Article: Snakes win over toxic newts in evolutionary arms race

Report from Asian News International brought to you by HT Syndication.

Washington, March 11 -- In a new study by scientists, it has been suggested that snakes may have prevailed in the evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, taking the case of poisonous newts in particular.

Charles Hanifin, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, has made the study, along with his co-authors.

According to the study, snakes have evolved resistance to the blowfish poison, tetrodotoxin (TTX), by preying on rough-skinned newts, which also secrete the toxin.

In fact, some populations of newts produce enough TTX to kill thousands of mice or 10 to 20 humans.

Throughout much of their ...

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