amphibian · CR

Strawberry Poison-dart Frog

Oophaga pumilio

Overview

Tiny, loud, and unmistakably red on the forest floor.

Two centimeters of scarlet with denim legs, the blue jeans frog of Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands, and behind the cuteness sits one of the most extraordinary parenting operations in the animal kingdom. The female lays a few eggs in leaf litter; when tadpoles hatch, she carries them one at a time on her back, climbing meters up into the trees to deposit each in its own private water pool inside a bromeliad. Then, for weeks, she revisits every nursery and feeds each tadpole unfertilized eggs, the only food they will accept. The toxins in the skin, alkaloids harvested from the ants and mites it eats, make the color an honest warning rather than a bluff.

Behaviour

Diurnal and bold, males calling like insects from low perches and wrestling rivals over territory the size of a doormat.

Diet

Tiny ants, mites and springtails; the diet is the toxin source, which is why captive-raised frogs lose their chemical defense.

Photography

Get flat to the leaf litter with a macro lens on an overcast morning; the red saturates in soft light. Move slowly and they carry on as if you were furniture.

Ethics

Do not handle them, for their sake, not yours: your skin oils harm them, and stress interrupts the tadpole-feeding rounds.

Where you'll find them

Generalised encounter areas, not exact locations. Each shape is a grid cell coloured by how likely the species is there.

Costa Rica
10 km zone · high confidence · 220 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 19 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 27 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 38 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 38 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 17 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 16 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 16 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · high confidence · 100 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 27 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 17 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · high confidence · 61 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 48 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 23 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 46 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 41 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 19 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 27 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 23 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 22 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 19 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 16 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare

Similar species

amphibianLC

Red-eyed Tree Frog

Agalychnis callidryas

Night walks after rain, leaves at eye level.

Very likelyCR