and surrounding environment. Between 2-200 micrograms of its poison, a batrachotoxin (BTX), is enough to kill a human being (a reported LD50 of 2.7 ± 0.2 µg/kg.). Research is currently being conducted to determine possible medicinal applications for BTX. The mechanism for paralysis begins at the cellular level. When BTX comes into contact with voltage-gated sodium ion channels, the toxin binds to the protein and permanently activated the channel. Voltage-gated sodium channels are proteins found throughout the body, however the most influential of these are found in neurons. Because the gate is permanently open and cannot close, there is not an action potential gradient to utilize and signals cannot be received by nerves. This lack of signaling is what causes paralysis of muscles, cardiac failure, and respiratory failure which eventually leads to death. There are no known treatments nor antidotes for BTX. These toxins have seemingly no effect on the frogs, however. Experiments have been conducted showing that the amount of BTX on the frog's skin is not in a great enough concentration to depolarize the membrane potential, preventing paralysis. Genetically, BTX immunity has been tested and results imply that BTX immunity is heritable, however no specific gene that expresses this immunity has been identified. Poison darts Poisons from P. bicolor, P. terribilis, and Phyllobates aurotaenia are often extracted by humans to create poison tipped darts. The Chocó Natives primarily use the blowguns to hunt animals. Other tribes in the Río San Juan basin use a poison derived from plants, however the Chocó Indians are the only tribe who acquire poisons from the Phyllobates species. Of the Phyllobates species, the Chocó choose P. bicolor, P. terribilis and P. aurotaenia to extract poison in one of two methods. In the first method, Chocó Indians rub the tips of the darts against the skin of a live P. terribilis individual. In the second, Chocó Indians extract the poison from the skin of P. bicolor and P. aurotaenia frogs by skewering them with a special stick and held over a fire. This process releases the toxins from within the frog's skin and the tips of the darts are rubbed against the secretion. While this is quite a different approach to poison extraction, the methods are not based upon cultural values. Instead, the methods for extraction are designed with the individual frog's poison concentration in mind, as P. terribilis excretes more concentrated batrachotoxin than