The smallest frog on earth. The most unusual frogs. Transparent or glass frog

There are over 4,800 different types of frogs that can be found throughout the world. different environment The habitat these frogs live in has given rise to the strange looking species that we can find today. This list features ten of the most interesting and unusual frogs known to science today.

10 Brazilian Horned Frog

This amazing frog lives in tropical forests Amazons in South America. The Brazilian slingshot, Ceratophrys aurita, has distinctive appearance compared to other amphibians. Evolution has done a good job of camouflaging this creature, making it look like a leaf so that the frog can blend in with the surroundings.

The frog can grow up to large sizes, and reach twenty centimeters in length. She buries herself in the leaves so that only her head is visible, and when someone from her menu walks by, she quickly grabs and eats them. This is a very aggressive animal and locals often wear high leather boots to protect their feet from powerful bites. Despite their aggressive nature, some people keep these frogs as pets.

9 Helen's Flying Frog


This newly discovered frog was first recorded in January of this year, so there is almost no information about it. However, this frog is known to be able to fly using its huge webbed feet. The frog glides across the forest canopy South Vietnam hiding from predators. Females have patches of skin on their paws that look like a kind of wings that help them in flight. Their large paws help them attach themselves to tree branches after their flight is over. Helena's flying frog - Rhacophorus helenae is quite large in size, sometimes reaching ten centimeters in length.

It was discovered by an Australian scientist in Vietnam, near Saigon. The scientist named the frog after his mother. Biologists have been puzzled that such a large frog, living so close to Saigon, has gone unnoticed for so long.

8. Variable Atelope (Harlequin Toad)


Variable Atelopus - Atelopus varius - is endemic to Costa Rica and over the past few years, due to the spread of the fungus and climate change, the population of this frog species has declined rapidly. On this moment only one isolated population remained. This species is now dangerously close to extinction.

7 Goliath Frog

Goliath frog - Conraua goliath - is the largest frog in the world. It can grow up to thirty-three centimeters in length, and its weight can reach three kilograms. The goliath frog is twice the size of a giant frog African bullfrog(giant African Bullfrog).

The creature is endemic to western Africa. It feeds on crabs, small snakes and even other frogs. The Goliath frog does not make any sounds due to the lack of vocal glands. She has huge, powerful legs that allow her to jump long distances, up to three meters. Unfortunately, like many other frog species, the goliath frog is vulnerable to human activity such as hunting, deforestation and animal trade. These factors have already made this species of frog an endangered species.

6. Ovoviviparous Toad (Morogoro Tree Toad)


Endemic to the rainforests and grasslands of Tanzania, the ovoviviparous toad, Nectophrynoides Viviparus, has large glands on its body near the eyes and limbs. These glands come in all sorts of colors, including orange, gray, green, red, and white. The color of the gland usually contrasts with the rest of the frog's skin.

The eggs hatch while still inside the female, and are born as small but fully formed toads. This type of pregnancy is quite rare in amphibians.

5. Pebble Toad (Venezuela Pebble Toad)

The pebble toad usually lives in mountainous areas with a lot of steep slopes. In case of danger, such as a tarantula (one of the main predators that prey on this type of toad), it hides its head and limbs under its body, and then tenses its muscles. Thus, it forms a ball, and then rolls down from the nearest hill into a puddle or gap at its foot.

The pebble toad does not take any damage from rolling and bouncing because it is very light and its muscles are very strong. The frog uses this defense mechanism because rolling down is much faster for it than jumping, and it can't jump long distances.

4. Licheny Paddlefoot or Mossy Frog (Vietnamese Mossy Frog)

The lichen paddlepod - Theloderma corticale, lives in tropical forests and swamps northern Vietnam. The frog got its name because of its distinctive camouflage pattern, which looks like moss and lichen. When predators approach, the frog hides its paws under itself so that only the mossy areas of its body are visible. This frog has large pads on its feet with which it stays in trees, and its diet consists entirely of insects. The frogs lay their eggs on the walls of the caves, and the tadpoles fall into the water below, where they spend the rest of their lives. The lichened copepod is a popular pet in Asia.

