Part of the mainland, the Tierra Oscura peninsula has steeper slopes with large patches of primary and degraded forest. The coastline is fringed with mangroves, pastures and waterfront settlements, and the remaining forests are in the higher regions of the peninsula. It is only separated by a narrow canal from Isla Loma Partida, but its forests nevertheless house a very conspicuous blue morph of Ophaga pumilio. Besides some small black dots on the back and hind legs in some animals, these frogs are entirely blue, with a cobalt blue belly.

Once the team managed to land in a degraded zone, part garden, they immediately spotted some Dendrobates auratus hopping along a steep path a few meters from the shoreline. This green and black poison dart frog is extremely abundant here, especially in degraded areas. In one location along a well maintained path the team could observe nine animals at once. Dendrobates auratus from this region is known as the Caribe morph, and has actually the largest distribution of all known forms. It occurs along the Caribbean coastline from south-eastern Nicaragua to western Panama along the Province of Bocas del Toro. Patterns consist of large blotches and bands from green to turquoisegreen on a black background. It is one of the larger morphs and much larger then Ophaga pumilio, which lives sympatrically in some areas. Females are slightly bigger whereas males usually are somewhat slender and have broadened fingertips. It took the Exo Terra team some more effort to locate the blue strawberry dart frog, as it only could be found in the primary forest patches on the higher regions of the peninsula. Once entering these denser forests, the calls of the males were heard everywhere. For some reason, this morph seems to be shyer than the ones on the islands and they turned out much more difficult to approach. The dark blue colouration also makes it harder to locate them between the leaf litter in the dim forest. Most animals were found in the vicinity of larger trees, often between the roots or lower epiphytes like Philodendrons.This morph’s escape tactic is very efficient, making several long consecutive erratic jumps to disappear under the leaf litter. It took the team until late in the afternoon to properly observe and document these beautiful frogs. Dendrobates auratus was present in these primary forests as well, but seems less abundant then in the degraded areas.