Poison Dart Frogs Don’t Just Pack A Poisonous Punch, Holding Enough Toxins To Paralyze Or Kill Enemies, But They Also Rapidly Tap Dance With Their Middle Toes, A Behavior That Might Be Used To Manipulate Prey

They discovered that about 37 percent of frogs accelerated their toe-tapping before attacking prey. Frogs with longer middle toes were more likely to display the behavior.

The Magdalena researchers hope to conduct further studies to figure out whether the tapping really is a deliberate manipulation of prey behavior.

In a study published in 2023, Lisa Schulte and Yannis Köning, two researchers from the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, experimented with green and black poison frogs, showing that certain types of prey, such as crickets and smaller fruit flies, triggered the frogs to tap.

More research is needed to determine if toe-tapping helps the frogs catch prey or if they’re simply just excited about the prospect of food.