This map shoes the distribution of strawberry poison dart frogs (Dendrobates pumilio) color morphs in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, Panama. New research shows that the conspicuousness of a frog's color pattern -- as seen by birds -- corresponds to its toxicity. Credit: Photograph by Martine Maan ©
The conspicuous colors of poisonous frogs serve as a warning to predators: Don't eat me; I'm toxic. And a new study shows that in the case of at least one frog species, they aren't bluffing—the more conspicuous the color, the more poisonous the frog. Researchers Martine Maan (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Molly Cummings (University of Texas) studied strawberry poison dart frogs, which are native to Panama and come in more than a dozen different color patterns that vary from region to region. Maan and Cummings tested the toxicity levels of 10 differently colored frog populations. Then using known properties of birds' visual systems, the researchers estimated how each color pattern would look to a bird, an important frog predator. The results show that frogs with more conspicuous color patterns—as seen by birds—tended to be more toxic. The findings suggest that "birds can predict the toxicity of frogs by looking at their colors, possibly better than the frogs can themselves," Maan said.
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Martine E. Maan and Molly E. Cummings, "Poison Frog Colors Are Honest Signals of Toxicity, Particularly for Bird Predators." The American Naturalist 179:1 (January 2012).
University of Chicago Press Journals: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Thanks to University of Chicago Press Journals for this article.
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