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Mimic Poison Frog — printable fact sheet
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Mimic Poison Frog
Ranitomeya imitator
Ranitomeya imitator is the animal that gave biologists their first clear proof of Mullerian mimicry in a vertebrate. Across the Peruvian Andes foothills, separate populations of this one species have each converged on the exact colour pattern of a different local poison frog — s…
Did you know?
- Despite their bright and intimidating coloration, Mimic Poison Frogs are actually less toxic than many other poison frogs and rely on mimicry for protection rather than potent toxins.
- Its toxicity, like that of all dendrobatids, is borrowed rather than made: the frogs sequester alkaloids from mites and ants in their diet, and captive-bred individuals fed fruit flies are entirely non-toxic. Male mimic poison frogs make an audible buzzing call from inside a bromeliad to summon the female to feed a specific tadpole, and she will feed that pool and not the others. Because each population copies a different model species, two mimic poison frogs from valleys 50 km apart can look like completely unrelated animals.
What I learned
Draw the mimic poison frog
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