Dyeing Poison Frog

Dendrobates tinctorius

Status: Least Concern

Size:  Up to 2” in length

Habitat:  Forests

At the El Paso Zoo: Reptile House

Poison frogs get their name from hunters in South America who use the poison on the frog’s skin on the tips of their arrows.  The Dyeing poison frog is one of the largest and the first poison frog to be discovered by European explorers.

These frogs are fairly common in the northeastern part of South America including Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname.  Interestingly the name comes from a legend that people used the frog’s skin to dye parrot feathers from green to red, a technique called tapirage.  Feathers that are dyed this way are important to some of the indigenous tribes in the region.  Feathers are plucked from the backs of young parrots and then the highly toxic frogs are rubbed on the exposed skin. When the feathers grow back, the toxin causes them to appear yellow or red rather than green.

Frogs in the genus Dendrobates if eaten are highly toxic.  This defensive mechanism is toxic enough to discourage most animals from eating them.  The toxin if consumed can cause pain, cramping and death.  Poison dart frogs are also known as poison arrow frogs due to hunters in South America using the poison on their skin to tip their arrows which were then used for hunting.

Amphibians play an important role in the food chain as predators of insects and as prey for other animals. They also help people by acting as environmental alarms because their thin skins are especially sensitive to environmental changes. 

Photos by paVan, Wikimedia Creative Commons
Cover by Bernard Dupont, Wikimedia Creative Commons