Blue Dyeing Dart Frog, Baltimore, MD

A Dyeing Dart Frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) at the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Amazon River Forest exhibit. This species grows up to 2.5 inches long, and comes in a variety of morphs (color and pattern variants). They are native to Central and South America, eating ants, termites and other insects. Like other species of poison dart frogs, these frogs produce toxins in its skin.

They get their name from the practice of rubbing the frogs onto the the skin of young parrots by indigenous tribes. This process poisons of the parrots' skin and causes feathers of different colors to grow.

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