First Venomous Frogs Discovered

While most frogs we know excrete toxins through their skins for defence, venom helps to be offensive, according to foxreportdaily.

In a new "unexpected as well as astounding" discovery, these head-butting frogs transmit the toxins into other animals through bony spines on their heads, says Edmund Brodie, Jr. of Utah State University. Brodie, who has studied "defensive mechanisms in amphibians" all his life has worked with South American institutions.

The finding has been published in the August 6 issue of Current Biology.

"Frogs embrace a few of - as an example, the 2-inch-long (5-centimeter) golden has sufficient toxin to kill 10 grown males, and the indigenous Emberá individuals of Colombia have used its poison for hundreds of years in blowgun darts," according to observerchronicle.

Another observation is that A. brunoi does not produce this poison. The toxin transferred by the spines into the other animals could be less.

 "It is likely that venomous amphibians are more toxic and common than previously assumed", the researchers said.

But if someone tried to eat the frog, the toxin would be deadlier in the mouth lining. C. greeningi frog is less venomous than A. brunoi----both which have been known to researchers for a long time.

The venomous spikes of the frogs were discovered by accident. According to Brody, the venomous frogs have very few natural predators in the wild, "We don't know of any animal that successfully feasts on these frogs".