The Indians may have used the toxicity of poison dart frogs to enhance the efficiency of hunting, probably for thousands of years. However, historical research suggests that the Indians of South America seem to have not been accustomed to using bows and arrows for a long time in history, preferring to use blow arrows. And their mastery of metal smelting is also primitive. By the time the Western colonists had reached the Americas, all Indian tribes had no iron, not even much bronze. On the one hand, this shows that the Indians arrived in the Americas very early; on the other hand, it shows that the hunting of Indians must use certain special auxiliary means. Because their weapons are generally only sharpened animal bones or stones, even if they hit the prey, it is not very lethal. Moreover, the range and power of the blowing arrows are generally smaller than those of normal crossbows, so the arrows fired must be toxic to greatly improve the efficiency of hunting. In the tropical rainforest of Central and South America, there is no shortage of this extremely toxic natural species, which is the poison dart frog.
Poison dart frogs are native to the tropical rainforests of the Americas, and there are about 130 species of poisonous frogs. The shape of the poison dart frog is very bright and conspicuous, and the number is relatively large, which is not difficult to catch by hand. All highly venomous species, whether they are poisonous snakes or poisonous mushrooms, are mostly brightly colored, which may be the result of natural evolution. It is to remind other creatures that there is nothing to do with them, and once they are provoked, it is very troublesome. The toxicity of different species of poison dart frogs is also divided into sizes. After comparison with modern research, it is believed that the golden-yellow appearance of the poison dart frog is the most toxic. Most of these poisonous frogs actually live on plants, but are actually a type of tree frog; not in the water like frogs in Eurasia. Hanhai Wolf Mountain and Xiongnu Wolf Mountain have also seen tree frogs in Australia, but Australian tree frogs are basically non-poisonous. The individuals of the poison dart frog are not large, most species do not exceed 2 cm in length, which is much smaller than frogs; the largest do not exceed 5 cm in length. In fact, the global tree frog is generally not large.
Because the body is too large, it will be very heavy, and it is difficult to live on the softer leaves and flowers of the plant for a long time. Such a small poison dart frog, however, can be based on the venom secreted on its back, if fully applied to a poison arrow, it can be paralyzed in a few minutes to eventually poison a rhinoceros or hippopotamus. This poison is more powerful than the most poisonous snake. Therefore, the Indian hunters in the rainforest, with this kind of blowing arrow, as long as they hit any animal or bird, they will not see blood and throat. At the moment of hit, the prey basically fell to the ground and did not move. Therefore, the efficiency of hunting can be greatly improved. So such a strong toxicity, if the hit prey is used as food, it is not afraid of the toxicity continuing to spread, so that the hunter will be poisoned after eating these prey? But thousands of years of hunting have proven that those prey that are paralyzed or deadly by the poisoned arrow frog are almost never poisoned again after being taken back as food for hunters. Also, with such strong toxicity, where did the poison dart frog get it?
Let's start with the latter question. Poison dart frogs are not difficult to obtain in the rainforests of Central and South America. So very early on, people took it to the laboratory to breed and carry out research. The results were found. Wild poison dart frog just caught. Basically, it is very toxic. However, this toxicity is mainly manifested in the contact between the venom and the blood of animals or humans. That is, the skin of the animal must be pierced before the blood can be seen to seal the throat. With the protection of the skin, even if the human hand directly touches the epidermis of the poison dart frog, it will only produce a certain paralysis rather than a strong poisoning. There is also a very peculiar place about the poison dart frog, that is, the newly caught, highly toxic breed, after a few months of captivity, the toxicity becomes very small or simply disappears. And the offspring of these varieties that have basically disappeared from toxicity and then propagated in the laboratory have no toxicity at all. This shows that the toxicity of the poison dart frog is related to the environment and food. That is, the poisonous arrow frog must often eat poisonous insects, mainly poisonous spiders to maintain their strong toxicity.
Second, the poison of the poison dart frog is actually an alkaloid poison. Its basic role is similar to the poisoning mechanism of many neurological military agents, which is to block the normal biochemical reactions of acetylcholine and acetylcholine lipase in neural signal transmission, resulting in the nerve signals that control the heartbeat and respiration of animals cannot be transmitted normally, resulting in animals entering a rapid paralysis state until hanging. This natural alkaloid is very toxic, but it is not stable. Once heated, it can be quickly made to disappear from toxicity by steaming or grilling, which is also a common feature of most natural biological agents. Therefore, prey that has been poisoned by the poisoned arrow frog, as long as it is roasted or cooked normally, can be used as normal food without poisoning the hunter together. Although the ancient Indians did not know the basic mechanism of this, they would correctly dispose of their prey according to experience, which can be regarded as self-taught.