Bastimentos National Park and Bocas del Toro, Panama
This morning we visited, either on a Zodiac or by kayak, the Basimentos National Park on the continental grounds just in front of the Bocas del Toro archipelago. We had the chance to cruise along small islets covered in red mangroves and land at a small National Park that protects some of the most colorful and intriguing animals in the rainforests: the poison dart frogs, in the Dendrobatidae family.
Dendrobatids are small to very small frogs that inhabit rainforests of southern Central America and the tropical regions of South America. This family’s common name – the poison dart frogs – comes from the skin toxins mainly found in the Dendrobates and Phyllobates genera. Indigenous people from the Chocó region in Colombia are keenly aware of the extreme toxicity of these frogs - the skin of the Phyllobates terriblilis frog has enough toxin to kill ten adult humans. They hold the frog over a fire or pierce it with a sharp stick to make it secrete more of its defensive toxins, which they rub onto their blowdarts. The secretion carries a strong neruotoxin that may cause total paralysis, or even cardial arrest within minutes.
The Dendrobates pumilio or “blue-jean frog” owes its common name to the fact that their hind legs are usually blue or black in contrast to a bright red body. This, however, does not apply to the Panamanian variety, which is the one we saw today. More precisely, the species found in the Bocas del Toro region of northwestern Panama lack the red and blue coloration; indeed they are extremely variable in color and pattern, often with blue, green, or olive on the back and patterned with white, yellow, or brown spots against a red to orange body. We could easily locate the individuals along the trail, because, they are a diurnal species and because of their very conspicuous calls, an insect-like “buzz-buzz-buzz” made by males to attract mates.
We then had a very relaxing afternoon either snorkeling from a Zodiac or strolling around the town of Bocas del Toro.
This morning we visited, either on a Zodiac or by kayak, the Basimentos National Park on the continental grounds just in front of the Bocas del Toro archipelago. We had the chance to cruise along small islets covered in red mangroves and land at a small National Park that protects some of the most colorful and intriguing animals in the rainforests: the poison dart frogs, in the Dendrobatidae family.
Dendrobatids are small to very small frogs that inhabit rainforests of southern Central America and the tropical regions of South America. This family’s common name – the poison dart frogs – comes from the skin toxins mainly found in the Dendrobates and Phyllobates genera. Indigenous people from the Chocó region in Colombia are keenly aware of the extreme toxicity of these frogs - the skin of the Phyllobates terriblilis frog has enough toxin to kill ten adult humans. They hold the frog over a fire or pierce it with a sharp stick to make it secrete more of its defensive toxins, which they rub onto their blowdarts. The secretion carries a strong neruotoxin that may cause total paralysis, or even cardial arrest within minutes.
The Dendrobates pumilio or “blue-jean frog” owes its common name to the fact that their hind legs are usually blue or black in contrast to a bright red body. This, however, does not apply to the Panamanian variety, which is the one we saw today. More precisely, the species found in the Bocas del Toro region of northwestern Panama lack the red and blue coloration; indeed they are extremely variable in color and pattern, often with blue, green, or olive on the back and patterned with white, yellow, or brown spots against a red to orange body. We could easily locate the individuals along the trail, because, they are a diurnal species and because of their very conspicuous calls, an insect-like “buzz-buzz-buzz” made by males to attract mates.
We then had a very relaxing afternoon either snorkeling from a Zodiac or strolling around the town of Bocas del Toro.
