Original piece for Wild Art 2021

Watercolour and gouache on paper
180mm x 180mm, signed, unframed

Poison dart frogs are native to tropical regions of Central and South America. The toxins found in their skin glands has long been used by local indigenous people to tip their arrows and blow darts. Out of over 175 named species, only the poison from three species is used. Some varieties are only mildly poisonous, while others are not poisonous at all.

Dart frogs are aposematic - meaning they advertise their toxicity and unpalatability to would-be predators with bright colours. Generally, the degree of toxicity coincides with the vibrance of their colouration.

In their dense rainforest habitats, adult frogs lay their eggs in leaf litter or small burrows where they won’t dry out. Male frogs fertilise and watch over the eggs until they hatch. Once hatched, the tadpoles wriggle onto the backs of their parents and are transported to a suitable water source such as the throat of a bromeliad. There the tadpoles remain as they gradually grow and transform into adult frogs, in some species feeding on unfertilised eggs laid by their mothers. From egg to adulthood, this cycle takes approximately one year.