Poison of the toad, now of the serpent

2007/02/05 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Biologia
• Zoologia
• Kimika

It is an Asian snake. It is called Rhabdophis tigrinus and if you ask if it is poison, the answer is affirmative and not. How is it possible? For that snake does not produce poison, but when it eats poisonous toads, it keeps the poison of the toad to defend itself.

Researchers have found that if the snake does not eat toad, it has no poison. However, if you eat toads you do not know how, but the poison of the toad passes from the digestive system to glands located in the back of the neck. And when an eagle assaults him, he faces those swollen glands, and if the eagle strikes, the poison is released. The snake without poison has a very different attitude to the eagle: patina.

Photo: Deborah A. Hutchinson.