Pumilio Paradise

Peter Draper
Last update: 17 February 2000
Photographs by the author

Early this year I made the trip to Bocas Del Toro or Pumilio Paradise. Already it has almost become a Dendrobatid Mecca, and you can be guaranteed to see hundreds of D. pumilio, including D. auratus, C. talamancae, D. lugubris etc. These Naturalists’ Paradise Islands, on the North-western coast of Panamá on the borders of Costa Rica, are almost uninhabited apart from a handful of settlers. The main Isla Colón has the small town of Bocas Del Toro, which is only about half a mile long. The remainder is a group of small islands covered in rainforest, most of them inhabited only by a few native Indians, and all of them reached in minutes by dugout.

The town itself is a charming shanty of Antilles style houses that time has forgotten, the life style is laid back. The small Hotel las Brisas is built on the shoreline. You can walk straight out of your room onto the veranda and watch the sun rise over the Caribbean Ocean while frigate birds glide overhead. Pelicans flap lazily by with not a ripple on the sea. It is Heaven on Earth. Around the hotel itself can be seen a wealth of birds: kiskadies, hummingbirds, crackers, black vulture etc. A short walk from the hotel leads you into the rainforest, and within minutes you will be hearing the ap ap ap of D. pumilio. You cannot miss them as they are almost everywhere on the islands. This Isla Colón form is the largest island form, some males reaching thirty millimetres SVL and is possibly the most beautiful. The ventor, including the flanks and chin, are a bright, golden yellow. The dorsum is bright, grass green, usually with large, black spots, with the legs having a Burgundy hue.

A short boat ride takes you to the Island of Bastimentos, the pumilio here are bright, orange-red on the dorsum and legs, with smallish, clearly defined black spots. The ventor, including hands and feet, are almost snow-white. At the western end of Bastimentos is the village, and in this area the pumilio are very different, although generally the colour pattern is the same as most of the Bastimentos group. There is a vast range of patterns: some are white, yellow or brown, a few with a tinge of green, but each individual is different from the next. One wonders what is happening here. One thing is for sure: there is a population explosion. There are thousands upon thousands of pumilio in an area of about 1 sq.km. In one small banana plantation I saw hundreds of pumilio. Standing in just one spot I could see at least five per square metre. So over-populated are they that you can find them on the shoreline just inches away from the surf. This Bastimentos form is physically more closely related to the Isla Colón form than to the other island forms.

Another short trip takes you to the Isla Cayo Nancy, where the pumilio are a beautiful, bright orange with a little grey on the feet. The orange colour varies slightly from one population to the next. One population is described as rose coloured.

A further short foray and you are on the Isla Popa, and here the pumilio is the smallest of all, being only about 18 mm SVL. The dorsum, including the legs, are dark, viridian green, with the finest of black spots, while the ventor is yellow to off-white. Close by is the Isla Spit Hill, and here the pumilio are a rather drab, dark blue, which is a little lighter on the ventor. On the nearby uninhabited Isla Cristóbal the pumilio are red with light blue on the legs and hands. Finally, there is the Isla Shepard, where the pumilio are mustard yellow to brown in colour.

Chiriquí Grande is not actually on the Bocas Islands, but is a mainland port at the far eastern end of the Bocas Island archipelago. Nevertheless, the pumilio here are particularly interesting. The basic colour is olive green, olive yellow or olive brown, with fine, black spots. The legs appear grey. The interesting point about this form is that the yellow frogs can change colour to green or brown, the brown frogs can change to yellow or green, but the green frogs cannot change colour at all.