Panamanian Golden Frog Atelopus zeteki

The golden frog in Panama looks like a smooth frog, but it is classified as "Bufonidae". Like other toxic Panama amphibians, golden frogs secrete poison to help protect themselves from predators. In the case of Golden frog, this is a water soluble neurotoxin called zethexitoxin.

In dry habitats, adult men weigh from 35 mm (1.4 in.) To 40 mm (1.6 in.), From 3 grams (0.11 ounces) to 5 grams (0.18 ounces). The range of adult female is 45 - 55 mm, 4-7 grams. It is larger in the wet forest, men up to 48 mm, weight up to 12 g, women up to 63 mm, weight up to 15 g. They live in tropical forests, especially in the mountains near Ogawa

A small frog behind a big frog is not a baby but a fake ethnic group of an adult male engaged in "amplexus" in which male amphibians catch women with forepaws as part of the mating process. At the same time, or for some time, he fertilizes a female egg with liquid containing sperm.

It is difficult to see this species in the wild. Pet trading, deforestation, and strange diseases affecting amphibians around the world are the cause of their extinction. However, the Amphibian Rescue Center at El Valle de Anton launched a program to keep gold frog under breeding and eventually reintroduced them in the wild.

Panama gold frog (Atelopus zeteki) is Panama's unique pelican. Panama's golden frog was sitting on the cloudy slope of Cordillera in the Midwest of Panama. IUCN lists it as a serious endangered species, but in reality it has been in danger of extinction since 2007. To protect the species, people were collected for artificial breeding. Another common name, Zetek's frog and nickname zeteki is to commemorate the insect scholar James Zetek

Artificial breeding: In 2000, prior to the depression associated with chytrid molds, the Baltimore Zoo was allowed to build a group of adult Panama Golden Frog (Atelopus zeteki) under the Golden Frog Project in the United States. This Golden frog population has increased to more than 1,000 adults in over 50 facilities in the United States and Canada and is managed by the AZA Golden Frog Species Survival Program. In Nispero Zoo, Panama also has a small group of Golden frogs, where you can see the Golden Frog's exhibition. In 2013, the IUCN Conservation Breeding Expert Group Conference convened 40 stakeholders of El Valle de Anton and created a road map to protect golden frogs.

Atelopus zeteki is the representative of Panama. As a symbol of culture, it represents luck and often appears in the lottery. Panama's golden frog is often captured and used to promote hotels, restaurants and sightseeing. They are respected by former Colombian indigenous people whose statues are made of amulet of gold and clay called Fuaka (Poole 2006). Atelopus zeteki is the most toxic of Atelopus and one human skin contains enough toxins to kill 1200 x 20 g mice (Savage 2002). Zethecitoxin AB is the major alkaloid in the skin extract of Atelopus zeteki, an analogue of scorpion toxin and is a highly effective voltage-gated sodium channel blocker (Yotsu-Yamashita et al. 2004). Atelopus zeteki is currently the only known amphibian with scorpion toxin analog activity and produces zetekitoxin C in addition to zekekitoxin AB (Yotsu-Yamashita et al. 2004).