Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production

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  Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production Abstract Variability in the antibody response of horses used for snake antivenom manufacture is well recognized, yet its statistical structure and implications for industrial productivity remain poorly characterized. In this study, we quantified antivenom antibody titers by ELISA in a cohort of 14 horses immunized with venoms from the clinically most important snakes in sub-Saharan Africa. To integrate antibody levels with plasma availability, we calculated the Cumulative Plasma Productivity (CPP) by converting individual plasma volumes into titer-corrected equivalents and sequentially pooling these volumes according to their corrected contribution. Distributional analysis revealed right-skewed, heavy-tailed patterns better approximated by a log-normal model than by a strict Pareto (power-law) form, with approximately 20–3...

Extraordinary Creatures: Jumping Spiders

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Extraordinary Creatures: Jumping Spiders

There are almost 7000 species of jumping spider on the planet, with the family comprising 10–13% of all spiders. Found on all continents except Antarctica, they can live at altitudes of up to 7000 m and are even capable of surviving under water, thanks to hydrophobic hairs that hold a bubble of air around the cuticle. They vary in size from 2 mm up to 25 mm from front to back, with the largest species, Hyllus giganteus, found throughout Southeast Asia. The spiderlings essentially balloon, by spinning electrostatically charged strands of silk that can carry them enormous distances, even travelling from Australia to New Zealand, 3000 km away. They have also done away with many muscles, relying instead on hydrostatic pressure to pneumatically extend their limbs, making them extremely metabolically efficient. Ximena Nelson, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, has been investigating the vision of these extraordinary creatures for 30 years. She tells Journal of Experimental Biology how they hunt, attract a mate and how their multiple eyes provide them with an extraordinarily detailed 360 deg view of the world.

Extraordinary creatures: jumping spiders. J Exp Biol 15 April 2026; 229 (8): jeb252551. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.252551