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The most primitive species was the venomous burrowing insect-eater Hispaniola solenodon, closely related to mammals alive during the dinosaur age.

But in a paper published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a diverse group of researchers outline the intriguing conclusions they reached about how the solenodon got its dangerous spit, after they sequenced its genome and analyzed its venom.

The researchers injected mice with solenodon venom and saw that indeed, while their pulse and breathing did not change, their blood pressure dropped precipitously as soon as the venom went in.

This could render prey foggy-headed and easier for the solenodon to finish off, the researchers suggest.

Another venomous mammal among the solenodon’s relatives, the northern short-tailed shrew, also has kallikreins in its venom.