Understand the Poison Dart Frog

By Frankline Otieno

A yellow and black poison dart frog. Courtesy: National Geographic

Not all that glitters is gold. Justified by this statement, we explore the rarity in creativity across different hues produced by nature as symbols of caution.

 Exploring a huge range of colours from green to blue to orange, the poison dart frog only gets more visually appealing. Unlike the chameleon that uses its colour for disguise as a survival tactic, the poison dart frog uses its colouration brightly and conspicuously as a warning signal.

 Different colourations on the poison dart frog with brightness signify danger. Nature, in the struggle for survival, has caused various organisms to adapt to the avoidance of contact with these tiny creatures as a survival tactic.

Habitat

The Amazon rainforest is home to the most intrinsic biodiversity. It covers a massive part of South America, with the rest of it shared by eight countries that is Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana. It is the world’s largest tropical rainforest.

It’s great, and an ideal environment creates a favourable ecological niche for the poison dart frog. They thrive in humid tropical environments, making the Amazon rainforest a suitable habitat for them.

In recent years, due to habitat loss and degradation, most poison dart frogs have become endangered. Data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) states clearly that the poison dart frog is an endangered species, hitting the ‘IUCN red list’ of endangered species.

The poison dart frog traces back in history to the ‘Embera’ people of the Choco region of Colombia, who were natural hunters. In their hunting session, they would rub the tips of their blow gun darts on the poison dart frog’s back, coating them with the poison. These blowgun darts would therefore be used in hunting and also warfare. The poison would immobilise prey quickly, making hunting easier. This generated the name of the frog to the poison dart frog.

Aposematism

In ancient Greek, Aposematism is derived from two words: “apo”, meaning away and “seme”, meaning sign, which adds up to away sign. The red sign on a traffic light cautions movement, and in this aposematism in living creatures acts as a defence mechanism of alerting and cautioning predators from contact using different colourations.

These colourations signify toxicity and harmfulness despite their beauty and visual appeal created by their patterns. The poison dart frog explores aposematism across different colourations on its glossy skin. According to National Geographic, the Golden poison dart frog among these species stands out as the most lethal and most poisonous frog species.

In the process of their growth, the colourations on the skin of the poison dart frog change to a similar bright colour toward maturity, from research at the London Sea Life Aquarium, where some of them are tamed for research purposes.

Poison and Toxicity

The toxic nature of poison dart frogs is primarily exogenous since they acquire it by dietary means. Their diet comprises different arthropods containing toxins such as ants, mites, beetles and spiders.

At the London Sea Life aquarium, scientists have tamed these poison dart frogs and, with various experiments altering their diet, their toxicity has proven to be reduced. Here, they are fed with insects such as fruit flies and pinhead crickets.

Their diet in the wild enables them to secrete a poisonous toxin known as batrachotoxin. Batrachotoxin is contained in their skin.

Studies from Zoo Atlanta have shown that their bright colourations are used to advertise their toxic nature, making them unapproachable. This batrachotoxin is also found on the feathers of the Pitohui birds in the islands of New Guinea.

Batrachotoxin

Batrachotoxin (C31H42N2O2) is a highly steroidal alkaloid secreted by poison dart frogs and has been classified by scientists as one of the most lethal poisons without any antidote if exposed to. The toxin binds to the voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve and muscle cells in living organisms, hyperactivating them.

A different colour of the poisonous frog.

As a result, neurons become incapable of sending signals around the body, causing paralysis. The hyperactivation of these sodium channels prevents them from closing, leading to a massive influx of sodium ions. This disrupts normal cellular function, leading to structural changes that affect our overall health, causing health issues such as seizures, muscle cramps, convulsions, and, in extreme cases, death.

According to scientific research at Sea Life London Aquarium, a single poison dart frog contains about a milligram of poison. The potency of this poison can instantaneously stop a human heart. According to National Geographic, this poison can kill about ten grown men.

The underestimated power of this poison has strikingly qualified the golden poison dart frog species among the most poisonous animal species in the world. However, some animal species, such as the Erythrolamprus epinephelus snake, have proven to be quite resistant to the effects of batrachotoxin, qualifying them as one of the few natural predators of these frogs. 

Nature and Behaviour

As striking as these poison dart frogs are, it is also strange that their relative growth size is so small of up to 2cm in adult length, with few surpassing this to 6cm. Poison dart frogs are generally docile but become aggressive during territorial disputes or if approached by prey.

This aggression also extends to mating, where females compete for the best male partners. The females afterwards lay their eggs on the ground, then the males transport the tadpoles to permanent pools. The average lifespan of a poison dart frog ranges between ten to fifteen years, with the oldest being tamed at the National Aquarium in the United States at twenty-three years with human care.

Beauty should not be confused with goodness, and this is demonstrated by the poison dart frog. Sometimes danger is clothed in attractive attire.