Back to gallery

Wild Granular Poison Dart Frog, Costa Rica- Macro image

I was not sure if this was a Poison Dart frog so I took a quick macro shot and ran.

The Poison Dart frog belongs to the scientific family Dendrobatidae, which contains more than 175 individual species spread across a range that includes large parts of Central and South America. They wear some of the most brilliant and beautiful colours on Earth.

Depending on individual habitats, which extend from the tropical forests of Costa Rica to Brazil, their coloring can be yellow, gold, copper, red, green, blue, or black. Their elaborate designs and hues are deliberately ostentatious to ward off potential predators, a tactic called aposematic coloration.

During the wet season, male granular poison frogs (which are very toxic as a way to defend against predators) inhabit lowland humid forests with fast-flowing streams, vocalizing incessantly. Ranging from Costa Rica to Panama, this frog behaves rather aggressively, especially during the wet season, the time of year when males divide stream banks into their “territories” so as to court female poison frogs. The frogs use the territories as calling sites, in addition to places to lay eggs.

This image is © Copyright

13,608 views
431 faves
79 comments
Uploaded on January 5, 2023