Poison Dart Frog

Poison dart frogs are a family of small, brilliantly colored frogs native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, whose vivid patterns of red, yellow, blue and green serve as a warning to predators of the potent skin toxins many species carry, some strong enough that indigenous peoples in Colombia have historically used secretions from a few species to coat the tips of blowgun darts, giving the group its common name. Despite this reputation, only a handful of the roughly two hundred known species produce toxins dangerous to humans, and much of that toxicity is thought to come from the frogs' diet of certain ants, mites and other small invertebrates in the wild, since captive-bred individuals raised on different food are typically far less toxic or not toxic at all. Poison dart frogs are active during the day, unusual among frogs, relying on their bold coloration rather than nocturnal habits for protection, and several species show unusually attentive parental care, with adults carrying tadpoles on their backs to suitable pools of water, sometimes held in the leaves of bromeliad plants high in the forest canopy. Habitat loss across their rainforest range is the primary threat to many species in the group.