Word: defang
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Dates: during 1929-1929
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...Fakirs who dally with venomous snakes take good care to defang them. "Wrong, very wrong. The crude, untutored Hindu may resort to this expedient, but it is not done in professional circles among American snake experts. You will note that I use the more dignified term-"experts." We resent the name "fakirs." We study the nature of our snakes and it is not necessary to "defang" them, not at all. You will note that I place myself among the "experts." Thirty years experience among the rattlers. A good line that? And I never had to "defang" one, except on special...
Fakirs who dally with venomous snakes take good care to defang them. The fangs are long, hollow teeth connecting with venom sacs in the snake's upper jaw. When the fangs puncture animal, fish or reptile the venom (in most snakes a yellowish fluid) is squeezed, like a hypodermic injection, into the victim's flesh. Hindus defang their serpents by searing the jaws with hot irons. Others rip the fangs out with pincers or flick a cloth at the snake's head until the fangs are caught in the cloth and yanked out. Defanged snakes quickly grow...