Poison Frogs: Dendrobatidae

Poison frogs typically eat small insects and other arthropods (AR-throe-pawds), which are animals that have jointed legs and no backbones. Some of the common arthropods in the typical poison frog's diet include mites, ants, and small spiders, flies, and/or beetles. Researchers have been particularly interested in why the especially toxic poison frogs are so poisonous. In 2004, a group of scientists announced that ants may be part of the reason for at least some of the frogs' toxicity. The ants have the same toxins as the frogs. When the frogs eat the ants, the frogs take on that poison and become toxic themselves. Although the scientists are not sure what makes the ants poisonous, they suspect that the ants eat poisonous plants that make the poisons.