Editing Poison dart frog (section)

=== Reproduction ===
[[File:Ranitomeya_imitator_Varadero_-_Mattias_Starkenberg.jpg|thumb|[[Mimic poison frog|''Ranitomeya imitator''{{'}}s]] developmental life stages]]

Many species of poison dart frogs are dedicated parents. Many poison dart frogs in the genera ''[[Oophaga]]'' and ''[[Ranitomeya]]'' carry their newly hatched tadpoles into the canopy; the tadpoles stick to the mucus on the backs of their parents. 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]]. The tadpoles feed on invertebrates in their nursery, and their mother will even supplement their diet by depositing eggs into the water. Other poison frogs lay their eggs on the forest floor, hidden beneath the [[leaf litter]]. Poison frogs [[external fertilization|fertilize their eggs externally]]; the female lays a cluster of eggs and a male fertilizes them afterward, in the same manner as most fish. Poison frogs can often be observed clutching each other, similar to the manner most frogs copulate. However, these demonstrations are actually territorial wrestling matches. Both males and females frequently engage in disputes over territory. A male will fight for the most prominent roosts from which to broadcast his [[mating call]]; females fight over desirable nests, and even invade the nests of other females to devour competitor's eggs.<ref>[[Ross Piper|Piper, Ross]] (2007), ''Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals'', [[Greenwood Press (publisher)|Greenwood Press]].</ref>

The operational sex ratio in the poison dart frog family is mostly female biased. This leads to a few characteristic behaviors and traits found in organisms with an uneven sex ratio. In general, females have a choice of mate. In turn, males show brighter coloration, are territorial, and are aggressive toward other males. Females select mates based on coloration (mainly dorsal), calling perch location, and territory.<ref name="SummersEtAl99" />

==== Mating behavior ====
Observations of the Dendrobatidae family suggest that males of the species typically make their [[mating]] call in morning between the times of 6:30&nbsp;am to 11:30&nbsp;am.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> 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.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> The calls are signaled towards the stream where females are located.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> After the call is received, the female makes its way to the male and [[Fertilisation|fertilization]] occurs.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> This observed fertilization is not accomplished through amplexus.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> Upon meeting, courtship is generally initiated by the female.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> The female strokes, climbs, and jumps on the male in tactile [[courtship display|courtship]] and are by far the more active sex.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> The duration of courtship in poison frogs is long and females may occasionally reject males, even after an entire day of active pursuit.<ref name="Summers-1999">{{Cite journal |last1=Summers |first1=Kyle |last2=Symula |first2=Rebecca |last3=Clough |first3=Mark |last4=Cronin |first4=Thomas |date=1999-11-07 |title=Visual mate choice in poison frogs |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0900 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |volume=266 |issue=1434 |pages=2141–2145 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1999.0900 |pmid=10649631 |pmc=1690338 |issn=0962-8452}}</ref> In the majority of cases, the males choose the [[Ovipositor|oviposition]] site and lead the females there.<ref name="Crump-1972" /> In some Dendrobatidae species, such as [[Strawberry poison-dart frog|strawberry poison frog]], visual cues under high light intensity are also used to identify individuals from the same population.<ref name="Summers-1999" /> Different species use different cues to identify individuals from their same population during mating and courtship.

==== Post-mating behavior ====
Typically in many species the larger portion of [[parental investment]] falls on the shoulders of the female sex, whereas the male sex has a much smaller portion.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> However, it has been studied that in the family of Dendrobatidae, many of the species exhibit sex role reversal in which the females are competing for a limited number of males and the males are the choosers and their parental investment is much larger than the females.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> This theory also says that the female will typically produce eggs at an exceedingly fast rate that the males cannot possibly take full care of them which then leads to some of the males becoming unreceptive.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> Dendrobatidae also exhibit the parental quality hypothesis. This is where the females mating with the males try to ensure that their male mates with as few individuals as possible so that their number of offspring is limited, and thus each individual offspring receives a larger portion of care, attention, and resources.<ref name="Summers-1989" /> However, this creates an interesting dynamic of balance as there is a limited number of males available, and with many females competing for a limited number of males for courtship this makes it difficult to limit the number of individuals a male mates with. Whereas in many species, the competition is flipped in that the competition is prominent among the males, among the Dendrobatidae it is the opposite as the females seem to have a great deal of competition among themselves for males. Females will even take the drastic measures and resort to the destroying of other female's eggs in order to make sure that the male they mated with is receptive and that it scares the male from mating with other females.<ref name="Summers-1989" />

==== Behavior as tadpoles ====
The poison dart frog is known for its [[Aggression|aggressive]] and [[Predation|predatory]] behavior. As [[tadpole]]s, the individuals of the [[genus]] ''Dendrobates'' exhibit some unique cannibalistic tendencies, along with many other forms of predatory behavior.<ref name="Caldwell-1998">{{Cite journal |last1=Caldwell |first1=Janalee P. |last2=Araujo |first2=Maria Carmozina |date=March 1998 |title=Cannibalistic Interactions Resulting from Indiscriminate Predatory Behavior in Tadpoles of Poison Frogs (Anura: Dendrobatidae) 1 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7429.1998.tb00372.x |journal=Biotropica |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=92–103 |doi=10.1111/j.1744-7429.1998.tb00372.x |bibcode=1998Biotr..30...92C |issn=0006-3606 |s2cid=84158392|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Dendrobates'' tadpoles that either consumed three or more conspecific tadpoles and/or relatively large larvae of the [[mosquito]] ''[[Trichoprosopon digitatum]]'' common in their environment led them to having a much higher growth rate and typically lived much longer lives.<ref name="Caldwell-1998" /> Reasons for this behavior could be that predation and aggression was selected for and favored for a few reasons. One reason is to eliminate predators, and the second reason is that it serves as a source of food in habitats that were low in resources. This predation could have evolved over time and led to cannibalism as another form of predatory behavior that had benefitted individuals survival fitness.<ref name="Caldwell-1998" /> However, one observation has been noted in the general characteristic of ''Dendrobates'' tadpoles including ''D. arboreus'', ''D. granuliferus'', ''D. lehmanni'', ''D. occultator'', ''D. pumilio'', ''D. speciosus'', and many other ''Dendrobates'' species is that they have reduced mouth parts as young tadpoles which limits their consumption typically to unfertilized eggs only.<ref name="Caldwell-1998" /> Thus, it can be assumed that the [[Cannibalism|cannibalistic]] tendencies of ''Dendrobates'' is limited to their lifetime as a tadpole and does not cross over into their adult life.