Alerts

Please be advised that our bird aviaries are open!  

Your Toronto Zoo is committed to the health and safety of the animals in our care. We take proactive steps to protect our birds from Avian Influenza which has been confirmed in a wild bird in southern Ontario, and some birds may still be off display.

Please note Splash Island is still closed and will not open until July due to unforeseen delays in construction. Please watch for updates on https://www.torontozoo.com/tz/splash or on our social media pages. Thank you!

Please note the following animals are currently not on display due to various reasons including Avian Bird Flu, and Covid-19 sensitivity:

  • Flamingo, peacock, owl, bald eagle, and aviaries
  • Some Kids Zoo Animals
  • Cougar
  • Moose
  • Kangaroo walk through (kangaroos are still visible)
  • Axolotl

We apologize for the inconvenience!
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Amphibian

Location at the Zoo:
Americas
Region: Central and South America


Dyeing poison dart frog

This is a large poison dart frog, commonly 40 to 50 mm with some females reaching 60 mm. It is a bright blue with two broad yellow stripes on its back; these stripes are connected by cross bands to produce two to three oval blue islands down the middle of the back. The arms and legs are black or deep blue with many bright yellow or black spots. Sometimes the yellow is replaced with white or the two yellow stripes fuse across the back to produce a frog with a solid yellow back on a bright blue or black background. It has a typical erect posture and a distinct tympanum about half the diameter of the eye. In theory males can be distinguished from females by having larger finger discs that are cut straighter across the tips. Additionally, only males call.

Conservation Status: IUCN




Distribution:

This frog inhabits small isolated pockets in French Guinea and northeastern Brazil.

Habitat:

Dendrobates tinctorius are creatures of humid, usually wet habitats, and their skins are not waxy enough to prevent evaporation in dry air. Often, it is found in heavy vines one to two metres above the ground where its bright yellow stripes stand out in the darkness of the forest.

Diet:

The diet consists mainly of ants, termites, and other small insects and small spiders. Ants have high quantities of toxic compounds in their tissue. Upon consuming ants, frogs are provided with the precursors to skin toxins which become formed in the frog’s skin, thus making them unpalatable to predators. When the food source does not have these toxic compounds, the frog will lose this poisonous feature.

Reproduction:

Amplexus occurs always on land with this frog, never in water. Eight to ten eggs are laid and the male sheds the sperm directly over the eggs. When the tadpoles develop in the eggs the male will carry them on his back to water. Dozens of tadpoles may be placed in one large water hole by several males. Tadpoles reach transformation size in about ten weeks and feed on almost anything.

Adaptation:

It is thought that the bright colours are warnings to other animals of their skin toxins and that they are not fit to eat (aposematic). The poison allows them to be diurnal unlike most other frogs that are nocturnal.

Threats to Survival:

Frogs are isolated because of the unusual nature of forests in Guianas, with relatively dry savannahs and high mountain plateaus; no two populations of D. tinctorius are exactly alike. One or two cases of over collecting could wipe out a separated population. Logging and loss of forests destroys or fragments habitats.