All octopuses are venomous, along with some squid, plenty of snakes, spiders, and scorpions, a few lizards, vampire bats and even the slow loris Nycticebus kayan. That means venomous organisms need a way in, like fangs or teeth. Traditionally, venomous creatures bite, sting or stab you to do their damage, while you have bite or touch poisonous critters to feel their effects. But the terms do mean very different things. Some people use the words interchangeably because once in the body, the chemicals do similar damage, attacking the heart, brain or other vital targets. But if we already knew frogs could be poisonous, why is this discovery such a big deal? The answer lies in the often-misunderstood difference between poison and venom. Unprecedented would actually be an understatement,вЂќ says Bryan Fry, a molecular biologist at the University of Queensland who was not affiliated with the study. greeningi and a related species of hylid frog, Aparasphenodon brunoi, are the only venomous frogs known to science. After careful study, Jared and his team found that C. The biologist fell prey to a totally unique defense mechanism: The helmet-headed frogs use spikes along their lips to inject potent chemicals, giving aggressors a mix between a head butt and a toxic smooch. вЂњIt took me a long time to realize that the pain had a relationship with the intense and careless collection of these animals hitting the palm of my hands,вЂќ recalls Jared. So when Carlos Jared of BrazilвЂ™s Butantan Institute ventured out to collect and study them, he didnвЂ™t think they posed much of a threat-until he felt pain in his palm. In contrast to the bright cautionary colors of poison dart frogs, these tree frogs sport drab brown and green hues. Amid an arid forest of cacti, Corythomantis greeningi frogs look pretty harmless.

Poison dart frog