Green and Black Poison Dart Frog

Description:

Dendrobates auratus, also known as the green and black poison dart frog or the green and black poison arrow frog, and sometimes mint poison frog (not to be confused with the mint-green color morph of Phyllobates terribilis), is a brightly colored member of the order Anura native to Central America and northwestern parts of South America. This species has also been introduced to Hawaii. It is one of the most variable of all poison dart frogs next to Dendrobates tinctorius and some Oophaga spp. It is considered to be of least concern from a conservation standpoint by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The green-and-black poison frog, while not the most toxic poison dart frog, is still a highly toxic animal. The very small amount of poison the frog possesses is still enough to make a human heart stop beating. Like most poison dart frogs, however, the green-and-black poison dart frog will only release its poison if it feels that it is threatened, and wild specimens can be handled if the human holding it is calm and relaxed. The green-and-black poison frog, as with all poison dart frogs, loses its toxicity in captivity due to a change in diet. This has led scientists to believe that the green-and-black poison frog actually takes its poison from the mites it feeds on. The mint poison frog is in all ways an average poison dart frog. Males reach about 0.75 inch long; females are slightly larger, up to an inch long or bigger. As the common name "mint poison dart frog" suggests, the green-and-black poison frog typically has mint-green coloration; however, they can also be forest, lime, emerald green, turquoise, pale yellow, or even cobalt blue. Many also have splotches of dark colors, ranging from wood brown to black. The green-and-black poison frog is one of the most variable of all poison frogs in appearance. Some have black or brown splotches, others are dappled, or have "splashes" of black, like Oophaga sylvaticus. D. auratus is semiarboreal, hunting, courting, and sleeping in the trees, but as it is a small frog, it cannot jump far enough to span the distances between trees, so it returns to the ground to travel. To assist in climbing, the mint poison dart frog has small, sucker-like discs on the ends of its toes, which create a slight suction as the frogs climb, making their grip mildly adhesive (although some individuals do have difficulty climbing).