Venomous mammals
First some background: The difference between venomous and poisonous has to do with the way the toxic substance is delivered. If the creature actively delivers the toxin, through a bite or a poisoned quill then the creature is venomous. If the creature has a passive delivery system, like the toxin produced is an oil that coats the outside of the animal (or plant) then it is poisonous. That’s why poison ivy is called poison ivy and not venom ivy.
Of the thousands of species of mammals, only eight produce a toxin: two types of solenodon, the platypus, four species of shrew and the slow loris.
Solenodons look sort of like a cross between a big hedgehog with no spines (Author’s note: I was going to write “big spineless hedgehog” but I didn’t want you to think I meant a cowardly hedgehog, or worse, one missing their backbone) and an anteater. There are several types of solendons; however, only the Cuban solenodon and Haitian solenodon are capable of delivering a venomous bite. As the names imply they are only found on the island of Cuba and Hispaniola (the island shared by Haiti and The Dominican Republic), respectively. Their venom is delivered from modified salivary glands via grooves in their second lower incisors.
The male platypus, which inhabits eastern Australia, has a spur on each of its hind legs that delivers venom. The female platypus is not venomous. Platypuses are part of a very small group of mammals known as monotremes. I would tell you more, but I have an entire article about them, so you will have to follow and continue to read Beastlopedia to find out about them.
There are four species of shrew that are capable of delivering a venomous bite: The Eurasian water shrew found throughout northern Eurasia, from England to North Korea; the northern short-tailed shrew found in central and eastern North America from southern Saskatchewan south to Nebraska and east to the Atlantic coast; the southern short-tailed shrew, and Elliot’s short-tailed shrew, both inhabiting eastern Texas.
In case your were wondering, Elliot’s short-tailed shrew is named for Daniel Giraud Elliot, who first described the species in 1899.
The slow loris is actually three species of loris that range from Southeast Asia (Borneo and the southern Philippines), through Bangladesh, Vietnam, Southern China and Thailand. These slow moving primates have glands on the inside of their elbows that secrete a toxin that smells like sweaty socks.
They cover their babies in the toxin to protect them from predators (this makes the babies poisonous), and put it in their mouths to give themselves a venomous bite. They deliver the toxin via their lower incisors.
