Snake "Steals" Toad Toxins for Defense Against Predators

[mpgt]

I thought this was pretty interesting!

"The toads make the toxins to protect themselves against predators, which learn not to eat the deadly amphibians.

But the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus has evolved a way to cosume the toxic meal safely.

Instead, the snake stores the toad toxins in glands in its neck, making it too poisonous to eat.

These snakes even taunt enemies to attack, according to the new research, which appears in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The snakes also pass the toxins on to their offspring to protect them while they are too young to eat toads themselves. "

Snake "Steals" Toad Toxins for Defense Against Predators

[TammyJamaica]

Nature never ceases to amaze!!!!!

[telefrag]

Originally Posted by TammyJamaica

Nature never ceases to amaze!!!!!

it never ceases to amaze me how much people ignore or downplay nature, what we know about it is probably 1/10th of what we think we know.

[hunters327]

Originally Posted by TammyJamaica

Nature never ceases to amaze!!!!!

Well said.
I agree 100%

[Cristina]

Originally Posted by telefrag

it never ceases to amaze me how much people ignore or downplay nature, what we know about it is probably 1/10th of what we think we know.

Nature has been here long before us

[jme04c]

Crazy! Other animals can do it too, there's flatworms that eat jellyfish and move their stinging cells to their skin, making them colorfull as a warning to predators. It ends up being stronger than the jellyfish it ate. Then there are annelid worms that evolved to mimic the flatworms... nature's nuts