Animals That Eat Poison and Live

Honey Badger

Known for eating venomous snakes like cobras, honey badgers have a strong resistance to neurotoxins in snake venom.

Hooded Pitohui

This bird from Papua New Guinea stores batrachotoxins in its feathers and skin by eating toxic beetles—making it poisonous to touch or eat.

Common Garter Snake

Some garter snakes can eat toxic rough-skinned newts containing tetrodotoxin and survive due to evolved resistance.

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

Feeds on milkweed, a plant full of toxic cardiac glycosides, storing the poison in its body as a defense mechanism.

Poison Dart Frog

Consumes toxic ants and mites in the wild; instead of dying, it turns the toxins into a potent skin defense.

European Hedgehog

Sometimes it smears its spines with toxic substances like toad venom, using poison from prey for its own protection.

Northern Shrike

Can eat toxic insects and even store their bodies impaled on thorns—waiting until the poison breaks down before feeding.