Poison in its skin
Its skin oozes poison. The bright colour tells hunters to leave it alone.
Amazon rainforest
Blue poison dart frog
Dendrobates tinctorius
A tiny, brilliant blue frog with black spots. Its colour is a warning.
- Size
- About 4cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest floor in northern South America
Hops after you in small, quick jumps. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Poison dart frog
Good to know
Six things about the poison dart frog
Poison from its food
The poison comes from the ants and mites it eats. Frogs raised in zoos on other food are harmless.
Why dart frog?
Some forest peoples wiped the tips of blowpipe darts on the skin of the most poisonous kinds.
A piggyback for tadpoles
A parent carries each tadpole on its back to a tiny pool of water held in a plant.
Out in daylight
Most frogs hide by day. Dart frogs hop about in the open, because few animals dare to eat them.
Its own pattern
Each blue frog has a different pattern of black spots.
The real thing
Photos of the poison dart frog
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look on the forest floor in the morning, among damp leaves and round the bases of trees. Many zoos and aquariums keep them.
How to help
Frogs everywhere are threatened by a fungus disease and by loss of forest. Support zoo breeding programmes and rainforest charities.
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