These amphibians are often called "dart frogs" due to the aboriginal South Americans' use of their toxic secretions to poison the tips of blowdarts.

However, out of over 170 species, only four have been documented as being used for this purpose (curare plants are more commonly used for aboriginal South American darts) all of which come from the genus Phyllobates, which is characterized by the relatively large size and high levels of toxicity of its members.

[7] Most poison dart frogs are brightly colored, displaying aposematic patterns to warn potential predators.

For example, frogs of the genus Dendrobates have high levels of alkaloids, whereas Colostethus species are cryptically colored and are not toxic.

[3][8] Adult frogs lay their eggs in moist places, including on leaves, in plants, among exposed roots, and elsewhere.

The tadpoles remain there until they metamorphose, in some species fed by unfertilized eggs laid at regular intervals by the mother.

[5] These frogs are generally found in tropical rainforests, including in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Peru, Panama, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Hawaii (introduced).

Other species can be found in seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, plantations, moist savanna and heavily degraded former forest.

[12][13] Some poison dart frogs species include a number of conspecific color morphs that emerged as recently as 6,000 years ago.

[21] Essentially, this means that their ability to defend has come through the consumption of a particular diet – in this case, toxic arthropods – from which they absorb and reuse the consumed toxins.

[21] Many poison dart frogs secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins such as allopumiliotoxin 267A, batrachotoxin, epibatidine, histrionicotoxin, and pumiliotoxin 251D through their skin.

It is believed that dart frogs do not synthesize their poisons, but sequester the chemicals from arthropod prey items, such as ants, centipedes and mites – the diet-toxicity hypothesis.

[23][24] Because of this, captive-bred animals do not possess significant levels of toxins as they are reared on diets that do not contain the alkaloids sequestered by wild populations.

[citation needed]Conspicuous coloration in these frogs is further associated with diet specialization, body mass, aerobic capacity, and chemical defense.

Alternatively, diet specialization preceded higher aerobic capacity, and aposematism evolved to allow dendrobatids to gather resources without predation.

If prey have characteristics that make them more exposed to predators, such as when some dendrobatids shifted from nocturnal to diurnal behavior, then they have more reason to develop aposematism.

Thus, aposematism is not merely a signaling system, but a way for organisms to gain greater access to resources and increase their reproductive success.

[21] The diet that is responsible for these characteristics consists primarily of small and leaf-litter arthropods found in its general habitat, typically ants.

[47] The second category of prey are much rarer finds and are much larger in body size, and they tend to have high palatability and mobility.

[48] While vocalization and various behavioral displays serve as a way of exhibiting one's strength or fitness, territorial disputes and fights often escalate to physical combat and aggression.

Once in the upper reaches of the rainforest trees, the parents deposit their young in the pools of water that accumulate in epiphytic plants, such as bromeliads.

[14] Observations of the Dendrobatidae family suggest that males of the species typically make their mating call in morning between the times of 6:30 am to 11:30 am.

[48] The males are usually on average one meter above the ground on limbs, trunks, and stems, or logs of trees so that their call travels further and so they can be seen by potential mates.

[49] The duration of courtship in poison frogs is long and females may occasionally reject males, even after an entire day of active pursuit.

[48] In some Dendrobatidae species, such as strawberry poison frog, visual cues under high light intensity are also used to identify individuals from the same population.

This predation could have evolved over time and led to cannibalism as another form of predatory behavior that had benefitted individuals survival fitness.

[53] While scientific study on the lifespan of poison dart frogs is scant, retagging frequencies indicate it can range from one to three years in the wild.

[citation needed] Many species of poison dart frogs have recently experienced habitat loss, chytrid diseases, and collection for the pet trade.

[58] Zoos have tried to counteract this disease by treating captive frogs with an antifungal agent that is used to cure athlete's foot in humans.

[60] Poison dart frogs suffer from chytridiomycosis, which is a deadly disease that is caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd).