Skin Chemistry: Poison frogs upgrade toxins from prey

For the first time, scientists have found a poisonous frog that takes up a toxin from its prey and then tweaks the chemical to make it a more deadly weapon.

LITTLE CHEMIST. This 4-centimeter-long frog, Dendrobates auratus, can enhance the power of a particular form of toxin that it picks up from its food. PNAS, National Aquarium in Baltimore

At least three species of the 4-to-5-centimeter-long Dendrobates frogs of the New World tropics modify an alkaloid to create one that’s about five times as poisonous, according to a team led by John W.