Poison dart frogs are one of the planet’s most brightly colored animals.

Poison dart frogs are one of the planet’s most brightly colored animals.

Depending on the species, they can be yellow, copper, gold, red, blue, green, black or a combination of those colors.

Their showy colors and startling designs help warn predators of the danger they impose a defense mechanism known as “aposematic coloration.”

Within their skin, they store natural venom that can paralyze, or even kill, a predator.

The Dendrobatidae family of frogs includes some of the world’s most toxic species.

The golden poison dart frog, for example, contains enough poison to kill 10 adult men.

Indigenous cultures, such as the Chocó people of Colombia, have used these frogs’ poison for centuries to coat the tip of their blow darts before hunting a tradition that inspired the frogs’ common name.

– DIET –Poison dart frogs are insectivores, preferring to eat ants and other small insects that they can hunt among the leaf litter of the forest floor.

It is believed that the toxins in the frogs’ bodies may be related to the type and amount of insects that they consume.

– THREATS –Due to their toxicity, poison dart frogs have only one natural predator the Leimadophis epinephelus, a species of snake that has developed a resistance to their venom.

Far more detrimental to the species is the destruction of their habitat.

Many species of poison dart frogs are very attentive parents.

The females will lay 30 to 40 eggs encased in a jellylike substance on the forest floor.

When they hatch, the tadpoles will squirm onto the parent’s back, where they will be safe from predators until the parents find a suitable small, safe pool of water for them to continue their metamorphosis.

Often these parents choose the tiny pools of water held within bromeliads, and deposit a few tadpoles in each pool.

Every few days, the female will return to these pools to deposit several infertile eggs which provide nutrition for the developing young, who reach their full size within two to three months.

– Interesting Facts –Indigenous peoples used their toxins to make darts.Their toxins were placed in the tips of blow darts, giving them their name.

Indigenous people use just 4 species of poison dart frog, which have some of the highest toxicity of all dart frogs.

– Interesting Facts –Their toxins are secreted from their skin. They are stored in glands under the skin, with the toxin being secreted through pores. When stressed, a frog may secrete large amounts of toxin all at once.

– Interesting Facts –They are poisonous, not venomous. This means that they do not inject their toxins into others, like snakes, they instead have to be consumed or licked.

– Interesting Facts –The most colourful are the most toxic. The degree of toxicity generally coincides with how bright they are. The most toxic species have very bright colours, while those that aren’t toxic are dull.

– Interesting Facts –The golden poison dart frog is the most toxic. The toxin from this poison dart frog can stop the huмคห heart almost instantaneously.

One frog has an average of one milligram of poison, which is enough to kill up to 20 people, or two African bull elephants.

– Interesting Facts –The toxins have medical uses. Research has shown that toxins from these frogs have various medical uses.

Recent research has found a compound in the toxins that is a painkiller stronger than morphine, but with none of the side effects.