Amphibian Warning Colors
Amphibian Warning Colors
Many salamanders, frogs, and other amphibians are also colored in red, black, yellow, and orange patterns. These bright colors also serve to warn predators to stay away.
The fire salamander of Europe, for example, is black with yellow spots or stripes. Sometimes red or orange tints appear on its skin, too. If a predator grabs it, poisonous fluids flow from the salamander’s skin. The salamander can even squirt the poison.
Another amphibian, the fire-bellied toad, arches backward to reveal its bright red or yellow underside when it is bothered. A predator that grabs the toad anyway will quickly drop it after getting a taste of its poisonous skin—especially if the frightened toad has oozed so much poison that it seems to be covered in foam.
Poison dart frogs have a rainbow of warning colors. They may be red, orange, yellow, lime green, or cobalt blue, striped with black, depending on the species. Across the world in Africa, banded rubber frogs are clad in poisonous skins that are black with red stripes and spots. If attacked, they ooze a thick, sticky fluid that is poisonous to small predators and strong enough to irritate a human’s skin.
Warning colors are even at work underwater, especially in the rainbow world of a coral reef. A slow-moving reef fish called the polka-dot boxfish, for example, stands out with its yellow skin dotted with black. This vivid skin spews sticky, poisonous mucus when the fish is attacked. If this is not enough to stop the attack, the boxfish’s hard, boxy body protects it. Like most animals with warning colors, it is a sturdy creature that is hard to hurt or kill. It has to be, in order to survive whilestill teaching its predators a lesson.
Many salamanders, frogs, and other amphibians are also colored in red, black, yellow, and orange patterns. These bright colors also serve to warn predators to stay away.
The fire salamander of Europe, for example, is black with yellow spots or stripes. Sometimes red or orange tints appear on its skin, too. If a predator grabs it, poisonous fluids flow from the salamander’s skin. The salamander can even squirt the poison.
Another amphibian, the fire-bellied toad, arches backward to reveal its bright red or yellow underside when it is bothered. A predator that grabs the toad anyway will quickly drop it after getting a taste of its poisonous skin—especially if the frightened toad has oozed so much poison that it seems to be covered in foam.
Poison dart frogs have a rainbow of warning colors. They may be red, orange, yellow, lime green, or cobalt blue, striped with black, depending on the species. Across the world in Africa, banded rubber frogs are clad in poisonous skins that are black with red stripes and spots. If attacked, they ooze a thick, sticky fluid that is poisonous to small predators and strong enough to irritate a human’s skin.
Warning colors are even at work underwater, especially in the rainbow world of a coral reef. A slow-moving reef fish called the polka-dot boxfish, for example, stands out with its yellow skin dotted with black. This vivid skin spews sticky, poisonous mucus when the fish is attacked. If this is not enough to stop the attack, the boxfish’s hard, boxy body protects it. Like most animals with warning colors, it is a sturdy creature that is hard to hurt or kill. It has to be, in order to survive whilestill teaching its predators a lesson.
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