BT Tech Blog

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Poison Dart Frogs

There are more than 150 species of amphibians living in Costa Rica. Several of these species include some of the most brightly colored, and deadly,  frogs found in the rain forest.  This fascinating group of frogs belongs to the family Dendronbatidae. In Costa Rica there are 7 species of poison dart frogs.  Contrary to most poisonous animals, these frogs avoid camouflage.  They have extremely bright skin color to warn predators away from eating them.  When an animal uses this technique its called aposematic coloration.  Any animal that feeds on any member of these frogs is likely to suffer from violent sickness or death.  The few lucky survivors quickly learn to avoid anything with the same color pattern that caused their extreme illness.  Most poison dart frogs are active during the day and feed on small animals such as ants and other insects.  The common name of  Poison Dart Frog comes from the Choco Indians of Colombia. These Indians knew that the frogs gave off a toxin from their skin. The Choco would rub the tips of their arrows across a frog's body to make the arrow head poisonous.  The medical research community has been exploring possible medicinal uses for some poison dart frog venom. They have already developed a synthetic version of one compound that shows promise as a painkiller.

2 comments:

  1. I think the poison dart frogs look skittles because they are all skittle colors. They are so colorful. That is how they get you to come over to them or is that for camouflage. I didn't know there were over 150 types. That is interest. You learn something new every day.

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  2. These are very cool frogs. This frog happens to be my favorite because it has a cute color and a nice looking texture. I am a frog person and this is a really intresting blog. I hope i see one of these exotic creatures sometime.

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