The research team found that the evolutionary changes in venom in three different geographic locations occurred around the same time that early humans appeared in the fossil record in those areas.
Notes on verification
The claim accurately quotes the press release and is corroborated by multiple independent outlets and the original Science paper. However, the underlying correlation is described by the researchers themselves as circumstantial/suggestive rather than firmly established, and one of the three lineages (rinkhals) had much less precise dating, weakening the 'three locations' framing. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable | kind=attributed eligibility=high (extractor: empirical/medium)]
Sources
- Spitting Cobra venom reveals how evolution often finds the same answer to a common problem | ScienceDaily (seed:animals_and_wildlife)
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb9303 (corroboration)
- https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/01/study-did-cobras-first-spit-venom-scare-pre-humans (corroboration)
- https://theconversation.com/spitting-cobras-may-have-evolved-unique-venom-to-defend-from-ancient-humans-153570 (corroboration)
- https://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/2021-01-20-spitting-cobra-venom-reveals-how-evolution-will-often-find-the-same-answer-to-a (corroboration)