The Golden Poison Frog: More Toxic Than Cyanide
A truly lethal frog, this one.
The rainforests of Columbia are home to a plethora of wild animals and insects. One such animal is the Golden Poison Frog, a species of frog exclusively found in the Columbian rainforests. It is usually found on the Pacific Coast of Colombia. The destruction of the natural habitat of this frog over time has led to its becoming a threatened species.
Golden Poison Frog is one of the most poisonous animals on Earth. The potency of the poison is so much that venom from even a single frog can single-handedly kill ten grown men.
This frog has an average weight of 30 grams and an average length of six centimetres. It is the largest poison-dart frog. Their body colour can be yellow, orange, or pale green. It is a tactic known as aposematic coloration. In this tactic, an animal sports a highly conspicuous colour, which wards off potential predators. Their colour depends on micro-geographic locations. In other words, frogs of the same colour are likely to be found in the same territory, and the colour changes along with the territories.
The diet of a Golden Poison Frog typically includes termites, flies, ants, crickets, and beetles. These are mostly insects that are found on the rainforest floor. Spiders, caterpillars, and maggots also form a part of their diet.
The Golden Poison Frog is so toxic that there are not many creatures in the wild that are willing to or can feed on them, considering their ingestion would spread high amounts of venom into the body of the predator. For that reason they do not have many predating on them. While the common knowledge is that snakes feed on frogs, this frog is an exception, for there is only one snake species as of now that is known to be immune to the frog’s poison - the Leimadophis Epinephelus. Apart from this snake, the frog’s poison has proven to affect almost every other predator. Even in this case, it is likely that Leimadophis Epinephelus only consumes the juveniles and not the adults because of the high potency of venom.
As of now, scientists have not been able to determine the full extent of the frog’s toxicity. In fact, it is hypothesised that a Golden Poison Frog attains its toxicity from plant poisons that are carried by its prey. This is because it has been seen that poison dart frogs that have been raised in captivity and isolation from their natural insect diet do not develop venom. Whatever the case may be, the poison renders the frog extremely dangerous. Its skin glands have the capacity to produce batrachotoxins as a defense mechanism. Therefore, even touching the frog can be dangerous. Batrachotoxins impede the passage of nerve signals. Contact with these toxins leads to convulsions and ultimately death by heart failure and/or suffocation through respiratory paralysis. Each of these golden poison frogs carries just about a milligram of batrachotoxin, but it is potent enough to dispatch 20,000 mice or 10 grown men. Scientists estimate it to be a thousand times more potent than cyanide.
While the frog is extremely dangerous, it is not without its uses to human beings. The Embera and Noanama indigenous people use the poison of the Golden Poison Frog for the tips of their darts. They use blowgun darts coated with the frog’s venom to take down their prey.
The Golden Poison Frog is now an endangered species due to the destruction of its natural habitat. The gold mines in the region have eroded the habitat of this frog. Furthermore, the local people are skeptical about protecting a frog that could kill them. Convincing them to save a frog that can kill 20,000 mice or 10 men single-handedly is difficult.
Editorial Support: Phoenix Content India
