Welcome to the third expedition! Today we are going to be learning about the Blue Poison Dart Frog.
Fun Fact: Poison Dart Frogs are named as such because indigenous tribes used their secretions to poison the tips of their arrows.
The Blue Poison Dart Frog lives in the rainforests of South America and are commonly found by protected nature reserve located in Suriname. Unfortunately, rainforests like the Amazon are in danger because of human deforestation. Large portions of these forests are being slashed and burned to make room for agriculture and new human development. This encroachment into their natural habitats is a large contributing factor to the endangerment of Blue Poison Dart Frogs and other rainforest species.
Scan the QR code below to access Ursa Minors data on the Blue Poison Dart Frog!
Place an anchor on the image above and tap on the animals to learn more.
Why is the Blue Poison Dart Frog endangered?
Ursa Minor Says: Sadly, many poison dart frogs now appear on the endangered species list, as deforestation and human infrastructure projects continue to encroach on their natural habitat.
What is being done to help the Blue Poison Dart Frog?
Ursa Minor Says: Very little. Over the past three decades, poison dart frogs have slipped further down the IUCN’s conservation chart, as deforestation continues to devastate precious habitats like the Amazon rainforest.
What else can be done?
Ursa Minor Says: A lot is left to be done regarding the conservation of all types of Poison Dart Frogs. More action by national governments should be taken to protect their rainforest habitats.
Art Exploration
Nixiwaka Yawanawa & John Dyer, The Sky Snake Ashuinka and Ground Snake Runua
Nixiwaka Yawanawa is an indigenous amazon artist, he and artist John Dyer collaborated to create a series of paintings such as this one. The paintings use traditional patterns and designs to depict scenes of the rainforest and Yawanawá spiritual stories.
This work is a depiction of the rainforest! Rainforests are the Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some of them having survived in their present form for at least 70 million years. There are rainforests on every continent of the world, other than Antarctica, with the largest rainforests surrounding the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa.
Animals, other than the poison dart frog and jaguar, that call the rainforest home are bats, gliders, butterflies, hawks, eagles, snakes, and even pygmy gliders. Many of these animals are depicted in the above artwork, The Sky Snake Ashuinka and Ground Snake Runua, can you spot them?
Activity
If you can remember, during our last expedition (the Desert expedition) we began to explore Tinkercad so we can make a 3D printed model of our endangered animals! Today, we are asking that you continue this process, and finish constructing your animal in Tinkercad so that you are able to print them, hopefully some time today!
Here's how Katy's turtle from yesterday's example video turned out. Isn't that so cool? Don't forget to submit an image of your printed animal to Canvas once it's finished printing!
While you’re working on your animal, or once you’ve finished and are waiting for them to print, you can work on your daily journal entry for this expedition! Use the following questions to help guide your entry:
What did you enjoy about the 3D modeling process?
What do you think you could improve upon in your 3D modeling process?
Once you are finished with your reflection, you can submit today’s daily journal entry into Canvas!
If you are ready to start the next expedition, press this button.