Human impact have been slashing down the animal population wantonly, throwing many rare animals on the verge of extinction. Not discovered until 1968, the Poison Dart Frog - one of the most toxic animals in the world, is one such amazing variety of frog that is in desperate threat of extinction. Thanks to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for the noblest effort on the breeding program of Poison Dart Frog. The National Aquarium in Baltimore that offers the home land of over 16000 different varieties of animals is the best place for animal lover tourists, since it reveals scopes for tonnes of aesthetic wildly fun experiences. The aquarium's general curator, Jack Cover says: "You're gonna see a lot of diversity and the best thing, you get to see them without the extreme heat and the mosquitoes that would normally be chewing you up if you were out in the wild". If you want to see the Poison Dart Frog, Baltimore's National Aquarium is the right spot to visit.
Also called dart-poison frog, poison frog or sometimes poison arrow frog, this poisonous frogs falls in the family Dendrobatidae and are native South and Central America. The most interesting characteristics that sets the dart-poison frogs apart from the other frogs, is that these species are usually active during the day. People are usually attracted to these amazing amphibians by their highly vibrant colored bodies. The poison frogs are often called "dart frogs" or "arrow frogs", because indigenous Amerindians' used to make use of their toxic secretions (batrachotoxin, which has the potency to kill many small animals and even humans, if the poison dose is higher) for poisoning their blowdarts tips, although amongst over 175 species, only three varieties have been documented as being used for the purpose. Although defined as "one of the most toxic animals in the world", but herpetologists concluded that they aren't very dangerous living inside the aquarium. As a matter of fact the are completely non-toxic when born and raised in captivity. Certain snakes and large poisonous spiders are the natural predators of the dart frog. the tadpoles, are not protected by poison; they easily fall in prey to dragonfly larvae and snakes.
Nature and Characteristics of Dart Frog:
Poison dart Frogs are usually small amphibians - sometimes even as small as 1.5 centimetres in a full grown adult length, while a few grows up to around 6 centimetres. These brightly colored poison frogs have amazing patterns of designs too - usually aposematic patterns that help them to to warn the potential predators.
They lay eggs in moist places for instance wet part of plants, leaves, in plants, and sometimes exposed roots in the wet areas. The parent frogs allow their tadpoles to wriggle onto their backs immediately after they are hatched. They then carry the piggy-backed tadpoles to water, where the larva remain until metamorphosis.
Diet:
In the captivity it's not possible to provide them their natural foods, which are meadow planktons tiny termites, small beetles, ants and other tiny insects.Frog born and raised in captivity are fed planktons, fruit flies and newborn crickets charged with certain vitamins and mineral supplements. This makes them totally non-toxic.
Distribution and Habitat:
Poison dart frogs thrives well live in the rain forests of South and Central America. These amazing amphibians are found on some of the Hawaiian islands too.
Life Span:
In natural condition the maximum life span of the Poisonous Dart Frogs are over 10 years.
Monday, December 29, 2008
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