Weird Frogs

                                                            The Indian Balloon Frog

Some frogs are colorful and look pretty and some are ugly. Other frogs are scary and others are amazing and mind bogglingg.  The Hairy Frog, or "Trichobatrachus Robusts," is found in central Africa.  Its name refers to the somewhat hair-like structures on the body and thighs of the male.  The species is about 11 cm long from snout to length.  Its head is broad with a short rounded snout.  This species of frog is eaten in Cameroon.  Another type of weird frog is the Indian Balloon Frog, or "Uperodon Globulosus."  As you can guess, the balloon frog is a very plump, almost completely round frog.  It comes from India and is one of the strangest looking frogs researchers have ever come across.  The Northern Spadefoot Toad, or "Notaden Melanoscaphus," is another bizarre frog.  It is a very round species, almost a complete sphere, and live almost anywhere.  There is no distinction of the head from its body.  The last type of weird frog is the Chubby Frog, or "Kaloula Pulchra."  Chubby Frogs  are native to Southeast Asia are commonly sold in pet stores.  Other common names of this frog include Asian Painted Frog, Banded Bull Frog, Rice Frog, or Bubble Frog.  It has a narrow-mouth and has a very round body. The Chubby Frog may live for as long as 11 years.

Poison Dart Frogs

There are more than 150 species of amphibians living in Costa Rica. Several of these species include some of the most brightly colored, and deadly,  frogs found in the rain forest.  This fascinating group of frogs belongs to the family Dendronbatidae. In Costa Rica there are 7 species of poison dart frogs.  Contrary to most poisonous animals, these frogs avoid camouflage.  They have extremely bright skin color to warn predators away from eating them.  When an animal uses this technique its called aposematic coloration.  Any animal that feeds on any member of these frogs is likely to suffer from violent sickness or death.  The few lucky survivors quickly learn to avoid anything with the same color pattern that caused their extreme illness.  Most poison dart frogs are active during the day and feed on small animals such as ants and other insects.  The common name of  Poison Dart Frog comes from the Choco Indians of Colombia. These Indians knew that the frogs gave off a toxin from their skin. The Choco would rub the tips of their arrows across a frog's body to make the arrow head poisonous.  The medical research community has been exploring possible medicinal uses for some poison dart frog venom. They have already developed a synthetic version of one compound that shows promise as a painkiller.

Beelzebufo

Very recently, a team of researchers in Madagascar came a cross the fossil of what could possibly be the biggest frog that ever lived.  The frog is larger than a beach ball and would have weighed well over ten pounds.  This frog has officially been named Beelzebufo, or "devil frog."  Beelzebufo is closely related to a group of frogs from South Africa called the ceratophyrines, or pac man frogs, because of their huge mouths.  But how could a giant prehistoric frog from Madagascar be related to a group of frogs in South America?  Scientists believe that there was a land connection between the two regions back in the  Cretaceous period.  In fact, most researchers believe that during one point in time, Antarctica, South America, and Madagascar were all one land mass! 

Beelzebufo is, without a doubt, one of the largest frogs on record and was perhaps the largest frog ever to exist.  Due to its size, appearance, and predatory nature,  the discoverers refer to it as the armored frog from hell.  Not only was the frog huge, it was powerful, had a protective shield, an extremely wide mouth and powerful jaws.  Because of these amazing features, Beelzebufu was capable of killing and eating  a variety of small animals, such as lizards.  They were even able to eat hatching dinosaurs!  By comparison, the largest living frog today is the Goliath frog from West Africa, which can be 12.5 inches long and weigh about 7.2 pounds. The largest frog alive on Madagascar today is just over four inches long.

Big Frogs and Small Frogs

 The biggest kind of frog is the Goliath frog, or  conraua goliath.  Their bodies can reach the size of nearly a foot (30 cm) long.  Remember, that's just their bodies! Their legs can also be over a foot long!  They came from Cameroon, West Africa and weigh as much as a large house cat.  Another species of extremely large frogs are called Cane toads, (also called "marine toads" or "giant toads"). Adult marine toads generally range in size from 6-9 inches (15-23 centimeters), but may get larger. Even though the name of the frog says "toad", IT IS NOT A TOAD.  The smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere is the Gold Frog.  This species is also known as the Brazilian Psyllophryne Didactyla. Adult Gold Frogs measure grow to only 9.8 millimeters in body length (with legs drawn in). That's about one centimeter or about 3/8 of an inch.  Equally small is the smallest frog in the Northern Hemisphere, discovered in 1996 in Monte Iberia, Cuba. It doesn't have a common name yet, but its scientific name is Eleutherodactylus iberia. Most of the time, very small frogs are very poisonous frogs. These can measure less than half an inch (1 cm) long, even when they're fully grown.

Frog Legs

                                                                  This is degrading to frogs.

       Some people think that frog legs are a delicacy.  Let me be clear;  Eating frogs is not ok.  The population of these marvelous creatures is dwindling.  Every year, the French nibble away at 4,000 tonnes of frogs' legs.  However,  that's nothing compared with the vast number being eaten in Asia, South America and even the US.  Its a fact;  frogs are the coolest animals ever. Why are we pushing them to extinction?  I would like you to take a moment to think.  Think about the frogs your murdering.  Would you want somebody eating your legs after they brutally kill you? I think not.  While the French still consume 70 tonnes of domestically gathered legs each year, they have been shipping in as many as 4,000 tonnes annually since 1995. However, Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of frogs by far, shipping more than 5,000 tonnes each year.  People say frogs taste like a cross between fish and chicken. In fact, they taste of frog.  In other words,they taste only of what the chef sprinkles on them.  Why bother eating something that has barely any taste?  Believe it or not, frogs are on the brink of extinction.  Frogs have lost an estimated 170 species in the last 10 years alone, with another 1,900 in a threatened state.   This is one step below the endangered designation (meaning extinction is imminent). 

What is a frog?

Frogs.  Majestic creatures that roam our land.  Many people think that frogs and toads are the same; THEY ARE WRONG.  They differ from reptiles in that they lack scales and generally return to water to breed. Frogs are members of the zoological class called Amphibia.  Often times you've probably wondered; "Do frogs have teeth?"  Who hasn't? The answer is YES!  They have a ridge of very small cone teeth around the upper edge of the jaw. These are called  maxillary teeth.  They don't have anything that could be called teeth on their lower jaw, so they usually swallow their food whole.  These teeth are  used to hold the prey and keep it in place until they can get a good grip on it and squash their eyeballs to swallow their meal. Most frogs have tongues that are long and sticky that can be used to catch bugs.  When a frog swallows a meal, his eyes will close and go down into his head! This is because the eyeballs apply pressure and actually push a frog's meal down his throat!Frogs can jump up to twenty times there own length.  If a human could jump like a frog, they would be able to jump over 100 feet!  The longest frog jump on record measured 33 feet 5.5 inches. It was made by a frog named Santjie at a frog derby held in South Africa.  The average life span for a frog is seven to twelve years. However, a European common toad lived for forty years!