• Barbara Keith
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Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are diurnal and often have brightly colored bodies. This bright coloration is correlated with the toxicity of the species, making them aposematic. Some species of the family Dendrobatidae exhibit extremely bright coloration along with high toxicity, while others have cryptic coloration with minimal to no amount of observed toxicity. The species that have great toxicity derive this from their diet of ants, mites and termites. Other species however, that exhibit cryptic coloration and low to no amounts of toxicity, eat a much larger variety of prey. Many species of this family are threatened due to human infrastructure encroaching the places they inhabit. These amphibians are often called "dart frogs" due to the Amerindians' indigenous use of their toxic secretions to poison the tips of blowdarts. However, of over 170 species, only four have been documented as being used for this purpose (curare plants are more commonly used), all of which come from the genus Phyllobates, which is characterized by the relatively large size and high levels of toxicity of its members (Wikipedia).

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Anonymous Guest

Al Budarin 08 Feb 2020

Barbara,Amazing portraits Spectacular in every way so skillfully done,viewing many of the images in your gallery ,I really got an Education about many of your Animals & so informative .0

Artist Reply: Glad I could be of service.. and thanks

Joanie Holliday 19 Sep 2018

NEAT CREATIVE WORK

Artist Reply: it was difficult but fun, thanks