have-evolved-unique-venom-to-defend-from-ancient-humans-153570 (theconversation.com)
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