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The Scent Of Danger: Tetrodotoxin (Ttx) As An Olfactory Cue Of Predation Risk, Richard Zimmer, Daniel Schar, Ryan Ferrer, Patrick Krug, Lee Kats, William Michel
The Scent Of Danger: Tetrodotoxin (Ttx) As An Olfactory Cue Of Predation Risk, Richard Zimmer, Daniel Schar, Ryan Ferrer, Patrick Krug, Lee Kats, William Michel
Lee Kats
Larvae of the California newt (Taricha torosa) exhibit striking predator- avoidance behavior, escaping to refuges in response to a chemical cue from cannibalistic adults. In laboratory flow-tank experiments, stream water collected near free-ranging adults induced hiding responses in 100% of the larvae tested. Solutions prepared by bathing adults (in field and laboratory) also evoked strong hiding behaviors. Insensitive to adult feeding status (fed or starved), and clearly not an excretory product, the chemical cue was released from adult skin (i.e., in swabs of adult backs, sides, and bellies). Tetrodotoxin (TTX) was found in skin swabs of adults and in bathwater …