Golden Mantella

The golden mantella is a small, brilliantly orange to gold frog, family Mantellidae, found in a handful of forest ponds in eastern Madagascar. Its bright coloring advertises the toxic alkaloids in its skin, a warning strategy it evolved independently of the unrelated poison dart frogs of Central and South America, which display a strikingly similar appearance. Habitat loss and past overcollection for the pet trade have left it critically endangered.