Animal · Colombia
Golden poison frog
Phyllobates terribilis — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The golden poison frog is tiny but is considered the most poisonous animal on Earth, coated in enough toxin to be extremely dangerous. It lives only in a small part of Colombia's rainforests.
Picture credit: Brian Gratwicke (CC BY 2.0) · Biodiego88 (CC BY 4.0) · Biodiego88 (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the golden poison frog live?
Home: Rainforests of the Pacific coast of Colombia.
In the wild you find it in: Colombia.
Conservation status from the IUCN: endangered.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures About 5–6 cm long. It weighs about 0.03 kilograms. On the menu: insects.
The story behind it
A wild golden poison frog carries enough toxin on its skin, called batrachotoxin, that even a tiny amount is extremely dangerous if it enters a wound or the bloodstream, one of the most powerful poisons known in nature. Local Emberá communities have traditionally used the frog's toxin to coat the tips of blowgun darts for hunting, which is how the whole poison dart frog family got its name. Surprisingly, the frog does not make this poison itself; scientists believe it comes from toxic insects and other small invertebrates the frog eats in the wild, since frogs raised in captivity on a different diet lose their toxicity entirely and can even be handled safely. Its extremely bright yellow colour serves as a warning to predators to stay away. Habitat loss from logging and mining in its small range has left the species endangered.
Find it on the globe
Golden poison frog is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Is the golden poison frog really the most poisonous animal?
It is widely considered one of the most toxic animals on Earth relative to its size. Its skin toxin, called batrachotoxin, is extremely dangerous even in tiny amounts if it enters a wound or the bloodstream.
Does the frog make its own poison?
No, scientists believe the frog gets its toxin from certain toxic insects it eats in the wild. Frogs raised in captivity on a different diet lose their toxicity and can be handled safely.
Why is the golden poison frog so brightly coloured?
Its bright yellow colour is a warning sign, called aposematism, telling predators that it is extremely dangerous to eat. Most animals that have learned this lesson simply avoid it on sight.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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