Golden Dart Frog (phyllobates terribilis)
Undoubtedly one of the most stunning dart frogs I have had the pleasure of photographing is the Golden Dart Frog.What makes this dart frog so special? It has earned the name The Terrible One because it is the most toxic frog of all. So toxic that simply touching the frog could kill you. The alkaloid toxins on their skin are said to be potent enough to kill three elephants. Pretty powerful stuff for a frog that is not more than an inch in length – gotta love it! Fortunately, this is a captive specimen and is perfectly safe to handle. Poison Dart Frogs get their toxins from the insects they eat in their native homelands. In captivity dart frogs are typically fed a diet of wingless fruit flies and the end result is that they will lose their toxicity.
Several months ago I photographed numerous captive bred frog specimens for the frog photography eBook I am writing. The eBook will an extensive how-to guide to finding, photographing, and optimizing frog images. Since I was wanting to include sections on photographing dart frogs and captive specimens I arranged a session with a breeder that I know. It was very important that I photograph specimens bred in captivity and not wild caught frogs. Why? Because amphibians are the fast declining animal species on the planet – sadly humanity is to blame for this decline. Global warming, habitat destruction, and pollution are just some of the causes. Another major downfall for frogs has been the importing of Bullfrogs (rana catesbeiana) as a food source (frog legs), which has led to bullfrogs escaping and inhabiting 14 countries around the world often with devastating results.
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Andrew McLachlan 