Page 58 - Amphibian

Poison-dart frogs and mantellas

Many amphibians are brightly colored, but the most colorful of
all are the poison-dart frogs from Central and South America and
mantellas from Madagascar. These frogs use their bright colors to
defend their territories from other males during courtship, as
well as to warn predators that they are poisonous to eat. They
have had to evolve more
DANDY FROG
This exquisitely highly poisonous
dressed frog, looking chemicals in their skin as
just like a poison-dart
frog in his clothes of their enemies, including
many colors, is all snakes and spiders, become
puffed up and in his
Sunday best. resistant to milder skin toxins

Bright color Red flash
helps to warn color helps
predators camouflage
frog

This bright
mantella has a red
“flash” color on the
inside of its leg

STRANGE NAME
The strawberry poison-dart frog
This yellow was originally given its common
mantella may be a name because of its usual
color variety of the green and strawberry red color, made even
black mantella (below), or a brighter by deep blue-black
different species flecks. But strawberry poison-
dart frogs from different areas
may have different colors – blue,
green, yellow, orange, spotted,
plain, and even black and white.

WAR PAINT
Some native peoples of North
America used war paint to strike
terror into the hearts of their
enemies. This Hopi chief wears
orange, red, and yellow – the
classic warning colors – in his
Identifying mantellas is very headdress. Amphibians also use
difficult – they have so many the same colors to frighten away
color varieties (above) their enemies.

Skin is
highly toxic

GOLDEN LOOK-ALIKE
This golden yellow poison- It has recently been
dart frog, Phyllobates bicolor, discovered that the
looks very much like its golden mantella
close relative – the more from Madagascar
poisonous Phyllobates produces the same
terribilis (pp. 60–61) – kind of chemical
but it is smaller and poisons as South
has black markings on American poison-
its legs. dart frogs

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