Researchers from the Society for the Conservation of Wildlife, the University of Oxford (UK) and the National Museums of Kenya (Africa) have found the first mammal to use venom to defend itself against predators .
When an African predator tries to eat a seemingly defenseless African crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi ), it does not imagine that its hairs contain a deadly toxin called ouabain that can end its life. And it is not that the animal itself produces the dangerous poison. In reality, the rodent obtains the poison from the bark of a tree, the acocantera or toxic laurel . Interestingly, the substance is the same that the hunters of various African tribes use to impregnate their poisonous arrows.
As the researchers explain in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B , the rat bites and chews the bark and applies the "juice" it gets, mixed with saliva, on its side. Analyzing the hairs with the electron microscope, the scientists discovered that the animal's hairs have a perforated cylindrical structure that favors the rapid absorption of "poisonous saliva".
