Stats

Lifespan: 3-8 yrs
Size: Tiny
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: Central America
Movement: Hopping
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Warning Colors
Status: Uncommon

About

A thumb-sized rainforest amphibian from Nicaragua to Panama, instantly recognisable in its iconic 'blue jeans' morph — fire-red body, cobalt-blue limbs. Its potent skin toxins aren't innate: wild frogs accumulate alkaloids from the mites and ants they eat, making captive individuals completely harmless.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2.
tadpole
A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3.
juvenile
A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4.
adult
Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Dendrobatidae
Genus: Oophaga
Species: Oophaga pumilio