Ranitomeya variabilis
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Ranitomeya variabilis, formerly known as Dendrodates variabilis, is a species of small poison dart frog distributed in northern Peru, along the eastern slope of Andes in the upper Rio Huallaga drainage basin. Its common name, Zimmerman's poison frog, is named after Elke Zimmermann, a German zoologist who described the morph of this species and differentiated it from D. ventrimaculatus. The species was formerly considered to be synonymous with Ranitomeya ventrimaculata.
Ranitomeya variabilis usually has a bright yellow body with deep blue limbs, and black spots or stripes across the ventral side of the body. The colors change in some geographic locations. R. variabilis has different mimicry relationships with two other species. Like other frogs in the same family, R. variabilis has toxic skin alkaloid which repels potential predators.
R. variabilis are cannibalistic even as tadpoles, so adult male parents may allow tadpoles to jump on their backs and transport them to less crowded areas. Adult R. variabilis use chemical cues to determine the presence of tadpoles and whether they are cannibalistic or not.
R. variabilis are characterized by a black spot... Wikipedia →
Recording0:23
French Guiana · 2024
© Augustin Bussac · XC929079 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Aquarium of the Pacific | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | New England Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 6 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Zimmermann's Poison Frog sighting in Yasuní National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 49 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Zimmermann's Poison Frog in Yasuní National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September and December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Zimmermann's Poison Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Yasuní National Park, in our data
Yasuní National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Zimmermann's Poison Frog sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Zimmermann's Poison Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Yasuní National Park (23 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
