Golden Dart Frog (Phyllobates Terribilis) Poem by Daya Nandan

The golden dart frog is lethally toxic,
With deadly effects that are truly catastrophic,
Endemic to the humid forests of the Pacific coast of Colombia,
Just the thought of its poison just causes me insomnia,

One mg of its poison can easily kill more than ten grown men,
That is its defence mechanism to escape predators again and again,
Its skin is densely coated in a potent alkaloid batrachotoxin,
And Hunters extract it to catch prey in the forests they hunt in,

Hunters usually carefully expose the frog to the heat of a fire,
Making the frog exude small amounts of toxic that the they desire,
The tips of arrows and darts are then soaked in the toxic fluid,
Making them deadly for over two years thanks to the toxic liquid,

The poison prevents its victim's nerves from transmitting impulses,
Which causes the stopping the heart, putting an end to pulses,
It leaves muscles in an inactive state of contraction,
And that is the killing factor in it's toxins reaction.