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Q&A

What is the bio-mechanical plausibility of a fox with venomous fangs?

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For context, I've been working on a fantasy race for use in a science fiction novel, the gist of which is essentially a red fox that has had its genes manipulated by a supernatural force with the primary purpose of blending with and killing members of its original species. I'm thinking of messing with sapience and a gradual progression towards bipedalism and opposable thumbs but...

Today I'm mostly concerned with assessing the viability of having venom glands and venom delivering fangs in the mouth of a red fox. How much does purposing the fangs to inject venom necessarily compromise their structural integrity? How big of a problem is that for an animal that only grows one set of permanent teeth? Does having venom injecting fangs necessarily lead to complications when using those fangs for their original purpose (i.e. tearing flesh)? How much would the presence of venom glands affect the facial structure of a fox that wants to pass for a normal member of its own species? Does having venom necessitate making any other changes to the creature's body?

Perhaps most importantly, what are some suggestions on how to structure a permanent tooth with the dual purpose of tearing flesh and injecting venom? I was initially thinking about a hollow tooth similar to that of a Solenoglyphous snake, but that seems a bit too fragile for a permanent tooth and I don't plan for these to be foldable.

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/152502. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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