Soothing poison?

Researchers admit they have no idea why one component of mamba venom should include a powerful painkiller. It isn't quite ready yet: "He cautioned that the mambalgins worked by injections into the spine so would need "significant development" before they could be used in people." They speculate that maybe this chemical acts differently in different families of creatures, or that maybe it keeps the animal from struggling too much. Very odd.

I remember stepping on something soft, looking down, and seeing a mamba coiled beneath my shoe. My subsequent speed might have satisfied my PE teacher for once... Yelling "snake" is a good way to assemble a collection of adults with sticks and shovels. It didn't occur to us to see if the creature was useful for anything.