November is coming to a close and we suspect that our Animal of the Month may want to get a jump on the Black Friday sales, so it’s time to bid the poison dart frog a fond farewell for now. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us on “X” (a.k.a. Twitter) and Threads as we posted fun and fascinating facts about these colourful creatures. But if you happened to miss any of our posts, you can always find a summary right here for your reference. Did you know?:

• Poison dart frogs, as they are known collectively, are a large grouping of small colourful frogs in the family Dendrobatidae.
• It is unclear exactly how many poison dart frog species exist, but the consensus is that there are well over 100. Some sources say that the number of different species could be closer to 200.
• Poison dart frogs are found in parts of Central and South America. Their natural range extends from Nicaragua in the north down through to Brazil and Bolivia in the south.
• Poison dart frogs are often mistaken for mantellas (Mantellidae), which are another group of small brightly-coloured frogs. But mantellas are distant relatives and only found in Madagascar.
• Poison dart frogs got their common name because the indigenous people of western Colombia, the Emberá Chocó, would poison their blow dart tips by rubbing them on the backs of the frogs.
• But there are only three species that have been documented to have been used in this way – the golden poison frog (Phyllobates terribilis), the black-legged poison frog (Phyllobates bicolor) and the Kokoe poison dart frog (Phyllobates aurotaenia).
• The most notable of the three is the golden poison frog, which is not only believed to be the most poisonous frog, but this species is also likely the most poisonous animal on Earth.
• The golden poison frog produces a potent toxin called batrachotoxin and produces enough of it that it can kill 20,000 mice or 10 people.
• It may be surprising to hear that poison dart frogs can’t actually produce their poison on their own. Their toxicity is directly linked to their diet.
• In the wild, poison dart frogs will eat ants, termites and small beetles by catching them with their long, sticky retractable tongues.
• Scientists believe poison dart frogs develop their poison specifically by eating formicine ants, which have a poison gland secretion.
• This means that captive poison dart frogs are not actually poisonous because they are not eating these formicine ants in captivity.
• Poison dart frogs are small with fully grown adults measuring 20-40 mms (0.75 to 1.5 inches) in length depending on the species. Males tend to be smaller than females.
• Poison dart frogs come in a countless variety of patterns and colours; including – but not limited to – blue, yellow, green, red, orange and black along with combinations of these and other colours.
• What do poison dart frogs have in common with fingerprints? Each frog has unique patterns on their skin making no two exactly alike.
• Poison dart frogs have four toes on each foot – and each toe has a flattened tip and a pad that acts like a suction cup, allowing them to grip, climb and cling to vegetation and other surfaces.
• Unlike some other frog species, poison dart frogs don’t have webbing between their toes, which suits their life on land. They are not good swimmers.
• Poison dart frogs only have one natural predator in the wild, the fire-bellied snake (Leimadophis epinephelus), which has developed a resistance to their toxicity.
• Despite enjoying a life being almost predator-free, poison dart frogs in the wild are under tremendous pressure from human activity; including habitat destruction, pollution and climate change.
• Humans engaging in poaching and smuggling poison dart frogs for the pet trade are also decimating the numbers of some species.
• For example, one species of poison dart frog – Lehmann’s poison frog (Oophaga lehmanni) – is only found in the Anchicayá Valley in western Colombia.
• Biologists estimate that poachers have smuggled 80,000 Lehmann’s poison frogs out of the area, rendering the species critically endangered with only about 5,000 of them left in the wild.
• Captive breeding programs of the Lehmann’s poison frog for the pet trade have been started in hopes of discouraging people from poaching them from the wild.
• The poison dart frogs’ bright colours are a good example of what’s known as aposematic colouration, which is meant as a warning to predators that it’s dangerous to attack or eat them.
• But aposematic colouration is not 100% fool-proof as some predators may be naïve and ignore the warning displayed by the poison dart frogs’ bright colours.
• Scientists have discovered that the poison dart frogs’ bold colours also help them camouflage themselves in plain sight as an additional defense mechanism against predators.
• Researchers first tested computer models of different predators’ vision on images of the dyeing poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) in a rainforest setting.
• They found that the poison dart frogs were quickly spotted close-up, but disappeared into the rainforest background while being viewed at increasing distances.
• The researchers tested the results in a rainforest in French Guiana by using model frogs and putting them on different backgrounds such as soil or a paper square.
• They found that the models placed on the soil or paper were attacked more often by predators than they were when they were on the natural rainforest floor.
• When it comes to mating, poison dart frogs have elaborate courtship behaviour that can last for hours.
• The male poison dart frog will lead a female to a site he has chosen for egg laying. They may visit several different sites before deciding on one where they will start their mating dance.
• The poison dart frog mating dance involves the pair mutually chasing, stroking and hopping on each other. If the nesting site is in leaf litter, they will also clean the surface of the leaf litter before laying eggs in it.
• The size of the clutch (group of eggs in a single laying) can vary from one to 40 eggs depending on the species of poison dart frogs. The male will fertilize the eggs after the female lays them.
• Either the female or male poison dart frog will stay at the nesting site to guard the eggs or they will visit the site regularly. Depending on the species and the ambient temperature, it will take about 10 – 18 days for the eggs to develop into tadpoles.
• Once the eggs develop into tadpoles, either the male or female poison dart frog will sit amid the clutch and the tadpoles will wriggle their way up onto the parent’s back.
• The parent will then carry the tadpoles to a small body of water where they can spend the next few months metamorphosizing into adult poison dart frogs.
• In the wild and in captivity with proper care, poison dart frogs can live between 10 and 15 years.
• The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland says it had one blue poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) in its care that lived to be 23 years old.