Samuel Hirst said the research team found the opposite pattern from what they initially hypothesized regarding venom complexity and island size.
Notes on verification
Direct quote from Samuel Hirst confirmed verbatim in ScienceDaily and corroborated across multiple independent outlets (USF, Phys.org, EurekAlert, Popular Science, Earth.com) reporting on the same peer-reviewed study published in Evolution (2025). [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=0.917 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable | kind=attributed eligibility=high]
Sources
- What rattlesnake venom can teach us about evolution: New USF study | ScienceDaily (seed:animals_and_wildlife)
- https://www.usf.edu/news/2025/what-rattlesnake-venom-can-teach-us-about-evolution.aspx (corroboration)
- https://www.earth.com/news/rattlesnakes-develop-simpler-venom-when-living-on-bigger-islands/ (corroboration)
- https://www.popsci.com/environment/rattlesnake-venom-evolution/ (corroboration)