Curare
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Curare is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South America for hunting and for therapeuti
Chondrodendron tomentosum, the main source of 'tube curare' and principal source of D-tubocurarine (DTC), the alkaloid constituting medicinal curare
Strychnos toxifera, the Strychnos species which is the principal source of 'calabash curare' and its main active constituent, the alkaloid toxiferine
Curare darts and quiver from the Amazon rainforest
19th century depiction of hunting with blowguns in the Amazon rainforest
Blowgun
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A blowgun is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force creat
Curare
…South American indigenous people. Since it was too expensive to be used in warfare, curare was mainly used for hunting. The prey was shot by arrows or blowgun darts dipped in curare, leading to asphyxiation owing to the inability of the victim's respiratory muscles to contract. In particular, the poison was…
Demonstration of a blowgun by a Yagua hunter
Mixtec blowgun Tlacalhuazcuahuitl depicted in the Codex Bodley
A Dayak man using a blowgun (Dutch East Indies, c.1920)
Rivercane quiver with blowgun darts, fletched with bull thistle