![]() Front legs develop and the tail becomes a stub. The head becomes more pronounced and the body elongates. Their gills are grown over by skin, eventually disappearing to be replaced by lungs. Over the next several weeks, the tadpoles metamorphose into froglets. The female visits the tadpoles at intervals, feeding them unfertilized eggs until they can feed themselves. Often this is the small amount of rainwater trapped in the leaves of bromeliads growing close to the ground on a tree trunk or one that has fallen to the ground. After the eggs hatch, the tadpoles wiggle onto the male’s back and he carries them, usually one by one, to a pool of water. He fertilizes the eggs as she lays them, but may do so after they are laid in a damp place, usually leaf litter on the rainforest floor. The male climbs onto the female’s back, grasping her with his front limbs. The male then escorts her to a site he has selected. The female stamps her feet to indicate that she is ready to mate. Courtship includes stroking and licking an attracted female. In the breeding season males attract females and ward off other males by calling to advertise how fit they are. Usually a ground-dweller, the Red-Backed Poison Dart Frog does climb tree trunks when trying to escape from a predator.Įlevation: sea level to 656 feet (200 meters) Reproduction Its ground habitats include the leaf litter on the rainforest floor and the cavities between tree roots. This terrestrial frog inhabits lowland areas of primary (undisturbed) and secondary (degraded) tropical rainforests. SizeĠ.5 to 0.75 inches (1.2 to 2 centimeters) Legs are black with an overlay of a sky-blue or cobalt mesh pattern. This species has many color variations and patterns however, all have a colored back that in spite of the common name, red-backed, may be fiery orange. Red-backed Poison Dart Frogs have a slender body with well-developed adhesive disks at the tips of the toes on all four of its limbs. It is uncertain whether ants or beetles are the source of the chemical substances from which this poison dart frog derives the toxin that is stored in glands just under the surface of the skin. In the wild the Red-backed Poison Dart Frog’s diet includes ants, fruit flies, termites, young crickets, and tiny beetles. Geographic Distributionįrom the Iquitos and Yurimaguas Region, Loreto, northeastern Perú, and from two sites in Ecuador. They can be seen in the Frogs: Dazzling and Disappearing exhibit area in the Tropical Pacific Gallery. None of these foods contain the chemicals that cause them to develop toxins. They are fed a diet that includes crickets, wingless fruit flies, meal worms, and earthworms. Our Red-Backed Poison Dart frogs were captive-bred. SPECIES IN DETAIL Red-backed Poison Dart FrogĬLIMATE CHANGE: Vulnerable At the Aquarium
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