A good ribbing can defuse many potential conflicts. However, the recipients of a are unlikely to see the funny side.
When threatened by a predator, the Spanish ribbed newt Pleurodeles waltl takes spectacular offensive action. Not only does it exude a milky poisonous fluid from glands in its skin, it also has the perfect apparatus to administer it.
The Spanish ribbed newt – also known as the Iberian ribbed newt – has orange spots along its flanks, through which its ribs can protrude.
By flattening its body and arching its back, the newt swings its ribs forwards so that they are perpendicular to its spine. The ribs stretch the skin to the point that they burst right through it, producing a row of barbs down each flank that inject the poison into any predator foolish enough to venture too close.
Once the danger has passed, the amphibian simply pops its ribs back inside its body. And thanks to newts' famous powers of regeneration, Pleurodeles waltl can puncture its skin repeatedly, with apparently no ill effects.
Where are Spanish ribbed newts found?
Spanish ribbed newts are amphibians found in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, usually in mud or among stones in ponds and lakes.
Self-mutilation as defence
Another amphibian that uses self-mutilation as defence against predators is one of the weirdest frogs in the world the hairy frog Trichobatrachus robustus, which is able to disconnect sharp bones in its toes from the rest of its foot and thrust them through its toe-pads to form an offensive weapon not unlike a cat's claw.
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