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The most toxic , worst - tasting poisonous frogs are also the most physically fit , a new study discover .
Poison dart frogs , which are aboriginal to the rain forests of the Amazon , release a acerbic toxin from their brilliantly patterned skin . research worker put nearly 500 of these frogs to the psychometric test on ahamsterwheel - like contraption to find out how athletic each species is . The finding from this amphibian Olympics , published March 28 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , revealed that the deadly toad frog are also the most vigorous .
Dendrobates leucomelas, a poisonous frog from Venezuelan Guiana, has higher aerobic capacity than its nontoxic relatives.
" They ’re better able to pull up oxygen from each intimation and transfer it to their muscles , just like well - train athletes , " study author Juan Santos of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina said in a assertion .
The researchers testedmore than 50 speciesof salientian from Colombia , Ecuador , Venezuela and Panama , make the beast take the air in a charge plate metro that rotated like a hamster wheel . After four moment , the researchers gauge each frog ’s metabolic rate to figure out the animal ’s aerophilous fitness .
dreary frog may be less fit than theirjewel - like cousinsbecause of their spirit habit , read study researcher David Cannatella of the University of Texas , Austin . Poison flit toad frog get the ingredients to make their toxins by eat sure ant and mites , Cannatella suppose in a statement . That means they have to range far and wide to find solid food , which could explain their athletic skills .
Dendrobates leucomelas, a poisonous frog from Venezuelan Guiana, eats a special diet of ants and mites, which contain compounds that help the frog make its toxic secretions.
" Nontoxic species basically stay on in one place and do n’t move very much and eat any louse that comes close to them , " Santos said . " But the smart , poisonous salientian are very picky about what they eat . "
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