Golden mantella
Mantella aurantiaca
As is common with poison dart frogs (dendrobatids) from South America, Madagascar's frogs of the family Mantellidae are also poisonous, including the golden mantella. The poison is ingested with food, especially insects, and accumulates in the skin. There it is secreted by skin glands and protects the frogs from predators as well as bacterial and fungal infestation. They show their toxicity through their striking orange-yellow coloration, which serves as a warning signal for enemies. The golden mantella is only found in a limited area in eastern Madagascar. However, it is losing its habitat due to increasing deforestation, as this is becoming highly fragmented. This threat makes the golden mantella a shining ambassador for amphibian conservation and general nature conservation in Madagascar.
| Classification | frogs, Madargaskar cichlid frogs (Mantellinae, 191 species) | |
| Habitat | light swamp forests with dense ground vegetation near streams and freshwater springs | |
| Lifestyle | diurnal, ground- and tree-dwelling, in small groups | |
| Food | small insects, ants, invertebrates | |
| Weight | up to 5 g | |
| Body length | male up to 24 mm, females up to 31 mm | |
| Spawn | 40-110 eggs are laid either on moss, rotting leaves or other damp places outside the water, immediately afterwards they are fertilized by the male | |
| Duration of egg stage | 6-12 days | |
| Duration of tadepole stage | 8-14 weeks | |
| Use | terraristics | |
| Current population | unknown, decreasing | |
| At Zoo Zurich since | 2026 |
Distribution
Conservation status
