GOLDEN POISON FROG – THE MOST POISONOUS FROG IN THE WORLD | UNIKZ | Dot

GOLDEN POISON FROG – THE MOST POISONOUS FROG IN THE WORLD

February 21st, 2012

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Golden Poison Frog

“…One milligram of poison, enough to kill about 10,000 mice and 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! “

The Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobate Terribilis) is the most poisonous frog in the world.The Golden Poison Frog’s skin is drenched in alkaloid poison, one of a number of poisons common to dart frogs (batrachotoxins). The alkaloid prevents nerves from transmitting impulses, leaving the muscles in an inactive state of contraction, and this can lead to heart failure or fibrillation.

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. Rather worryingly, chickens and dogs have died from contact with a paper towel on which a Golden Poison frog had previously walked!

The golden poison frog is not venomous, but poisonous; venomous animals use their toxins to kill their prey. Like most poison dart frogs, the golden poison frog uses poison only as a self-defense mechanism and not for killing prey.

The average dose carried will vary between locations, and consequent local diet, but the average wild golden poison frog is generally estimated to contain about one milligram of poison, enough to kill about 10,000 mice. This estimate will vary in turn, but most agree that 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!

The high toxicity of golden poison frog appears to be due to the consumption of small insects or other arthropods, and one of these may truly be the most poisonous creature on Earth. Scientists have suggested that the crucial insect may be a small beetle from the family Melyridae. At least one species of these beetles produces the same toxin found in golden poison frog. The beetle family Melyridae is cosmopolitan. Its relatives in Colombian rainforests could be the source of the batrachotoxins found in the highly toxic Phyllobates frogs of that region.