REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
Frogs found on the forest floor are usually nocturnal and well camouflaged. One such example is the horned toad of Malaysia. Brown in colour with a horn looking eye, it looked just like a dead leaf. Another example of a frog that looks like a dead leaf can be found in South America. But this time, it stretches its hind leg to make more leaf-like. But frogs don’t have to be dull coloured to escape from their predators. Poison arrow frogs are brightly coloured to warn others that they are poisonous. They come in various colours including red, blue, yellow, and green. The poisons are actually skin secreted. Some are so poisonous, the indians use them in poisoning their arrow tips.
The most poisonous of all arrow frogs is the Golden poison frog. It is believed that by just holding it a person can instantly die. The golden poison frog is large about 50mm long, and its body is entirely coloured in bright golden yellow. One golden frog can release enough baltrachotoxins to kill 20,000 mice, which is equivalent to 8 humans. This frog is active in the day and not at all shy like many other frogs. At the tadpole stage, the frog is black except for golden strips. At about 14mm in length, the frog is mostly black with broad well-defined golden stripes. These stripes enlarge over time and will overlie the black parts completely.
MORE INFO ON THE WEB
| http://www.aqua.org/animals/species/prpdfrog.html A whole article on Poison Arrow Frogs |
Reptiles are the most abundant predators on the forest floor, mainly this implies to the snakes and lizards. Snakes of the forest floor range from small to medium with relation to size. Often, they are nocturnal and poisonous. To hide themselves from predators and preys, many are well camouflaged. Their diet consists of small mammals, amphibians, birds and insects.
The largest poisonous snake in South America and second largest poisonous snake can be found here in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. The Bushmaster. This snake can attain a length of close to 3 metres. It has a broad head with small eyes. Its scale is rough and the tip of its tail is rowed with short spines resembling those of rattlesnakes. That is why the Bushmaster is sometime known as the muted rattlesnake. Its colour is usually pink or tan with a row of black or brown diamonds along its back. It is nocturnal and retreats in secluded places of the rainforest during the day. It is a very sluggish snake and quite difficult to arouse. It has large venom glands, which contains tissue-destroying venom.
Another snake that spells terror is the Malayan Pit Viper. As the name implies, this species is distributed in the Southeast Asian rainforest. In Malaysia, it is also locally known as the "axe snake", for it has the same effect as an axe blow. The loss of a limb. An average Pit Viper is around 70-80 cm long. The scales have dark brown angular markings with black outlines. The background main colour is reddish brown. It is perfectly camouflaged among the dead leaves on the forest floor. It is sits and wait motionless for its prey to come by.