The world 's most dangerous frog - Golden dart

*image source - Wikipedia *

**The golden dart **

When poison words comes in our mind we often blame snake, is n't it ?! But, it is not completely true.
I will begin this time with a question ;
**Whom will you think to be the winner when there will be a battle between Cobra and our golden dart frog ***
The most crucial species , renowned for its poison has always drawn attention of scientists and forced them to classify on top 25 poison holding animal.
Coloumban tribes know the technique to use their poison for their dart. That's why they are called golden dart poison.

**Basic fact **( wikipedia)

This frog (Phyllobates terribilis), is also known as the golden frog, golden poison arrow frog, or golden dart poison. The optimal habitat of P. terribilis is the rainforest with high rain rates (5 m or more per year), altitudes between 100 and 200 m, temperatures of at least 26 °C, and relative humidity of 80–90%. In the wild, P. * terribilis * is a social animal, living in groups of up to six individuals; however, captive P. terribilis specimens can live in much larger groups.

Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order:. Anura
Family: Dendrobatidae
Genus: Phyllobates
Species:.P. terribilis
Binomial name Phyllobates terribilis

Where is the poison ?

The golden poison frog's skin has densely coated in an alkaloid toxin one of a number of poisons common to dart frogs batrachotoxin).

How it works ?

1.This poison prevents its victim's nerves from transmitting impulses, leaving the muscles in an inactive state of contraction, which can lead to heart failure or fibrillation.

1. Alkaloid batrachotoxins can be stored by frogs for years after the frog is deprived of a food-based source, and such toxins do not readily deteriorate, even when transferred to another surface.
   

Whether they are venomous or poisonous ?

The golden poison frog is not venomous, but poisonous ! venomous animals - have a delivery method for the toxin, such as fangs or spines, while poisonous animals and plants do not have a delivery method and rely on transference of the toxin, typically by, but not limited to, ingestion. Like most poison dart frogs, P. terribilis uses poison only as a self-defense mechanism and not to kill or harm others.

**How powerful is their poison !! **

You guys will amazed to know this.
I first read this in my book , that draw my attention towards this lovely creature .
*** There were more then 849 pages ! Probably ,and I found it ,from a single line ! It was very tough task .!***
1.The average dose of poison that they carry will vary between locations, and consequent local diet, but the average wild P. terribilis is generally estimated to contain about one milligram of poison, enough to kill about 10,000 mice.

1. This estimate will vary in turn, but most people agree this dose is enough to kill between 10 and 20 humans, which correlates to up to two African bull elephants. This is roughly 15,000 humans per gram.

This extraordinarily lethal poison is very rare. Batrachotoxin is only found in three poisonous frogs from Colombia .

** Whom will you vote Snake or this frog ?? **

The golden poison frog, like most other poisonous frogs, stores its poison in skin glands. Due to their poison, the frogs are deterrent to predators
P.* terribilis*poison probably kills any predator, except for one Snake species, Liophi epinephelus. This snake may be resistant to the frog's poison, but is not immune (Myers & Daly, 1978).

**Biological gateways **
The poisonous frogs and birds themselves are perhaps the only creatures to be immune to this poison. Batrachotoxin attacks the sodium channels of nerve cells, but the frog has special sodium channels the poison cannot harm.

Scientists said that allt least one species of the beetles produces the same toxin found in P. terribilis. Their relatives in Colombian rainforests could be the source of the batrachotoxins found in the highly toxic Phyllobates frogs of that region.

According to one survey, done by a website 80% people voted this animal , during battle against cobra. What did you thought ?.!

*For more information: source and first image credit *https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_poison_frog
Book : Trueman elementary biology part 1