Why go to the trouble of making poison when you can steal it?

The Japanese colubrid snake, Rhabdophis tigrinus, oozes venom from a passel of pouches on its neck, but the toxin itself comes from one of the snake's favorite food groups: toxic toads. R. tigrinus is the first vertebrate known to have a specialized organ for concentrating poison from its prey, researchers report online the week of 29 January in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. What's more, the snakes' offspring are born preloaded with the venom. Just how the poison is passed on from the mother is a mystery, however.