Portál Pražana
Beautiful but deadly Amazon poison dart frogs
Visitors to Prague Zoo can admire a collection of thirty species of poison dart frogs in the Gočár Houses Gallery until the end of October. Guided tours and workshops will take place throughout the exhibition. Poison dart frog is the common name for a group of frogs in the Dendrobatidae family which are native to tropical Central and South America. Despite their small size of only few centimetres, poison dart frogs are not only fascinating, but also truly deadly frogs. Only a fleeting touch of the frog can be fatal to a predator, and a tiny droplet of their poison can kill an animal the size of a horse. Moreover, these frogs do not excrete only one type of poison, but a mixture of several different toxic substances.
Why dart frogs?
Members of native South American tribes obtain a sharp poison from these frogs, by pricking them on sticks and roasting them over a fire. They then apply the poison to the tips of darts for their blowguns.
However, the poison dart frog is not poisonous in itself, but obtains its deadly substance from its natural food, which mostly consists of poisonous insects. The poison dart frogs have succeeded to adapt to ingest these poisonous organisms harmlessly and at the same time to modify these toxic substances for their own protection.
The most poisonous frog in Prague
The golden poison frog, the most poisonous species of frog in the world, belongs to the poison dart frog family. It is dangerous to humans as it has so much poison in its skin glands that it could kill a dozen adults at once. For humans, the lethal dose is about 100 micrograms. Even the golden poison frog can now be admired by visitors to the Gočár Houses Gallery.
For further information, please visit: https://www.zoopraha.cz/en.