We all have heard of poisonous frogs such as the Golden Poison Frog or the Cane Toad but do you know that there are venomous frogs?
What is the difference between poisonous and venomous? To be venomous, the animal needs to inject the toxin into the blood stream of it’s victim. Snakes inject their toxins with their fangs, scorpions with their tails, and stingrays on their barbs. A poisonous animal doesn’t inject any toxins, they just produce them. Lazy poisonous animals.
There are only two known venomous frogs in the world and both happen to come from Brazil. These species are the Bruno’s Casque-Headed Frog (Aparasphenodon brunoi) and the Greening’s Frog (Corythomantis greeningi).
You are probably wondering, how do these frogs inject their prey? Fangs? Super cool claws? Well sorry to disappoint but they literally use headbutts to inject their venom. They have spines on their head that connect to a gland that produces the venom. How weird.
How deadly is the venom of these frogs? It was calculated that a single gram of the toxic secretion from a Bruno’s Casque-headed Frog can kill around 80 people. It’s venom is 25 times more toxic than pit vipers from the genus Bothrops. The Greenig’s Frog is not as toxic but still like twice as toxic as the pit vipers.
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