Blue-legged Mantella have green-yellow backs, black sides, dark blue hind legs, and a light blue stripe along the sides of their lip. They have short legs designed for climbing, sticky fingertips, and lack webbing on their feet. Males are slightly smaller in size than females and have a horseshoe-shaped blue spot on their lower throat.
Rains from October to December stimulate egg-laying. Males call continuously to attract females and claim territories during breeding season; wrestling other males that trespass onto their territory to push them out. They lay two to six clutches of over 35 eggs on the ground and males guard them until they hatch a few days later. Rain washes young into nearby pools, swamps, or slow running seasonal streams where they eat algae. In 6 to 8 weeks the tadpoles become froglets who change from a blackish color to their adult colors as they grow over the next few months. Sexual maturity is reached during the first active season after metamorphosis.
Blue-legged Mantella at the Akron Zoo
Blue-legged Mantellas live in the Nocturnal Den at the Akron Zoo.