(LIFESCIENCE) – Some of the most poisonous animals in the world are small, colorful frogs called poison dart frogs, in the family Dendrobatidae, which live in the rainforests of Central and South America. A single frog carries enough poison to kill 10 adult humans. Interestingly, these frogs aren't born poisonous — they acquire their poisonous chemical by eating insects and other arthropods.
But if this poison is so deadly, why do the frogs themselves not die when they ingest it?
These frogs' ability to avoid autointoxication has puzzled scientists for a long time, said Fayal Abderemane-Ali, a researcher at the University of California San Francisco's Cardiovascular Research Institute, and the lead author of a new study in the Journal of General Physiology that explores this phenomenon.
The post Why don't poisonous animals die from their own toxins? appeared first on WND.
