Interactions

Toxicity
I'm going to go ahead and address the toxicity of the Poison dart frog here.  Poison dart frogs, as their name implies, are poisonous.  Venomous organisms such as snakes have active delivery systems where they synthesize and deliver their toxins to prey items.  Poisonous organisms have passive delivery systems, which means, for Dendrobatidae frogs in particular, that any poisons found in insects or prey items of the frog are absorbed and then secreted through the frog's own skin.  This means that, in captivity, these frogs are not poisonous since their captive diets usually lack the toxin producing insects they consume in the wild.  (Many of these insects either create their own toxins or also obtain them from outside sources such as plants and fungi.)  The frog's skin is moist, which allows for a single touch of a mucous membrane (such as the inside of a predator's mouth) to be quickly affected by the collected toxins.  Dart frogs can store these alkaloid toxins without being harmed themselves.  An alkaloid toxin can be one of many toxins with a nitrogen molecule within a heterocyclic ring.

Dendrobatidae frogs all have pumiliotoxins, which act as a stimulant to the cardiac system of other creatures.  These toxins force the release of intercellular calcium ions and prevents their reuptake which cause hyperactivity, hindrances to movement. hypersensitivity, partial to full paralysis, and in more severe exposures convulsions and death.  Calcium dependant channels in the heart and skeletal muscles are inhibited by this toxin which causes the entire system to shut down in severe cases of poisoning. 

Frogs of the genus Phyllobates use a stronger form of toxin, batrachotoxin, (which means frog toxin), which affects sodium channels in the brain much like the pumiliotoxin affects calcium ions in the muscular structures.  The difference is that failure of neurons to channel sodium results in a blockage of impulses, which disconnects the body from any form of activity and usually causes the heart to fail.  Frogs from this genus are known to be used for poisonous arrows by indigenous people, but frogs from the Dendrobates genus are not.  (Possibly because their toxin is not as potent and also most likely due to the relative isolated range of these frogs.)  To find out more about frog toxins used as weapons, visit dendroworks and read the page about how indigenous peoples have been using frog poisons for centuries to hunt.

Interactions with other organisms 

The Dyeing dart frog does not exhibit any mutualistic, commensal or parasitic behavior with any other organisms.  It is, however, predatory in respect to its food source which is primarily insects.  More information about its nutrition can be found on the Nutrition page.  Feel free to skip ahead.  Despite being poisonous, the Dyeing dart frog in the adult form is preyed upon by larger spiders such as the Goliath tarantula and the Brazilian wandering spider and various snakes.  In the tadpole form these frogs are susceptible to not only snakes but also Dragonflies and Mayflies. Other predatory animals such as the Toucan, while they eat frogs in general, do not include these poisonous organisms within their diet- as they would, of course, perish.

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