Blue Poison Frog

Improved Essays
Dendrobates tinctorius "azureus" is a medium-sized frog that weighs about 8 grams and grows to 3.0-4.5 cm in length. Females are larger and about half a centimeter longer than males, but males have larger toes. The frog has a typical lifespan of five to seven years in the wild. Its bright blue skin, usually darker around its limbs and stomach, serves as a warning to predators. The glands of poisonous alkaloids located in the skin serve as a defense mechanism to potential predators. These poisons paralyze and sometimes kill the predator. The black spots are unique to each frog, enabling individuals to be identified. This species of frog has a distinctive hunch-backed posture.

Each foot contains four toes, which each have a flattened tip with a suction cup pad used for gripping. The tips of the toes in females are round, while males have heart-shaped tips.
…show more content…
tinctorius "azureus"
Dendrobates tinctorius is a mainland animal, but stays close to water sources. These frogs spend most of their awake time, during the day, hopping around in short leaps. They are very territorial and aggressive both towards their own species and others. To ward off intruders, they use a series of calls, chases, and wrestling. Although poison dart frogs are known for their skin toxins, used on the tips of arrows or darts of natives, in reality only the species of the Phyllobates genus are used in this manner. In captivity, the frogs lose toxicity as a result of altered diets.

Reproduction[edit]
The blue poison dart frog breeds seasonally, usually during February or March when it is rainy. To find mates the males sit on a rock and produce quiet calls, which the females follow to track down the males. The females then physically fight over a male. The male takes the female to a quiet place by water, which becomes the site of the egg-laying. Fertilization occurs externally: once the eggs are laid the male will cover them in his

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Nt1310 Unit 2 Assignment

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Habits: Two-toed amphiumas are aquatic and nocturnal animals. However, these animals can move over land in swamps in the rain. They typically hide under cover be it mud or underwater debris with their head sticking out. These animals will lie and wait in these hiding places for prey to pass, and when it does they are known to bite fairly aggressively. The two-toed amphiuma lays its eggs near the waters edge, or even underground (Conant and Collins 1998).…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Pill Bug Lab

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Background: Isopods, or what are often called pill bugs, are crustaceans. Isopods live in damp environments. They can be found under rocks, logs and in soil. In this lab, 10 isopods were given a choice between salt water or regular water chambers to test their preference. The results were recorded every 30 seconds over a period of 10 minutes.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “VI Assignment 1 - Creature Feature” 1. Save this document in your files as “Creature Feature Your Name”. You can then complete the assignment in this document, add photos and bibliography information, and use this document as your submission. 2. Choose one vertebrate and one invertebrate that interest you.…

    • 1777 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They croak and fight for territory. Some frogs even have a wave to attract females. Once they have gained territory they make a buzzing sound to attract females. The sound they make attracts females. They are so adapted through evolution that their eyes are now so specialized.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Panda Express: Consider four bugs and their habitats. In temporary ponds we can find Green and Red Bugs, in permanent rivers we can find Orange and Blue bugs. The Green and Red bugs are food to fish and salamanders, but the Orange and Blue are unpalatable to both fish and salamanders. Salamander larvae are never found in the presence of fish and are quite palatable to fish. (a) Design an experiment that would reveal whether the larvae of each Bug “Species” can detect and respond to the presence of a predator (b) Why would the bugs choose either temporary ponds or permanent rivers to lay eggs based on the experience with…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grey Wolf Research Paper

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages

    They have thick reddish brown fur. They have thickly padded paws that can withstand…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Frilled Lizard are found in the jungles of Australia. They are known to eat insects, spiders, and other rodents. These reptiles are nowhere close to being endangered. The Frilled Lizard has scaly, bumpy skin. It protects them from the hard and rocky ground.…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Daphnia Pesticide

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Discussion Our results supported the alternate hypothesis that Atrazine affects the geotactic movement of Daphnia (Table 1). The pesticide we used disrupted the natural behaviors of Daphnia, and thus affected their performance. These results were expected since Atrazine is a powerful weed –killer that have the abilities to disrupt the nervous system in human and animals, this is why the Daphnia displayed a vertical movement when they placed in the Atrazine solution, which was an attempt to avoid it. Pesticides can also decrease the reproductive success of aquatic animals as demonstrated by the experiment conducted by Agatz (2013).…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    How do I adapt to the living conditions The poison dart frog shows off its colors. The poison dart frog will use its long tongue to grab insects that are almost two feet away. The Poison Dart Frog will use its bright colors to warn predators to stay away.…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The three-spined stickleback fish is a well known fish to Alaskans it has two pointy spikes on its back and it is a yellowish brown color. It is located in the Pacific Ocean and some salt water lakes near Alaska. The first recorded spotting of the stickleback was in 1964. The rates of fish being caught near Alaska have been recorded for many years and the rate of stickleback caught in the 1990's is double what is being caught now. Mating occurs in early spring and summer for these fish and it starts with the male building a hollow nest with seaweeds or aquatic plants.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Coroboree Frog

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The corroboree frog is critically endangered. It has no natural predators. Their prey consists of beetles, mites, black ants, and insect…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In their first year, male frogs do not produce mating calls. However, in their second year when they are physically mature, they begin to join in the chorus. Then, in their third year, they die (Zelick 1999). In contrast, birds have human-like learning processes for their advertisement songs. Male songbirds first listen and memorize a tutor song.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Catfish and largemouth bass are extremely different species of aquatic fish, but their ultimate natural instinct is the same. They strive to survive and produce offspring to carry on the essence of life, as all species do. Catfish are a very docile creature by nature, and their habitat ranges from lakes and rivers to creeks and little streams. They do not always need a fresh and constant supply of flowing water, but it makes for a more productive lifestyle.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Quito Research Paper

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Biologists around Quito, Ecuador are on a time limit to remove an endangered frog species before the volcano eruption wipes them out. These endangered frogs are called Hyloxalus Jacobuspetersi; it is a small, chocolate-striped rocket frog. These frogs have adapted to all landscapes and environments in Quito. It has even become found of pastures and backyards of people landscapes and houses. The biologists say that there are just one hundred adults in addition to an unknown number of juveniles and tadpoles that are laying in the Andes along the Rio Pita River; this is a river that has been created from melted snow and ice on a active volcano that recently erupted, the Cotopaxi.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When putting a frog in a pot with boiling water in it, the frog will jump out of the pot immediately. However, when it was put in a pot of cold water and the pot was slowly heated, the frog would be boiled alive and die in the pot. However, this story is proved not true recently. According to Fast Company (2006), J. Debra Hofman did a new examination of the boiling frogs. “We placed Frog A into a pot of cold water and applied moderate heat.…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays