[Animals] Why don't toxic frogs get poisoned by their own poison?

[#Wittels-]

Phyllobates terribilis, is the most poisonous frog (and for many the living being) in the world | Credit: Wilfried Berns/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Immediately acting and deadly, the poisonous poison dart frog attacks the nervous system. So how do they survive their own nature?
Tiny, silent and phosphorescent, they proliferate in the deep thickness of the Amazon jungle. "Just a few milligrams of tetrodotoxin can be fatal," says Po[CENSORED]r Science. And it's true: with a dash of their venom, some poison dart frogs can wipe out crowds in no time. So how do these multicolored animals survive? Here we explain it to you.

Also read: What is the difference between a snake, a viper and a snake?

A natural defense mechanism
First of all, it should be clarified that the venom of poisonous frogs —as well as that of snakes, scorpions and other animals in nature— is a defense mechanism against possible predators. Due to its size and physiology, an amphibian of just a few centimeters could hardly defend itself against the lizards and mammals that prey on it in its natural environment.

But the question remains: how come poison dart frogs don't kill themselves upon contact with these lethal toxins? After all, they often secrete it to protect their skin, or live with these substances in their saliva. This is how science journalist Geoffrey Giller explains it:

Many of these toxic substances are truly powerful, since they directly impact the nervous system almost immediately. Some poisonous toads have them in their systems naturally. These include the following:

tetrodotoxin
Epibatidine
Bufotoxins
Most likely, these species of poison dart frogs have taken an evolutionary path that has helped them become resistant to these deadly neurotoxins. Not only that: there is evidence that they metabolize these substances from their food, so that "they obtain their toxins from certain ants and mites in their diet, they must transport the toxins from the intestine to the skin glands," explains the specialist.

Resistance to these toxins still does not convince some scientists. However, the destruction of the habitat of these species and the global climate crisis make it increasingly difficult to know their true nature. Above all, because the specimens disappear —sometimes, even, without our knowing of their existence.

Keep reading:
What are the 5 most poisonous animals in Mexico and how to identify them?

This is the bullet ant, the most dangerous insect species known in the Amazon

 

Link: https://www.ngenespanol.com/animales/ranas-venenosas-y-sus-ponzonas/