Delete comment from: Dark Roasted Blend
Try quiet, unassuming and, rather than in the tropics, found right in your own backyard.
Take, for instance, the common backyard guest from California to Alaska that also happens to be 'the' most poisonous amphibian in the world: the Rough-Skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa)
More toxic than the poison arrow frogs in the article, these cute little things that beg to be picked up thanks to the docility and fearlessness only being the most poisonous thing around can provide have enough TTX (Tetrodotoxin, the stuff that makes pufferfish and Blue Ring Octopii so deadly) packed into their bodies to kill more than 25,000 mice or dozens of adults (more than twice that of the Golden Poisonous Frog, the most toxic of its kin). There is no antidote; vomiting or stomach pumping in time is it. Oregon holds the record for most deaths by newt.
People know about poison arrow frogs, fugu, jellyfish and other tropical nasties, but what about the newts in the backyard where the kids play? Not many adults know that these newts are toxic and certainly no young children with their propensity to stick anything in their mouths.
Oh yeah, the eggs are just as toxic. Best try to keep your mouth closed while swimming.
Definitely among the deadliest and easiest to miss.
Oct 27, 2013, 8:17:28 AM