[60-seconds science] Animals Honestly Advertise Toxicity

Animals Honestly Advertise Toxicity

Truth in advertising is a questionable concept, because it’s often self-serving to lie. Whether you’re talking about a used car salesman or a poisonous snake. No, they’re not the same thing.

In the natural world there are poisonous creatures that advertise their unpalatability with bright colors. Then there are other critters that try to protect themselves by merely mimicking the bright coloration of creatures that produce nasty toxins—but without actually expending the energy on making the toxins themselves. These mimics are hoping to get by by lying about being a bad meal. But what about the beasties that really are filled with poison. Can they lie too? Maybe save a little energy by producing a less colorful display?

Well, scientists from the UK say, it looks like they can’t. See, when an animal makes a toxin, it also makes an antitoxin to keep it from poisoning itself. And those antitoxins are usually antioxidants, which also double as pigments. So the more toxic a critter is, the more antioxidants it needs, and the more honestly flamboyant its outfit, results published by the Royal Society on November 19th. So next time you run into a yellow-banded poison dart frog, remember, what you see is what you get.

—Karen Hopkin

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动物们很诚实地展示出自已的毒性

大意:意思动物对自已的毒性作不了假. 没毒的可能用保护色,伪装成有毒的;但有毒的却不能伪装成无毒的,因为体内有毒素,因此体内会有相对应的抗毒素来防止自身被毒素伤到,而这些抗毒素会产生大量色素,于是有毒的动物皮肤色彩都会很鲜艳.所以..当你看到一只鲜黄箭蛙时,不要怀疑,你看到的就是事实(有毒)

self-serving: 自私的
toxin: 毒素
mimic: 模仿(保护色)
antioxidants: 抗氧化剂
pigments: 天然色素