Skip to content
Explore the animals
Red-eyed tree frogCane toad
Photo of the Dyeing poison frog
South AmericaLeast concern

Dyeing poison frog

Dendrobates tinctorius

A tiny, brightly coloured frog of the rainforest floor.

Weight
About 9 g
Size
Up to 5 cm long
Lifespan
5–10 years
Top speed
Hops
Diet
Ants, mites, tiny insects

How heavy is that?

So light that a 40 kg kid weighs as much as 4,444 of them

Where it lives

Three things to know

  1. It gets its poison from the ants and mites it eats.
  2. Frogs raised in zoos on other food are not poisonous.
  3. Fathers carry the tadpoles on their backs to little pools of water.
Try the body explorerSee its neighbours

Compare with…

Weight
Dyeing poison frog9 g
A 10-year-old kid40 kg
The kid weighs about 4,444× as much as the poison frog
Size
Dyeing poison frog5 cm
A 10-year-old kid1.4 m
The kid is about 28× as big as the poison frog
Top speed
Dyeing poison frog—
A 10-year-old kid20 km/h
Too slow to time
Lifespan
Dyeing poison frog10 yrs
A 10-year-old kid80 yrs
The kid can live about 8× as long as the poison frog

Food chain

  1. LeavesProducer
  2. Insects
  3. Dyeing poison frogThis animal