Golden Poison Frog
Golden poison frogs may be pretty, but they are very deadly. Their poison stops nerve impulses causing muscles like the heart to stop. As little as 2 micrograms or two grains of salt could kill a human. One golden poison frog has enough poison to kill 20 people, 10,000 mice or 2 bull elephants. If an animal crosses a path where the poison dart frog was it would die. They live in South and Central America and they get their poison from eating one type of ant. If you take them out of their natural environment and feed them other food they would not be poisonous. They aren’t predators but they use their poison as a defense mechanism and are brightly colored to warn off predators. The poisonous frogs are the only creatures that is immune to their poison except one snake species that is partly immune.
Dear Lucas,
Wow! I’m so happy that they aren’t in North America. It’s so interesting that they get their poison from eating a particular type of ant. Another thing you taught me is that if you feed them other food, they won’t be poisonous. Whew! That’s good news! Do you know how people in South and Central America protect themselves from the Golden Poison Frog?
Happy trails,
Mrs. fordyce
Luke, did you know that the pet store in Wilsonville has poison dart frogs. As you noted the poison dart frogs acquire the alkaloids from ants and termites, etc. The frogs in the pet store are obviously eating different foods. When I was down Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago we saw a few poison frogs. They were a very colorful blue and black. Not as poisonous as the one you showed but still poisonous enough to kill a person. Thanks for the blog. Very nice. Grandpa T
Hi Luca. The poison dart frogs are pretty cool. I wonder why they have such powerful poison? Here is the link to my blog: http://terran-cm.blogspot.com/
Dear Lucas,
I learned so much more about those poisonous frogs. I have heard about bright colors that animals can have to scare off predators, but I never knew that there was a tip of frog that can hold deadly poison from eating ants. By the way what kind of ants do the frogs eat? If you were to take one of the golden frogs home, then what food would you give it to eat, or in another reason, where would you keep them. Is there anything else that the frogs eat in the wild? Do the frogs live in the Rain Forest or the Jungle? The Savanna or the dessert? Why are the animals scared of the frogs bright yellow color? What alert horn does it send to the predator or prey? poisonous frogs are such mysterious animals!
With high hopes for answers,
Katie