Dangerous Frogs: The Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Dendrobates tinctorius
Habitat
Dyeing Poison Dart Frogs live in humid, usually wet, habitats. They are often found in heavy vines near the ground, where their bright yellow stripes stand out in the dim light of the forest. The frog lives in small, isolated pockets in French Guinea and northeastern Brazil. The Dyeing Poison Dart Frog is diurnal.
Description
The Dyeing Poison Dart Frog is bright blue with two broad yellow stripes on the back connected by cross-bands to produce two or three blue ovals down the middle of the back. Its legs are black or deep blue with many bright yellow or black spots. Sometimes instead of yellow, the spots are white, or the two yellow stripes across the back run together so that the frog has a solid yellow back. The frog’s bright color advertises its poisonous nature, and it has few predators.
The Dyeing Poison Dart Frog is an insectivore. Its diet consists mainly of ants, termites, and other small insects and small spiders. Adults tend to actively search and hunt down prey.
The frog gets its name from the belief that rubbing the frog’s skin on the skin of a young parrot in a place where the bird’s green feathers had been plucked would cause the bird’s new feathers to grow in red or yellow, as if they had been dyed. Despite its name, this frog is not used by native peoples for dart poison.