Oophaga with tadpole

A mother Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio) transports her young around on her back.  It appear that she was dipping one of her tadpoles in the phytotank (reservoir of water captured between leaves of a plant) of this bromeliad.  Their genus means egg eater, which comes from the maternal behavior of feeding unfertilized eggs to the tadpoles. It’s the first time I observed an adult carrying its young!

Blue-jeans frog - Oophaga pumilio with tadpole - 20130618 - 2

Blue-jeans frog - Oophaga pumilio with tadpole - 20130618 - 1

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.