The green-black poison frog

By Josue Alberto Vargas Montoya

Costa Rica is known for being a country with abundant flora and fauna, as well as habitat for endless varieties of reptiles and amphibians. It is the country preferred by many herpetology lovers.

The green-black poison frog is the best known in the tropical forest environment. The temperature of this frog exceeds 20 degrees, even at night. The ambient humidity has to be high; daily rains are vital for the favorable habitat of the poison frog.

The little jumpers are diurnal; they obtain their potent poison from the intake of ants and beetles. therefore, when these frogs become victims of smugglers, they lose their main food supply and with it their potent poison.

The green-black poison frog, like many other species of the Dendrobatidae family,, are in danger of extinction due to smuggling and climate change. Amphibians are particularly subject to temperature changes.
The loss of their habitat and a powerful fungus, called “Batrachochytrium “dendrobatidis” damage the keratin layer that covers the skin of amphibians, whose health is essential for their homeostasis and their immune defense.

This poisonous frog has a variable coloration in the area of Nicaragua to northwest Colombia. In Costa Rica, they have two types of coloration: bluish-green with black spots and then a color where black with green spots dominates.

The green-black poison frog is the largest poison frog in Costa Rica. The females fight for the male and lay the eggs in a small “pond” in the forest litter. Males are the ones who take care of the eggs until they become tadpoles. They carry them on their backs and deposit them in a small pond in a bromeliad where they will be safe. Membranes do not join the fingers of the frogs, so they can move with greater agility and climb trees.

Please protect these beautiful jewels of Costa Rica’s tropical forest so that future generations can also observe and appreciate them!