Pot O’ Gold: 11 Species You Might Find at the End of a Rainbow

This St. Patrick’s Day, let these golden species be your pot o’ gold. It’s much easier than tracking down rainbow and trying to find its end, and animals are better than riches. Well, almost.

Golden Poison Dart Frog

The golden poison dart frog is only one of three dart frogs with poison lethal to humans. It is reported that an amount of poison equal to 2-3 grains of table salt is enough to cause the death of a human.

Golden Poison Dart Frog
This photo, “Funny Little Frog” is copyright (c) 2009 Leighton Pritchard  and made available under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.

Banana Slug

Banana slugs have primitive eyesight, which means they can only see light, dark and movement. The eyes fold in when they sense a shadow. Also, please don’t lick them; I’m sure they don’t like it.

Banana Slug
Banana slug in California photographed by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Joao Paulo Krajewski.

Bearded Dragon

Bearded dragons have a beard of spikes and thorns that they’ll puff out at predators as a defense mechanism. Also, when in danger, these lizards will run on the hind legs.

Bearded Dragon
This photo, “bearded dragon” is copyright (c) 2009 Bryce Gandy and made available under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.

Goldenrod Spider

These spiders jump on their prey, ambush style, which means they don’t have a reason to spin webs.

Goldenrod Spider
This photo, “Misumena vatia” is copyright (c) 2011 Christophe Quintin and made available under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.

Golden Lion Tamarin

Female tamarins usually give birth to twins and sometimes triplets. That’s a lot of weight to carry around alone, which is why the father and siblings share the load.

Golden Lion Tamarin
This photo, “Tamarin golden lion” is copyright (c) 2008 Nelson Wu and made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

Yellow Rat Snake

These snakes are arboreal, which means they climb trees.  Like the black rat snake, they are non-venomous constrictors that suffocate their prey.

Yellow Rat Snake
This photo, “Yellow Rat Snake” is copyright (c) 2012 vladeb and made available under a CC BY-ND 2.0 license.

Goldfinch

A goldfinch’s diet is vegetable based, and they are the strictest vegetarians in the bird world (aside from an occasional insect cheat meal).

American Goldfinch
American goldfinch photographed in New York by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Lynn Cleveland.

Seahorse

Seahorses are unique creatures not only have a kangaroo-like pouch, but the dads are the ones to have the babies.

Seahorse
This photo, “Hippocampus” is copyright (c) 2009 Vic DeLeon and made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

Fiery Skipper

Fiery skipper have the ability to hold their wings in a triangular position, which is thought to help better absorb the sun’s rays.

Fiery Skipper
This photo, “Fiery skipper” is copyright (c) 2007 Ronnie Pitman and made available under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.

Golden Eagle

The name implies that they should look more gold, but I decided to include them anyway. Mostly I wanted to tell you that despite being the largest bird of prey in North America, golden eagles can dive upon their victim at speeds over 150 miles per hour!

Golden Eagle
Golden Eagle shot at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy in Canada by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Sue Ratcliffe.

Red Foxes

What else is there to say, just enjoy this golden pile of fluff.

Red Fox Kits
Red fox kits by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Walter Nussbaumer.