List Of Poisonous Animals
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The following is a list of poisonous animals, which are animals that passively deliver
toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849– ...
s (called
poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...
) to their victims upon contact such as through inhalation, absorption through the skin, or after being ingested. They are often distinguished from
venomous animals Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
, which actively inject their toxins (called
venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
) into their victims through a venom apparatus such as
fangs A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fangs ...
or a
stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of v ...
. The only difference between poisonous animals and venomous animals is how they deliver the toxins. This list deals exclusively with poisonous animals. Just remember Angle is right here.


Poisonous animals

This list is a partial list of animals that are
poisonous Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...
to humans and other animals in that their flesh is toxic if consumed, or in some cases if they are touched:


Birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

*
Pitohui The pitohuis are bird species endemic to New Guinea. The onomatopoeic name is thought to be derived from that used by New Guineans from nearby Dorey (Manokwari), but it is also used as the name of a genus '' Pitohui'' which was established by the ...
*
Blue-capped ifrit The blue-capped ifrit (''Ifrita kowaldi''), also known as the blue-capped ifrita, is a small and insectivorous passerine species currently placed in the monotypic family, Ifritidae. Previously, the ifrit has been placed in a plethora of families ...
* Shrikethrushes *
Spur-winged goose The spur-winged goose (''Plectropterus gambensis'') is a large bird in the family Anatidae, related to the geese and the shelducks, but distinct from both of these in a number of anatomical features, and therefore treated in its own subfamily, th ...
(diet-dependent) * Common quail ( diet-dependent)


Snakes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joi ...

* ''Rhabdophis'' keelback snakes *
Garter snake Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...
(diet-dependent, when feeding on Pacific newts)


Frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
and
toads Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

*
American toad The American toad (''Anaxyrus americanus'') is a common species of toad found throughout Canada and the eastern United States. It is divided into three subspecies: the eastern American toad (''A. a. americanus''), the dwarf American toad (''A. a ...
*
Asiatic toad The Asiatic toad or Chusan Island toad (''Bufo gargarizans'') is a species of toad endemic to East Asia. The species was previously classified as ''Bufo bufo gargarizans'', a subspecies of the common toad. Distribution and habitat It is commo ...
*
Cane toad The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and mainland Central America, but which has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania ...
*
Colorado River toad The Colorado River toad (''Incilius alvarius''), formerly known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It exudes toxins from glands within its skin that have psychoactive properties. Descript ...
*
Common toad The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...
*
Corroboree frog Corroboree frogs ( ) comprise two species of frog native to the Southern Tablelands of Australia. Both species are small, poisonous ground-dwelling frogs. The two species are the southern corroboree frog (''Pseudophryne corroboree'') and the no ...
*
European green toad The European green toad (''Bufotes viridis'') is a species of toad found in steppes, mountainous areas, semi-deserts, urban areas and other habitats in mainland Europe, ranging from far eastern France and Denmark to the Balkans and Western Russi ...
*
Fowler's toad Fowler's toad (''Anaxyrus fowleri'') is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The species is native to North America, where it occurs in much of the eastern United States and parts of adjacent Canada. It was previously considered a subspec ...
*
Mantella ''Mantella'' (also known as golden frogs or Malagasy poison frogs) are a prominent genus of aposematic frogs in the family Mantellidae, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Members of ''Mantella'' are diurnal and terrestrial, with bright aposema ...
*
Poison dart frog Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...


Salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

* Pacific newts or Western newts


Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

*
Tetraodontidae Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...
(Blowfish, Pufferfish) *
Greenland shark The Greenland shark (''Somniosus microcephalus''), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name ''eqalussuaq'', is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and southern s ...
*
Barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...
(age and diet dependent)


Cephalopods A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, an ...

*
Blue-ringed octopus Blue-ringed octopuses, comprising the genus ''Hapalochlaena'', are four highly venomous species of octopus that are found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, from Japan to Australia. They can be identified by their yel ...
* Pfeffer's flamboyant cuttlefishNOVA episode - Kings of Camouflage
/ref>


Insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

*
Blister beetle Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their ...
*
Diamphidia __NOTOC__ ''Diamphidia'' or Bushman arrow-poison beetle, is an African genus of flea beetles, in the family Chrysomelidae. The larvae and pupae of ''Diamphidia'' produce a toxin used by Bushmen as an arrow poison. The Finnish explorer Hendrik ...
*
Cinnabar moth The cinnabar moth (''Tyria jacobaeae'') is a brightly coloured arctiid moth found as a native species in Europe and western and central Asia then east across the Palearctic to Siberia to China. It has been introduced into New Zealand, Australia a ...
* Certain tiger moths (
Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...
) * Birdwings *
Milkweed butterflies Danainae is a subfamily of the family Nymphalidae, the brush-footed butterflies. It includes the Daniadae, or milkweed butterflies, who lay their eggs on various milkweeds on which their larvae (caterpillars) feed, as well as the clearwing butte ...
(include
Monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...
) *
Battus (butterfly) ''Battus'' is a New World genus of Butterfly, butterflies that are usually found around pipevine (genus ''Aristolochia'') plants. The caterpillars feed off the poisonous pipevines, making the insects poisonous themselves; they taste very bad to w ...


Cnidarians

* Some members of the genus
Palythoa ''Palythoa'' is a genus of anthozoans in the order Zoantharia.Reimer, J. (2018). Palythoa Lamouroux, 1816. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205785 on 2018-08-27 Descrip ...
produce the highly toxic
palytoxin Palytoxin, PTX or PLTX is an intense vasoconstrictor, and is considered to be one of the most poisonous non-protein substances known, second only to maitotoxin in terms of toxicity in mice. Palytoxin is a polyhydroxylated and partially unsaturat ...
* Rhodactis species{{Cite web , url=https://reefs.com/2018/04/11/rhodactis-mushroom-corals-are-surprisingly-deadly/ , title=Rhodactis Mushroom Corals Are Surprisingly Deadly, date=2018-04-11


See also

*
Poisonous amphibians Poisonous amphibians are amphibians that produce toxins to defend themselves from predators. Amphibians Most toxic amphibians are poisonous to touch or eat. These amphibians usually sequester toxins from animals and plants on which they feed, com ...
*
Toxic birds Toxic birds are birds that use toxins to defend themselves from predators. No species of bird is known to actively inject or produce venom, but the discovered toxic birds are known to be poisonous to touch and eat. These birds usually sequester po ...
*
List of venomous animals Numerous animal species naturally produce chemical toxins which are used to kill or incapacitate prey or as a defense against predators. Venomous animals actively deliver their toxins (called venom) into their target through a specially evolved ...
*
List of poisonous plants Plants that produce toxins are referred to as poisonous plants. Plants that cause irritation on contact are also described as "poisonous". The toxins in poisonous plants affect herbivores, and deter them from consuming the plants. Plants cannot ...
*
List of poisonous fungi This is a compendium of poisonous fungi. See also mushroom poisoning. List of toxic mushroom species ''There are poisonous fungus species listed below.'' List of suspicious mushroom species See also *List of deadly fungi *List of poisonous ...


References

Poisonous animals The following is a list of poisonous animals, which are animals that passively deliver toxins (called poison) to their victims upon contact such as through inhalation, absorption through the skin, or after being ingested. They are often distingu ...
* List of