A mother's work is never done

Here’s a fun word: oophagous (OH-ah-feh-gehs). It means living or feeding on eggs. For Mother’s Day, another Shedd mom is the strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio. Despite its evocative common name, this species comes in a rainbow of solid colors and interesting patterns, such as Shedd’s tan, yellow and orange polka dot varieties, known to biologists as color morphs. (And, of course, these bright hues are a visual warning to would-be predators that the bite-sized frogs are toxic.) But it’s little O. pumilio’s parenting behavior that is really attention-getting.

Delicious Color, Terrible Taste

Got spots before your eyes? And they’re moving? They might belong to one of the tiny polka dot strawberry dart frogs (Dendrobates pumilio) in Waters of the World. The tan (shown here), orange and nearly dotless yellow morphs, or varieties, are the same species as the mostly red frogs that, despite their delicious color, produce a terrible-tasting toxin in their skin. To predators, these strawberry, orange and yellow – along with green, blue, black and multicolored – dart frog morphs are just another name for “yuck.”

Posted by Karen Furnweger, web editor