Delete comment from: Dark Roasted Blend
I really love the pictures you have on your post. they're great. it's the only place i've seen pictures of the "Mint Green" morph of the Golden Dart Frog. My favorite pic tho is the blue dart frog on the red plant.
in response to comments questioning the potential lethality of our little yellow friend:
The Golden Poison Dart frog (Phyllobates terribilis) is "currently considered the most poisonous vertebrate worldwide". Each Golden Dart Frog contains an average of about 1 milligram of batrachotoxin, enough to kill 10,000 mice or 10-20 humans.
the above information was taken from Wikipedia.
i also found a number of other sources claiming that the P. terribilis is the most POISONOUS [CAPS for a reason] animal in the world. One of these sources mention that batrachotoxin is the most lethal poison/venom found in any animal.
the reason I used CAPS for "poisonous" is because there is a difference between poisonous and venomous. venomous animals deliver their toxins via injection in the forms such as a bite or sting whereas the toxins of a poisonous animal are delivered through absorption (touching) or ingestion (eating/swallowing). Therefore, regardless of the lethality of inland taipans or ringed octopuses, the Golden Poison Dart Frog is the most poisonous animal in the world.
That said:
sorry anonymous, but while it is ONE of the most venomous animals in the world, the blue ringed octopus is not more potentially lethal than P. terribilis. While there is no known antidote to their venom, a bite can be survived with artificial respiration: "Respiratory support, together with reassurance, until medical assistance arrives ensures that the victim will generally recover well." (quote from Wikipedia).
Matt,
That statistic of a single bite possibly killing 250,000 mice or 100 people refers to the milking with the highest recorded venom yield for that snake (meaning the most venom recorded in a bite from that snake). The venom yield (amount of venom delivered in a single bite) was 110mg. The average venom yield for the inland taipan is 44mg. That means that the average bitewould potentially kill 100,000 mice or 40 people. That's 1.1 mg per person. That means the LD50 (dose of substance required to prove lethal to 50% of the tested population) of the inland taipan's toxin is 0.025mg/kg, making it, yes, the most venomous animal in the world. However, our little yellow friend's toxin (batrachotoxin) has an LD50 of 1-2mcg(micrograms)/kg [a.k.a 0.001-0.002mg/kg], making the toxin of P. terribilis 12-25 times more potent than the toxin of the inland taipan, thus making the Golden Poison Dart Frog (Phyllobates terribilis) the most toxic animal in the world.
plus the fact that a cute little frog less than 2 inches in length can singlehandedly kill up to 20 people just seems so much cooler than death via a bite from a brown colored snake.
Feb 18, 2008, 8:08:00 AM
Posted to Colorful ( & Poisonous) Frogs