The Tricks Toxic Animals Use to Avoid Poisoning Themselves

Some of the world's deadliest animals come in small packages. Poison dart frogs, bombardier beetles, and box jellyfish all lack claws and fangs, but they pack enough toxins to bring serious harm or even death to their victims. We know why these toxic materials are dangerous to us, but why they seem to have no effect on the animals that produce them is less obvious.

As TED-Ed explains, poisonous animals have evolved one of two methods (or a combination of both) to safeguard themselves from their own attacks. Some use special compartments to keep toxic chemicals separate from the rest of their bodies. The bombardier beetle, for example, keeps the ingredients of its caustic spray in two different chambers in its abdomen. Only when the secretions are released together do they produce the scalding, noxious spray the beetle is known for.

Other organisms have evolved immunities to their own toxins. Like the bombardier beetle, snakes store their venom in a special compartment, in this case behind their eyes, but trace amounts of it are still carried throughout the bloodstream to build immunity. If a snake is exposed to its own venom, or venom from a snake of the same species, it has special antibodies in its blood to fight it.

Watch the full story from TED-Ed below.