244 Frogs Bringing the Pain

About this episode

This episode explores the evolution and function of bradykinin mimics as defensive toxins in various animals and highlights new species of rock monitors from Australia.

Bradykinin is a hormone that is released naturally in response to tissue damage, so if you hurt yourself, it makes it hurt. Quite a few animals from wildly different evolutionary histories have defensive toxins which are fake copies of this hormone. We discover which animals have them, when these defences evolved, and ultimately, how they are used for defence. For our Species of the Bi-Week there have been multiple new rock monitors discovered - slender predators of Australia's rocky outcroppings. Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Shi N, Touchard A, Schendel V, Koch TL, Starobova H, Niu P, Tran H, Ragnarsson L, Safavi-Hemami H, Vetter I, Robinson SD. 2026. Repeated convergent evolution of bradykinin mimics as defensive toxins. Science 391:1046–1052. DOI: 10.1126/science.adx0452. Species of the Bi-Week: Zozaya SM, Read WJ, Macor SA, Pavón-Vázquez CJ, Gale NP, Wright JM, Broady ES. 2026. Three new species reveal an unrecognized clade of rock monitors (Varanidae: Varanus ) from the eastern Australian…

Topics covered

• bradykinin
• defensive toxins
• rock monitors
• evolution

Keywords

• hormone
• tissue damage
• defense mechanisms
• species discovery

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Patreon, Redbubble

Places: Australia, savannas

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