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Sunday, March 8, 2015

Are all amphibians poisonous to some degree?

While checking out various types of venomous creatures vs. poisonous ones, I ran across a statement that said "all amphibians are poisonous" - to some degree. Now, is this true or not? I haven't found definitive proof of this yet, but it does seem that most of them have poison glands in their skin albeit a lot of them are so weak, they wouldn't have any effect on humans. I think that is what makes this hard to believe. Basically, all frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, etc., are poisonous, technically.

I find this to be interesting, in a weird sort of way. I mean, personally, when I see stuff like toads, frogs, salamanders and newts, I don't usually think "it's dinner time!" LOL! Although snakes, lizards and turtles are reptiles and are not amphibians, I feel the same way about them, too. But back to the primary subject, are all amphibians poisonous? I know that all frogs supposed to be because of their skin, which is why you often hear how you should wash your hands immediately after touching a frog. Just think about the ones that chop frog legs for a living. Wait a minute, they probably wear gloves.

Well, if all the frogs are poisonous to some degree, why not all the toads? Yeah, the toads definitely look like they are! Many of those brightly colored salamanders actually look poisonous without even having to know this, and the newts are not much different. Hmm, maybe that is why I've seen my cats throw up before, shortly after eating them. Or was that a lizard? Hmm... Anyway, I just thought I'd bring this up, in case some of y'all have never thought about it before. I know that it's a good thing it is usually just the skin that is poisonous, and the actual flesh/meat of a bullfrog and other large types of frogs (for example) are not poisonous, or else a lot of people would be sick from eating them; ha!

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons - Source is found here: http://exotic-life-creatures.blogspot.com/2015/01/red-salamander-lungless-tritons.html

---End of Post "Are all amphibians poisonous to some degree?"

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