
Sometimes, Beetles Make Toads Regret Their Meal Choice - IntronExon
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/science/bombardier-beetle-toad-vomit.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
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freshyill
Take a while and watch toads eat if you ever get the chance. They're
absolutely voracious. When I lived in the south, they used to hang out on my
front porch, eating all kinds of bugs attracted by the light. I once saw a
toad try to eat a slightly smaller toad. If it's smaller than them and it
moves, they'll try to eat it.

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IntronExon
I’m totally convinced that if toads were larger, they’d eat us too. Frogs are
pretty tough as well.

 _The hairy frog is also notable in possessing retractable "claws" (though
unlike true claws, they are made of bone, not keratin), which it may project
through the skin, apparently by intentionally breaking the bones of the
toe.[1] In addition, the researchers found a small bony nodule nestled in the
tissue just beyond the frog's fingertip. When sheathed, each claw is anchored
to the nodule with tough strands of collagen, but, as Gerald Durrell[4]
discovered firsthand, when the frog is grabbed or attacked, the frog breaks
the nodule connection and forces its sharpened bones through the skin._

Breaking its own bones to make a weapon? Check.

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emiliobumachar
In hindsight, it's quite a brilliant tactic. Wait to be swallowed, then fire
all you got into the predator's insides.

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zaroth
“After the beetles were swallowed, a small explosion could be heard inside
each toad, indicating that the insects were firing their defenses.”

To write that line in the NYT and not accompany it with a waveform in 2018 on
the web is a little disappointing. Perhaps the prose is more poignant than the
practice.

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ateesdalejr
Yes, I was also expecting an audio recording of the small explosion.

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jpl56
Let's hope oysters won't evolve that!

