Killing you with poison, not sepsis

Ed Yong has an excellent review of new research which casts substantial doubt on the trivia chestnut that Komodo dragons kill their prey with their extremely pathogen rich saliva. The more prosaic answer seems to be that they utilize poison, not particularly surprising or trivia worthy for a reptile. But the truth is not always sexy.

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It's unclear to me whether this substance should be called a "poison" as you have called it, or a "venom". Usually poison refers to a toxin taken through eating or drinking, whereas venom is associated with a bite. But then again, venom is usually injected, and here it seems the toxin is kind of just introduced into a tear-wound via contact with the mouth.

So it's a bit of both?

"The more prosaic answer seems to be that they utilize poison, not particularly surprising or trivia worthy for a reptile."

Pretty large for a venomous reptile, though. That's always trivia-worthy. (heaviest, but not the longest)