Dart-Frogs

            They jump around, some being extremely dangerous and all have blindingly vibrant pigments in their skin. Poison Dart Frogs are tiny little frogs with the smallest being the size of a fingernail and largest about two inches long.  They are mostly found in Latin and South American jungles. Each different species of poison dart frog has its own vivid coloration, from midnight blue to bright yellow and everything in between.

            This week a new species of poison dart frog was found in Panama. It is tiny, really super tiny at about 12mm long. This is about the size of a nickel.  They also have bright electric orange skin. The poison of this creature is still being tested for its toxicity level in its venom due to the frog just being discovered. These creatures are remarkable and beyond attractive with their jet-black eyes and neon orange colored skin.

            The biology behind these types of frogs is complicated and interesting.  Poison on their skin is not lethal, but it can still pack a serious punch if you decide to prey on and swallow a poisonous dart frog. Terrible taste and/or a gut-wrenching stomachache are side effects of eating a Poison Dart Frogs skin. Sometimes though, the poison in poison dart frogs can be used for medicinal purposes. Painkillers are usually made from the same chemicals that are found in these frogs poison. The color of their skin also affects the way these tiny frogs can survive such a scary jungle. When an animal eats a PDF and survives these nasty side effects it will learn and interprets that the frog with a radiant colored skin should not be eaten. This is why frogs have such bright colored skin such as bright yellow or deep crimson red; animals learn to avoid these vivid pigments so they don’t end up sick.  Over time conditioning occurs and these frogs now have little to no predators.

Fun fact: Poison Dart Frogs get their cool name from actually being used to make darts poisonous. Natives extract the frog’s poison and put them onto darts used in blow-dart guns.  The poison usually gives excruciating pain to the victim and the darts can be only semi-dangerous. So Indian Jones is not going die if some Indian with a blow-dark gun hits him. 

Ivory

            Elephants are amazing creatures. They roam Africa acting like a boss with their sharp and masculine tusks weighing in around 5 tons. They are heading into extreme endangerment though due to poaching and this is not just the African elephant. Elephants have very large tusks, which are ivory.  Ivory is derived from the teeth and tusks of animals. Elephant’s tusks have some of the largest amounts of ivory making them worth tremendous amounts of money.  They are in high demand for making all kinds of art in Eastern societies and are very valuable because of how rare it is to find them due to it being illegal to obtain and elephants are dieing at outrageous rates.

            Ivory has been used for thousands of years as a luxury material. It is used mainly for sculpting figurines and other novelty things. Gigantic and intricate sculptures could be made with this material due to the toughness yet ease of carving a piece of ivory. Ivory from tusks has also been used to make dominoes, dagger and sword hilts, and smoking pipes. Ivory used to be quite a bit more abundant until about the mid 1900’s when animals producing this sought after resource became endangered.  Today we only see ivory used in jewelry and other types of small objects. Ivory smuggling and harvesting is illegal in most countries around the world making it expensive, hard to find, and morally and legally wrong to have possession of it.

            Poachers are evil people killing endangered and helpless animals just to make quick cash. They are killing off multiply species other than elephants such as rhinos, lions, and other beautiful animals by not only hunting them until extinction, they are destroying animal habitats and causing mass deforestation. Fish and birds also are being hunted for eggs, oils, and other materials. Parrots, Bald Eagles, and rare fish are examples of species that are under serious watch and still need major protection from poachers.  A lot of animals are at risk with over-hunting and action needs to take place. The poaches are the real animals in these situations, some poachers are so desperate to make money, they have been fending off and shooting rangers so they don’t have to be punished for the horrid things they've done to our world.

            Luckily, countries are now taking action to stop these heinous crimes. Smuggling is being cracked down on in most African countries, plus imports are being searched as well in most Eastern Asian countries where the ivory craze is the greatest. Rangers and hunters who track poachers are also increasing in numbers and are become better and better at their jobs at stopping poachers. Hunting poachers is becoming easier and easier with country’s military supply of highly advanced equipment. Although poaching is still destroying our nature habitats, countries are taking steps in the right direction in preserving the animal kingdom.