Natalie Colgate

The African Crested Rat has found a clever way to protect itself from predators.  When predators bite the rat’s fur, they effectively bite into a mouthful of poison.  It was first discovered due to reports of dogs dying after trying to bite these rats, leading to an assumption that the rats were poisonous.

Now it has been discovered that the rat rubs toxin from the poison arrow tree (traditionally used by hunters to kill elephants) onto specially-modified hairs on it’s back.  The toxin works by increasing heart rate and leads to a heart attack.  Animals who survive are unlikely to try again.

It is still unknown why the rat itself appears not to be affected by the poison.  Such is the wonder of nature.

Read more on this by clicking on a BBC article here.