The rat that wears a protective coat of deadly toxin made out of bark from a poisonous tree

The rat that wears a protective coat of deadly toxin made out of bark from a poisonous tree | Mail Online: "A species of rat coats itself in deadly toxin that it obtains by gnawing on a poisonous tree, scientists have discovered.

The Crested Rat - Lophiomys imhausi - from East Africa is the first mammal known to acquire lethal toxin from a plant.

To protect itself from predators, the creature chews the roots and bark of Acokanthera 'poison arrow trees' to extract the poison ouabain.

Bushmen in Kenya use the same poison to tip arrows which can fell an elephant."