Costa Rica, Central America's lush green jewel, is an ideal place for the people who love the tropical paradise which is abundant in colorful flowers, wild animals, spectacular beaches, and untouched nature. Costa Rica’s jungle is home to monkeys, crocodiles, exotic birds, endangered sea turtles, countless lizards, and gorgeous butterflies. In Costa Rica you will admire a colorful fascinating tropical paradise where you can meet lucky little brightly colored frogs. These small inhabitants of green jungle are very small but poisonous. We would like to present some frogs from a Costa Rica’s nature.

(Agalychnis callidryas), also called Gaudy Leaf frog, is a symbol of Costa Rica. Gaudy Leaf frog is a relatively large tree frog, measuring up to 2.8 inches; it is the most colorful frog in Central America. It has large legs with knobby toe tips. The back is green with round white spots; neck and belly are beige; and legs are orange. The bright colors (orange toes and cream-and- bright blue stripes) helps to attract a mate, yet the frogs also need to lay low during the day to avoid being discovered and eaten. By sitting on his hands and feet, pulling his elbows and knees to his sides, and closing his eyes during the daytime (while asleep) a male frog becomes nothing but leafy green. The male emits a single-note cluck from the trees or vegetation above temporary ponds to attract females; the female lays her eggs on a leaf to be fertilized by the male. Clutches vary in size between 29 and 42 eggs and one female may lay from 3 to 5 clutches in one night. Eggs hatch about 5 days after fertilization.

Strawberry dart frog

(Dendrobates pumilio), also called blue jeans dart frog is unmistakable. This full-grown male frog is only about 0.79 inches long. This miniscule frog is called “a blue jean frog” for clear reasons – its legs are blue like blue jeans. it has It is a member of the poison dart variety of frogs. It lives on the floor of the rain forest, hopping among leaves and up on top of some logs to sing. Here it is singing to a mate or warning some other males off. These frogs are very good parents. The females lay the eggs inside of leaf-cups made by bromeliad plants. The parents take care of the tadpoles after they hatch, often transporting them on its back to other leaf-cups where will leave the tadpole inside the cistern to grow. This type of poison dart frog is not too dangerous, but some have toxic chemicals in their skin that are so dangerous they can kill a person. The poison in poison dart frogs is to keep potential predators from eating them, and the bright colors are to warn a predator that the frog is one of the most poisonous animals on earth. Poison dart frogs got their names because some native South Americans use their poison to make poisonous darts for hunting monkeys and other wild animals. From tiny pores in its skin, the frog secretes a defensive toxin that makes it unpalatable to curious predators and which could easily kill if injected into a human or other animal.

Green and Black Poison Dart Frog – (Dendrobates auratus or Dendrobates azureus) inhabits small isolated wet forest areas surrounded by the dry Savannah. However, the forest habitat of Dendrobates azureus is rather humid and warm with temperatures ranging from 22 to 27 degrees Celsius during the day to 20 degrees at night. Dendrobates azureus prefers a dark, moist environment, living only near small streams among moss-covered rocks. It typically remains on the ground, but has been found in trees at 16.4 feet. Dendrobates auratus has many color variants. Most of them are black and either green or light blue, with the black in bands or spots. The Hawaiian frogs are metallic green or brownish-black. The adults are approximately 1.6 inches long. As is true of most frogs, adults have a fused head and trunk with no tail. Tadpoles use gills to breathe, unlike the adults, which breathe through lungs. Tadpoles also lack legs and have tails, which is appropriate for their watery habitat.

Gladiator Frog (Hyla Rosenbergi) is a largish tree frog with large webbed feet and powerful jumping abilities. The male H. Rosenbergi frog has a sharp bony spine on each hand that is used as a dagger in fights between males over females and nests. Many males are wounded in these fights, and some are even killed. This is probably due to the small size of the breeding ponds, and unusually strong predation pressure - these frogs seldom live longer than a year, so males that fail to defend a decent nest probably won't get another chance in the next season.

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