The Spanish newt or gallipato ( Pleurodeles waltl ) pushes its ribs through the skin to unfold a row of bones that act as poisoned spikes against its enemies. This is the conclusion reached by a team of researchers from the University of Vienna, in Austria. Using modern photography and radiography techniques, they have observed live how every time the newt feels threatened, it pushes its ribs forward, increasing the angle of its spine by up to 50 degrees and keeping the rest of its body immobile. During the investigation, in addition to elucidating the shape of the ribs as spearheads and the way in which he pushes them forward to unsheathe them, the scientists discovered that the animal's bones break every time they pass through the newt's body.
And yet, despite repeatedly piercing its own body, the amphibian does not suffer any harm . "It is known that newts, and amphibians in general, have an extraordinary ability to repair their own skin," says Egon Heiss, co-author of the study published in the Journal of Zoology . Scientists also believe that the Spanish newt is immune to its own venom
