Students create 'killer frogs' in the laboratory

A group of students in the UK have successfully mated a rare and rare frog capable of killing 10 people with poison.

Dart frogs are a group of venomous frogs in Central America and South America. With a body length of 25mm, they live in tropical forests and use poison to deal with enemies. Currently, deforestation in South America makes the future of dart frogs here precarious. To prevent their extinction, animal experts at Walford & North Shropshire College in England came up with the idea to help students breed dart frogs in the lab, Science Daily reported.

A dart frog.(Photo: Science Daily)

The subject of the experiment was the two dart frogs (one male and one female) that a student of the school offered before joining the army.

"Although frogs lay eggs many times, my students still can't turn eggs into tadpoles. After learning the necessary environmental conditions for frog's reproductive behavior, we adjusted a few. conditions in the laboratory , " said Simon Metcalfe, the research leader.

After fertilized eggs, students put eggs in a pond. They maintain the temperature at 27 degrees Celsius and shine ultraviolet rays into the pond to simulate the natural environment of dart frogs. 12 weeks later, the eggs turned into tadpoles.

"In the end our efforts paid off. The first dart frogs moved from the water to the ground , " Metcalfe said.

Although dart frogs have the ability to secrete toxins, students don't fear them, because they can only secrete toxins after eating some poison bark and insects.