Snakes Caught 'Wiping' Poison Off Frogs
In a fascinating display of nature's toxic arms race, an experiment involving 10 snakes from the Colombian Amazon revealed a unique behavior.
The snakes, which had been without food for several days, were presented with three-striped poison dart frogs, containing deadly toxins such as histrionicotoxins, pumiliotoxins, and decahydroquinolines.
- Six of the royal ground snakes preferred to go hungry rather than eat the toxic frogs.
- Four snakes, however, attempted to eat the frogs, but first dragged them across the ground, potentially to remove some of the toxins.
Valeria Ramírez Castañeda of the University of California, Berkeley, noted that this behavior is similar to some birds rubbing toxins off their prey.
Author's summary: Snakes exhibit unique behavior when eating toxic frogs.