A little striped frog from the Ecuadorian rainforest involuntarily made international headlines over the weekend. According to several European governments, epibatidine was detected in tissue samples from Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who died in custody in 2024. This is a highly toxic alkaloid that is found in the skin of certain South American tree dart frogs (also known as poison dart frogs). The substance is considered fascinating by toxicologists – and extremely dangerous.
