iStockphoto / eptiles4all
Snakes are smarter than most give them credit for and a new study published in the ecoevorix journal only reinforces that. What they found was Amazonian snakes, when presented with a meal of poison dart frogs that could potentially kill them, circumvented the threat but still ate.
More specifically, the Royal Ground Snake was given potentially lethal frogs to eat. Instead of eating the frogs which carry poison on their skin, the snakes were observed dragging the frogs to wipe poison off of them before eating.
This is a remarkable behavior and it was published in the study titled “Toxin resistance mechanisms span biological scales in the Royal Ground Snake” which is in preprint at the moment. An accompanying video shows the behavior in action.
Snakes Observed Wiping Poison From Frogs Before Eating
This study was limited by sample size. It included 10 snakes. Each was presented with three-striped poison dart frogs. If eaten as they were, the snakes would surely die.
Of the 10 snakes, six refused to participate (eat). Four snakes engaged in the dragging behavior and three of those four snakes survived according to Vice. So it was still a risky challenge.
This study is certain to gain a lot of attention in certain scientific circles but maybe not for the reasons one might think…
Was this ethical? Presenting a snake, a simple creature, with a lethal meal to see what would happen. It was a study where in essence, both sides of the testing pool were sacrificed.
If the snakes died from eating the frogs, so be it. The frogs were expected to be eaten by the snakes.
The observed behavior was fascinating to be sure. But was this ethical? Does that even matter anymore?