Poison Dart Frog vs Cobra Comparison

The poison dart frog and cobra are two of the deadliest animals on earth. These two animals contain deadly venom that fascinate researchers from well-known organizations. A poison dart frog vs. cobra fight is not just a regular fight but a battle where one of them will emerge as a winner while the loser won’t come out alive.

The venom in these animals is enough to kill humans as well as large animals including rhinos and elephants. The kind of venom in the Poison Dart Frog and that in a cobra is not only used during hunting but also for defensive purposes. If a cobra or a poison dart frog feels threatened, it emits venom within a few seconds and instantly immobilizes the attacker. The toxin coming out of the two animals is enough to kill a mature human being within a few minutes.

There is no consensus of the outcome of a fight between the two animals. A cobra is huge enough to swallow a poison dart frog but a poison dart frog is not an animal that can be swallowed easily. The poison dart frog contains lethal venom that can easily kill a cobra. To gauge how a battle between the two is likely to go, let us first have a comparison of the poison dart frog vs. cobra.

Poison Dart Frog Facts and Information

• Also referred to as the dart-poison frog, poison arrow frog or simply as a poison frog.
• Belong to family Dendrobatidae.
• There are more than 200 species of the poison dart frog.
• Have bright-colored skin.
• Are endemic to and mostly found in Central and South America.
• Countries where a poison frog can be found include Venezuela, Guyana, Bolivia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Panama, Colombia, Hawaii, Nicaragua, Suriname, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador.
• Unlike other animals, the poison dart frog does not camouflage to its surroundings. Their bright-colored bodies serve as a warning to other animals not to even think of attacking them.
• Easily distinguishable by their bright blue, yellow, red, black, green or orange colors.
• The bright-colored poison dart frog skin secretes lethal venom that kills or paralyzes its prey within a few minutes.
• Live near water bodies deep inside dense rainy forests such as the Amazon forest.
• The poison in this frog family is so deadly that during ancient times South American Native Indians laced it on arrows to be used during hunting. Animals and humans that came into contact with the poisoned arrows have zero chances of survival.
• More than half of the 200 species are not harmful to humans and other animals. However, more than 100 species secrete poison that is harmful to living beings.
• An average female poison frog lays between 4 and 6 eggs.
• In some species, the male frogs guard eggs until they hatch.
• Once hatched, the tadpoles feed on small insect eggs.
• Tadpoles live in leaf crevices near water bodies.
• Are Diurnal in nature i.e. they prey and do all activity during the day and rest/sleep at night.
• Feed on small insects including flies, ants, and mites.
• The poison frogs are territorial creatures that can put up a big fight just to keep away other animals from their territories.
• Have a lifespan of between 4 and 6 years in the wild and between 10 and 12 years in captivity.
• Length is between 1.5 cm (0.6in) and 6 cm (2.4in).
• Weigh about 2 grams.
• Well known species of the poison dart frog include the bronzed-back mantella, green mantella frog, clown tree frog, strawberry poison frog, yellow banded poison frog, golden leaf folding frog etc.
• Venom from one poison dart frog is enough to kill up to 10 mature, healthy humans.
• The deadly poison from these frogs (batrachotoxin) causes damage to brain cells, high blood pressure, seizures, paralysis and eventually death.

Cobra Facts and Information

• Belongs to family Elapidae.
• There are more than 270 known species of cobras.
• Toxin from cobras can kill a mature human being within 30 minutes.
• Poison from a king cobra can even kill an elephant within a few hours.
• A cobra bite results in drowsiness, vertigo, sever pain, blurred vision, paralysis, respiratory failure, heart muscle failure, coma and eventually death.
• Use their toxic venom for hunting as well as for defensive purposes.
• Can either bite and inject their poison into the victim’s bloodstream or spit it onto their eyes hence causing sharp pain and permanent or temporal blindness.
• Can spit poison to a distance of up to 6 meters.
• Venom from one king cobra can kill as many as 20 healthy, adult human beings.
• The King cobra is the largest poisonous snake.
• A king cobra can grow to a length of 4 meters (13 feet) and weigh as much as 6 kilograms (13 pounds)
• Apart from its poison, a cobra also uses its strong muscles to subdue and crash its prey/victim.
• Can kill and swallow a fully grown human within 30 minutes.
• Can also kill and eat other snakes including pythons.
• Males are larger than females.
• Though limbless, females normally build nests to cover eggs. It takes them several hours or a few days to completely build a nest that is about half a meter high and has a diameter of about one meter.
• A female cobra can lay between 12 and 50 eggs.
• Females normally watch over the eggs until they hatch.
• Takes between 50 and 80 days for eggs to hatch.
• Out of about 30 hatchings only two survive to the age of maturity. The remaining ones are eaten by predators including birds, other snakes, mongoose, wild boar, civets and monitor lizards.
• Young ones have a length of up to 73 cm (29in).
• The king cobra is mostly found in India and other South East Asian countries including Cambodia, Bhutan, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Nepal, Laos etc.
• Can detect prey that is 100 meters away.
• Have a stronger sense of smell compared to human beings.
• Mostly hunt during the day and rest at night.
• Have flexible jaws that make it possible to swallow prey that is bigger than its head.
• Doesn’t like confrontations or fights. When rattled, it tries to run away but with persistence it turns around before attacking.
• Most people bitten by this snake are snake charmers.
• The best defense mechanism when confronted by this snake is to slowly remove one piece of clothing (e.g. hat or shirt), throw it on the ground and run away.
• Lifespan for a wild cobra is about 20 years.

Poison Dart Frog vs King Cobra Comparison Table

Animals	Poison dart frog	King Cobra
Kingdom	Animalia	Animalia
Family	Dendrobatidae	Elapidae
Class	Amphibia	Reptilia
Order	Anura	Squamata
Average Length	0.59 in	9.8 to 13.1 ft
Average Weight	1 oz.	13 lb
Area	Tropical environments of Central and South America	Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the southern areas of East Asia
Habitat	Tropical or subtropical forests in Africa	In Alaska dense near the coast, continental United States
Poison	Has enough venom to kill 10 grown men	Enough to kill 20 people, or even an elephant
Force	1	4
Agility	4	3
Stamina	1	4
Intelligent	3	5
Average Life Span	3 to 15 years	20 years

The duel between the Poison Dart Frog vs Cobra

A fight between the cobra and the poison dart frog is something that everyone would want to watch. Though having different sizes, they are capable of killing each other. The battle between the two won’t be determined by their sizes only but also by the severity and quantity of poison in their bodies.

Due to its enormous size, high speed and versatility, a cobra will most likely emerge as the winner in a fight between the two. The poison dart frog has minimal chances of survival but it may as well cause irreparable damage to the cobra. Even if the poison frog is killed, the king cobra won’t dare eat it as the venom in the frog will kill it. It would be interesting to watch these epic fight between the two deadly creatures in Kingdom Animalia.

Videos of Poison Dart Frog and Cobra