This book series is based on the book 'Biogene Gifte', 3. Edition, published 2010 by Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart in German language. Because of the enormous increase in knowledge in the field of natural poisons and venoms the topic is now covered in 5 volumes in English language.

The focus of this volume is on the toxic ingredients of animal poisons and venoms, their chemical structures, their effects and modes of actions in target organisms, and on the biology of poisonous or venomous animals. It highlights the symptoms of poisoning or envenoming in humans or animals, cite case reports were available, and gives hints on poisoning prevention and on potential treatments.

Prof. Dr. Jan-Peter Hildebrandt is Full Professor of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry at the University of Greifswald since 1999. He obtained his Ph.D. in Zoology from the Free University Berlin. His research interests include animal physiology, ecophysiology, cell physiology, and toxicology. After his postdoctoral period and his habilitation (1995) he received the prestigious Heisenberg fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) to pursue his research on signal transduction in animal cells. From 2002 to 2006 he was the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Greifswald. He was a member of the Review Board ´Zoology´ of the German Research Foundation from 2008 to 2016. Dr. Hildebrandt has published many original research articles in international, peer-reviewed journals. He is the lead author of the last two editions of a standard text book on animal physiology (´Penzlin´) published by Springer Spektrum.