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

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Avoid: The Crested Rat has deadly hairs filled with poison obtained from the bark of a toxic tree. It is the first mammal known to acquire lethal toxin from a plant

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.

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