The two have been locked in an evolutionary arms race since before they even existed.
In the mountains of Oregon, there are newts with so much poison in their skin that each could kill a roomful of people.
There are also snakes that eat those newts; theyβre completely resistant to the toxins.
The two are locked in an evolutionary arms race. As the newts become more toxic, the snakes become more resistant. One team of scientists has been studying this evolutionary conflict for five decades, and theyβve now shown that its seeds were planted 170 million years agoβbefore either snakes or newts even existed.
We know about this ancient conflict because of a young undergraduate student named Edmund βButchβ Brodie Jr. In the early 1960s, he heard a local legend about three hunters who were found dead at their campsite, with no sign of theft, struggle, or foul play. The only thing amiss at the scene was a dead roughskin newt, which the hunters had accidentally boiled in their coffee pot.
These dark-backed amphibians have vibrant yellow-orange bellies, which they display to predators by arching their heads and tails over their backsβa clear sign that theyβre poisonousβ¦
These niggas got 170 million year old beef, and I respect it.Β
