A Brazilian scientist, Carlos Jared, had a painful discovery of first venomous frog, known as Bruno’s casque-headed, that can inject deadly venom into the body of a predator. Scientists discovered that the frog had spines near the mouth and on head, and as soon Jared picked it up in a forest Goytacazes National Reserve in southeastern Brazil , the frog gave him a good lesson on how not to pick a deadly venomous frog.
This isn’t the first frog having venomous capabilities but is certainly the first that can inject venom into the body of a predator. Other frogs usually have the poison on their sticky skin and whenever an open wound gets in contact, or the predator eats them, the poison makes the assailant immobile for forever.
Jared and other scientists in the Journal Current Biology wrote that the venom from that frog caused a severe pain that lasted for more than five hours. Certainly, Jared was lucky enough as the other scientists quickly recognized what type of frog is this. It was Bruno’s casque-headed frog or known as Aparasphenodon brunoi, whose poison is so deadly that one gram of it can kill more than 300,000 mice or vanish nearly 80 humans from the face of the Earth.
Scientists said the venom from this frog is nearly 25 times powerful than the poison of pit viper snake found in the country.
Apart from that, this isn’t a new species, but scientists knew a little about it. Probably they will have even more information now. However, the discovered frog has some similarities with the Greening’s frog. It has the same type spines all over its head and injects the sticky venom residing on the skin into the body.
Both the frogs are similar in releasing the poison as well. When they are being controlled with a hand, they release a sticky substance from their skin, and then move or flex their head so as to get a contact of the predator’s skin. If not able to have a contact, the frogs can also inject their venom into a nearby open wound.
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Once in the bloodstream, if uncontrolled, this could lead to the death of the individual. Jared must be very lucky that day as he got himself saved from the deadly venom only by suffering for five hours.
There have been fewer studies on how venomous the secretions on a frog’s skin are.
