Most toxic species of waterfowl

The most toxic species of waterfowl is the African spur-winged goose Plectropterus gambensis. Native to wetlands in western Africa, this large species – the largest waterfowl in Africa – sequesters a poison called cantharidin (as little as 10 mg of which can prove fatal to humans) within its tissues from the blister beetles that it sometimes eats when living in the Gambia. As a result, its flesh becomes so toxic that humans who have eaten it have sometimes died soon afterwards.