The poison dart frog is the most toxic frog in the world and one of the most poisonous animals in the world, especially the golden poison dart frog, this little guy with a golden body color and a body length of only 3.5 cm has about 2 grams of alkaloid toxin, which can kill 20,000 experimental mice and kill at least 10 adults.
So, does the poison dart frog with such poison have natural enemies? The answer is yes, let's find out.
Poison dart frog family
Frogs are the collective name of all animals under the amphibian Anuranus, and although there are three suborders under the Anura order (Primitive Frog, Middle Frog and Neofrog Suborder), the most prosperous is the Neofrog suborder, which accounts for about 95% of the species of the Anuranus, and the poison dart frog family we want to talk about today is actually a group under the new frog suborder, they are the poison dart frog family (Dendrobatidae is also known as the bush frog family).
There are about 175 known species in the poison dart frog family, most of them are relatively small, with an average of about 3 cm, most of them more colorful color, and are the most beautiful group in existence.
Although the poison dart frog family is mainly poisonous frogs, but in fact, the real toxicity accounts for only about 32% of the total species, that is, 55 species, they are mainly distributed in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, all poisonous poison dart frogs have a bright appearance, but the color is different.
Cobalt blue poison dart frog
Poison dart frogs are poisonous because their skin can secrete venom, and these venoms are usually milky white like the venom secreted by the poison glands on the back of the toad, which contains poison dart frog alkali, which is a highly toxic alkaloid that can attack the heart and nervous system of animals, scientists have had poison dart frog venom for subcutaneous injection experiments in mice, and found that its half lethal amount (the minimum venom dose required to kill more than half of the mice) is 0.002-0.003 mg / kg.
What is this concept? Taking poisonous snakes as an example, the most poisonous snake in existence is the inland taipan snake living in Australia, which has a half lethal dose of 0.025 mg/kg, which means that killing an animal weighing 1 kg requires only 0.025 mg of venom.
The toxicity of poison dart frogs is 10 times that of the most toxic poisonous snake inland taipan snake, and snake venom we directly touch with our hands is no problem, but poison dart frogs will be poisoned even by touching with hands, which shows its strong toxicity.
However, in Central and South America, the poison dart frog is one of the favorite animals of the natives, because they will extract the poison dart frog toxin to make poison arrows, experienced natives will imitate the call of the poison dart frog to attract the poison dart frog to make a sound, and then determine their location, and then hold the poison dart frog with leaves, and then use a sharp wooden skewer to wear it, put it on the fire and roast, after heating, the skin of the poison dart frog will secrete a large amount of venom.
Roasted on the fire, an adult poison dart frog can make 50 poisoned arrows, in the past the natives will use these poison arrows in the war between tribes, the fatality rate is quite high, as long as it is stabbed, there is no solution, and later this poisoned arrow is mainly used for hunting, of course, the prey shot by the poisoned arrow will also have toxins, so when the natives shoot the prey, the prey will quickly lose the ability to escape under the action of venom, and after that, the natives will quickly cut off a large piece of meat at the shot site and throw it away.
Although many poison dart frogs have a strong toxicity, but in fact, these venoms are not secreted by them, because they do not have poison glands at all, after scientific research has found that the toxins of poison dart frogs come from the accumulation of food, they mainly feed on spiders, ants, crickets and other animals, and these animals contain a small amount of alkaloids, after entering the poison dart frog, after a series of reactions, purification, and finally formed highly toxic alkaloids, and finally gathered on their skin glands, This is a defense mechanism evolved by poison dart frogs.
Among all poison dart frogs, there are three most toxic: golden poison dart frog, blue poison dart frog and three-color poison dart frog, half of the lethal amounts of these three poison dart frogs are 2 micrograms / kg, 2.5 micrograms / kg and 3 micrograms / kg, of course, not all poisonous poison dart frogs are so toxic, for example, half of the fatality of the black-legged poison dart frog is only 570 micrograms / kg.
Tricolor poison dart frog
Do poison dart frogs have natural predators?
Nature is very wonderful, it will hardly allow invincible species, many poisonous snakes, they are still natural enemies, such as the highly poisonous silver ring snake, cobra in front of the king cobra is a "younger brother", the same is true of poison dart frogs, although the weakest poison dart frogs can be comparable to the top poisonous snakes, but all things live together, they still have nemesis, let's take a look at the three most poisonous poisonous poison dart frogs natural enemies are what animals?
Blue poison dart frog
Natural predators of the golden poison dart frog
The golden poison dart frog is endemic to Colombia in South America, they mainly inhabit low-altitude rainforests, and the temperature and humidity requirements of the environment are very high (temperature above 26 ° C, humidity above 80%). In the wild, the golden poison dart frog tends to live in groups, usually 3-6 in a small group.
As the most poisonous frog in the world, most rainforest animals will detour when they see the golden poison dart frog, only one snake, they see the golden poison dart frog not only does not run, but will go over to eat, it is the golden belly snake (Leimadophis epinephelus).
The golden-bellied snake is a snake in the family Snake family, it is the only known snake that can be immune to the golden poison dart frog toxin, and it is also the only natural enemy of the golden poison dart frog in the entire South American wild. Of course, it is necessary to throw humans away, after all, people have hunted and killed these cute-looking little animals.
Golden-bellied snake
Natural enemies of the blue poison dart frog and the tricolor poison dart frog
The blue poison dart frog is a blue-fledged poison dart frog that is found in the wild mainly in the rainforests on the banks of the Suriname River, and to a lesser extent in Brazil and Guyana. As the second venomous frog, the blue poison dart frog is also a scary existence for many animals, and because there is no natural distribution of golden-bellied snakes in their habitat, the adult blue poison dart frog has no natural predators (except humans).
However, the breeding habits of the blue poison dart frog are very different from other frogs, they do not lay eggs in the water, but lay their eggs under moss or rocks, which makes their eggs very easy to be eaten by some small arthropods on land (eggs are not poisonous).
The reason why we put the three-color poison dart frog and the blue poison dart frog together is that the two are similar, in the native environment, adult individuals have no natural enemies, and the tricolor poison dart frog will also lay eggs on the wet ground, and after laying eggs, the male frog has egg protection behavior, until the eggs hatch into tadpoles, the male tricolor poison dart frog will carry the tadpoles to a suitable water body to complete growth and development.
Therefore, although the poison dart frog is highly poisonous, but it also has natural enemies, in all areas with the distribution of golden-bellied snakes, it is the natural enemy of all poison dart frogs, of course, the biggest natural enemy of poison dart frogs is humans, because on the one hand, it is used for various research catches, on the other hand, the color of poison dart frogs is bright and many people are used as pets to raise (poison dart frogs in captivity are not toxic due to food problems).
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