Our hunter-gatherer societies have known for millennia what modern science discovered only later – namely the poisonous properties of certain plants and animals, and how to turn these natural toxins to their own use. Most of us have heard of the poison dart frog, but there is much more to this story than just this one toxic amphibian.
There are at least six other substances, five of them extracted from plants and one more from another animal, that have been used by hunting tribesmen to tip their arrows with and thus kill their prey more quickly.
For the tribes in South America, Asia and Africa, the use of poison on their arrows was of direct benefit, as they did not have to go chasing after monkeys or other prey that they injured with an arrow, often in dangerous areas. The paralyzing properties of most of these substances would bring their targets down very quickly, if not immediately.
7. Aconite
6. Acokanthera oblongifolia
5. Curare
4. Strychnos-nux vomica
3. Sandbox Tree
2. Poison Dart Frogs
1. Diamphidia
For descriptions of these 7, see source below:
SOURCE
I thought it makes for some very interesting reading
