THE toxic frogs of Panama and Madagascar may look different from one another (Panama's Dendrobates pumilio sports stunning red robes while Madagascar’s Mantella frogs flaunt flashy oranges and greens), but their brightly colored bodies send the same message to potential predators: Stay away – I'm poisonous. Frogs from both countries secrete toxic chemicals called alkaloids from their skin, which often prove deadly and distasteful to predators. Research over the past several decades has shown that Panama's poisonous hoppers acquire their alkaloids by eating ants, but the poison source for Madagascar frogs remained unknown. Now, Academy entomologist Brian Fisher and Cornell chemist Valerie Clark, together with colleagues from the United States and Madagascar, have found that Madagascar's Mantella frogs also acquire their toxins from ants. Like their counterparts in Panama, they have evolved a way to ingest the poisonous ants without harming themselves.