Gerwin Filius
Red poison dart frog
These unique frogs live in parts of Central and South America. They are brightly colored in red, yellow or orange and often they have bold stripes or crossbars. Very small in size (reaching only 2-5 cm in length) and weighting only a few grams, they seem helpless. However, their skin glands produce one of the strongest toxins in the animal world. The name was given by the American scientists John Delly and Bernard Whitcup who carried out several tests to determine the action of this powerful toxin.
Most amphibian skin toxins are complex nitrogenous compounds that affect the victim in different ways. Some can cause local irritation only, others provoke hallucinations or act as vasoconstrictors, ones that contract blood vessels. There are also neurotoxins, which affect the nervous system. Batrachotoxin, in particular, is a nerve poison. Only a drop of this substance that has entered the victim’s body can block the transmission of nerve impulses and the heart may stop functioning.
The habitat of arrow-frogs is restricted to warm parts of Latin America, where the humidity level is very high, about 80%. They are mostly arboreal animals climbing trees very easily by virtue of their adhering disks at the end of the fingers. They seldom go to water pools except for reproduction. Poison dart frogs lay their eggs in lukewarm pools of water at the brim of leaves, where the eggs are in a secure place, high in the canopy.
Red poison dart frog
These unique frogs live in parts of Central and South America. They are brightly colored in red, yellow or orange and often they have bold stripes or crossbars. Very small in size (reaching only 2-5 cm in length) and weighting only a few grams, they seem helpless. However, their skin glands produce one of the strongest toxins in the animal world. The name was given by the American scientists John Delly and Bernard Whitcup who carried out several tests to determine the action of this powerful toxin.
Most amphibian skin toxins are complex nitrogenous compounds that affect the victim in different ways. Some can cause local irritation only, others provoke hallucinations or act as vasoconstrictors, ones that contract blood vessels. There are also neurotoxins, which affect the nervous system. Batrachotoxin, in particular, is a nerve poison. Only a drop of this substance that has entered the victim’s body can block the transmission of nerve impulses and the heart may stop functioning.
The habitat of arrow-frogs is restricted to warm parts of Latin America, where the humidity level is very high, about 80%. They are mostly arboreal animals climbing trees very easily by virtue of their adhering disks at the end of the fingers. They seldom go to water pools except for reproduction. Poison dart frogs lay their eggs in lukewarm pools of water at the brim of leaves, where the eggs are in a secure place, high in the canopy.