Climbing mantella facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Climbing mantella |
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Mantella
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laevigata
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The climbing mantella (Mantella laevigata) is a special kind of daytime poison frog. It lives in the warm, wet areas of northeast Madagascar. Even though it spends a lot of time in trees and bamboo forests, it also likes to be near water.
Like other Mantella frogs, the climbing mantella has bright colors. These colors are a warning sign to predators that it's poisonous! The poison comes from chemicals called alkaloids. These chemicals are found in the small insects and other tiny creatures the frog eats. The climbing mantella's diet changes a lot depending on the season.
Climbing mantellas have unique ways of having babies. They lay their eggs in tree holes or bamboo stalks filled with water. Male frogs compete to control these special spots. These frogs also show a lot of care for their young, which is quite rare for frogs!
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What Does It Look Like?
The climbing mantella is a small frog. Adults are usually about 24–30 millimetres (0.94–1.18 in) long and weigh around 1.2–2.0 grams (0.042–0.071 oz). Like other poison frogs, it has very bright colors. The front part of its back is bright yellow or light green. Its arms, legs, belly, and back end are black. It also has cool blue spots on its legs. Its eyes are completely black.
This frog has special sticky pads on its fingers and toes, which help it climb. Its toes are also webbed. Male frogs are a bit smaller than females, but it's hard to tell them apart just by looking. The best way to know if a frog is male is by its mating calls.
Some frogs look similar to the climbing mantella, like the M. betsileo, M. viridis, and M. expectata. However, these frogs have different colors and often have blue spots on their throats instead of their legs. They also have a faint line along their upper lip, which the climbing mantella does not.
Where Do They Live?
The climbing mantella lives in the northeast coastal part of Madagascar. It prefers lowland rainforests and bamboo groves. You can find this frog in several protected areas in Madagascar, like Mananara-Nord National Park, Marojejy National Park, Masoala National Park, Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve, and Betampona Natural Reserve.
These frogs like places with high humidity, usually between 80% and 100%. They can live in temperatures from 17–30 °C (63–86 °F), which is a wide range for frogs. But they are most comfortable when the temperature is between 20–26 °C (68–79 °F).
Protecting the Climbing Mantella
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species said the climbing mantella was a least concern species in 2016. This is because it lives in a large area and is thought to have a big population. Before that, it was listed as near-threatened in 2004 and 2008.
Even though it's listed as "least concern," scientists think the number of climbing mantellas might be going down. Areas in Madagascar that are not protected are losing their forests. More land is being used for cattle, farms, and cities. This can harm the climbing mantella's natural home. Luckily, people buying and selling these frogs as pets around the world is not a big threat right now. But it's still important to control this trade to keep local populations healthy.
What Do They Eat?
Climbing mantellas eat ants, insect larvae, mites, and other small insects. Unlike some other poison dart frogs, they don't only eat ants. How much they eat and what they eat changes a lot with the seasons. They don't seem to prefer one type of food. They just eat whatever small creatures they can find in the leaf litter on the ground.
For example, ants make up about 84% of their diet in the dry season. But in the wet season, ants are only about 35% of what they eat. More than half of the ants they eat are from a group called Pheidole. During the dry season, climbing mantellas eat about 44% more food overall compared to the wet season. They have a more varied diet during the wet season. This is probably because different types of prey are available at different times of the year.
Climbing mantella tadpoles (baby frogs) eat unfertilized or fertilized eggs from their own species. They only eat eggs from other climbing mantellas and ignore other small insect larvae.
Mating Habits
Male Frog Competition
Male climbing mantellas fight each other for territory. These fights involve wrestling, chasing, and leaping. They can last from 10 seconds to over 1.5 hours! The male who already lives in the territory usually wins. Sometimes, a male frog will sneak into another male's territory to try and mate with females there. If the owner finds the intruder, the intruder might fight or give up. The owner won't try to mate with a frog that has given up and will leave it alone after a few minutes.
Male and Female Interactions
The forest environment is very important for how climbing mantellas have babies. Males are very protective of their territory, which is about 2 square metres (22 sq ft) in size. Each territory has at least one water-filled spot, like a tree hole or a broken bamboo stalk. Male frogs defend these spots from other males because females lay their eggs there. Male climbing mantellas choose these spots carefully, avoiding ones with too many crane flies (which eat frog eggs) or other frog species.
Female frogs come to male frogs who make a special two-tone call to show off their territory. Female frogs are usually quiet or have very weak calls. When a female hears a male's call, she goes to his water spot. The male then changes to a softer, single-note call. The female then checks out the water spot. The male's calls only attract females to his territory. They don't help the female choose a mate. Instead, female frogs choose a mate based on how good the male's water spot is. Females often leave a male after checking his spot if they don't like it. This means good water spots are very important. The best spots often have eggs from many different frog pairs. The climbing mantella is the only Mantella frog that uses these water-filled tree holes or bamboo stalks for breeding.
Parental Care
Laying Eggs
Climbing mantellas usually lay only one large egg (3–3.5 millimetres (0.12–0.14 in)). Laying one large egg is common for frogs that take good care of their young. Female frogs lay their eggs on the side of the water spots or just above the water line. This is a type of land egg-laying, which also shows they invest a lot in their babies. The climbing mantella is the only Mantella frog where parents feed their tadpoles unfertilized eggs.
Choosing Egg-Laying Spots
Female climbing mantellas feed their young by laying unfertilized eggs for them to eat. This is called "trophic egg laying." When a female is caring for her young, she ignores male mating calls and climbs to the water spot alone. She then lays her unfertilized eggs into the water for the tadpoles to eat. Scientists think this maternal care might not always happen. It might depend more on the situation and environment than on natural behavior.
Protecting Territory as Parental Care
Male frogs defending their territory is also a way they care for their young. When a male climbing mantella is in a water spot, it stops other frog species from laying their eggs there. It might also keep land crabs, which sometimes eat climbing mantella eggs, from entering the water spots.
Males also show a type of parental care that helps them have more babies. If a male has a good water spot with one of his offspring, he always benefits. Each time he mates, his chances of having more babies go up. This is because it either creates another one of his offspring or makes a new egg that will feed his existing offspring. So, males often bring females to water spots that already have their developing eggs or tadpoles.
Sharing Resources for Tadpoles
Both male and female frogs help feed the tadpoles, whose only food is other frog eggs. Female frogs will lay unfertilized eggs into water spots that have their offspring. Male frogs sometimes bring female frogs to water spots that only contain the male's offspring. Any fertilized egg that results from this mating then becomes food for tadpoles that are only related to the male. Female frogs have ways to try and avoid laying their eggs in water spots that already have other tadpoles. In response, tadpoles have developed ways to avoid being noticed by females.
How They Defend Themselves
Climbing mantellas, like other Mantella frogs, have developed a special way to defend themselves with chemicals. They have poisonous chemicals called lipophilic alkaloids stored in their skin glands. Scientists have found 41 different strong alkaloids in the skin of climbing mantellas. Frogs kept in captivity lose their poison over time. This shows that the chemicals needed to make the poison come from the arthropods they eat in the wild. These alkaloids stay in the frogs for a long time.
