Dart frogs are amazing little jewels of the rain forest. They come in a wide array of colors and patterns and sizes from tiny (the size of a thumbnail) to larger (just a little smaller than a dwarf hamster.) People keep these frogs at home in beautifully planted vivariums with jungle plants that would not survive in most climates without glass walls. Dart frogs are not poisonous in captivity because they get their toxicity from the bugs they consume in the wild. In captivity they mostly eat fruit flies dusted with vitamin powder.
This woodcut shows a few different species including Oophaga Pumilio Bastimentos, the orange frogs with dark spots. Oophaga feed infertile eggs to their tadpoles. Ranitomeya Vanzolini are the black frogs with yellow spots. They are tiny! Much tinier than I portrayed them. They are considered thumbnail frogs because they are barely as large as a thumbnail. Phyllobates Terribillis are probably the most toxic animals on the planet. They have been used to make darts to protect indigenous people from jaguars in the jungle. The ones I portrayed are the "mint" variety. And the last ones were supposed to be dendrobates azureus...but they kind of look like another blue frog, blue sipiliwini.
Image Size: 11” x 25"
Title: Dazzling Dart Frogs
Edition Size: 10