AFRICA, Dec. 27 -- CREATURES consuming species that contain deadly toxins have evolved a suite of clever strategies to stay alive.

The 10 snakes faced a tough predicament. Collected from the Colombian Amazon, they had been without food for several days in captivity and then were presented with extremely unappetising prey: threestriped poison dart frogs, Ameerega trivittata.

The skin of those frogs contains deadly toxins – such as histrionicotoxins, pumiliotoxins and decahydroquinolines – that interfere with essential cell proteins. Six of the royal ground snakes (Erythrolamprus reginae) preferred to go hungry.

The other four intrepidly slithered in for the kill. But before swallowing their meals, they dragged the frogs acro...