3 Turtle Frog


The turtle frog, Myobatrachus gouldii, lives in the semi-arid regions of Western Australia. She has a very unusual appearance - she looks like a turtle without a shell, with a round pink-brown body, a small head and short limbs. Their limbs are short and muscular, allowing them to dig in sand and break open termite mounds, which are the frog's main food source.

The turtle frog does not go through the tadpole stage, instead it grows into a fully formed little frog while still inside the egg. Therefore, turtle frog eggs are the largest among the eggs of all frogs in Australia, their size reaches 5 - 7 millimeters in length.

2. Glass frog (Glass Frog)

unusual looking glass frog- Centrolenidae, endemic to the Amazon.

The main part of the body of these frogs is green, but there is a transparent skin on the underside of their body. This allows you to clearly see their liver, heart and intestines. In pregnant females, you can even see frog eggs located inside. It is believed that the transparent skin of the frog serves as protection, and allows the light reflected from the leaves to shine through it. This makes it much less visible to predators. They live in trees in humid mountain regions and lay their eggs on leaves. The tadpoles then fall down into the water and continue to grow into adulthood.

1. Surinam pipa (Surinam Toad)


The first place in this list is occupied by the Surinamese pipa - Pipa pipa. Like many other frogs, it lives in the Amazon rainforest. This is a large frog that can grow up to twenty centimeters in length. Compared to other species, this frog has a very flat body and tiny eyes. These frogs are usually muddy brown and have no tongue or teeth. When looking for a partner, the Surinamese pipa does not croak like normal frogs, instead it makes a shrill clicking sound with the help of two bones located in the throat.

Even stranger are the spawning and reproductive ways of the pipa. The male attaches to the female in a pond, forming an amplexus, a peculiar form of pseudocopulation. The pair then jump out of the water several times. After each jump, the female releases several eggs, which are implanted on her back through the skin. These eggs then burrow deeper into the body, and within these pockets develop into fully formed pipas. Then, during childbirth, they break out of the skin of the female.

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Purple Frog


The purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, is a unique frog species and the only member of the Nasikabatrachidae family that lives in the mountains of southern India. The frog has smooth, purple skin and a large, round body with squat limbs. The head of this frog is small, and the nose looks like a pig's snout. The purple frog spends most of its life underground and emerges from its tunnel for only two weeks each year. This species has evolved independently over 130 million years and its closest living relatives are the Seychelles frogs (Sooglossidae frogs) of the Seychelles.

Image copyright RITTMEYER ET AL Image caption In the usual habitat, small frogs are very difficult to notice.

A group of American scientists have discovered a hitherto unknown species of frogs in Papua New Guinea, which are the smallest representatives of their family.

The length of the frogs that received Latin name Paedophryne amauensis is only about 7 millimeters.

They can be called the smallest vertebrates - this broad group of animals includes mammals, birds, fish and amphibians.

In addition, another related species of frog called Paedophryne swiftorum was found - the size of its representatives is somewhat larger.

The scientists, who presented the results of their research in the journal PLoS One, suggest that unusual small size frogs is explained by their habitat: they live in the leaf litter of the forests of Papua New Guinea.

Finding tiny animals was quite difficult. They disguise themselves as fallen leaves, and their croaking sounds resemble the sounds that insects usually make.

“The forests of New Guinea are very noisy at night. We were trying to record the croaking of frogs in the forest, and then we became interested in what these other sounds were,” says the head research group Chris Austin of the American University of Louisiana. “So we figured out where those sounds were coming from and started looking in the leaf litter.”

“It was at night, and these creatures are incredibly small. So after several unsuccessful attempts, we simply took armfuls of leaves and threw them into a clean plastic bag,” the scientist continues. “And then we saw incredibly tiny frogs jumping around there.”

Forest dwellers 7 mm in size

Paedophryne has recently been discovered and includes several varieties of small animals found in the eastern forests of Papua New Guinea.

"They live in relatively thick leaf litter rainforest in the lower parts of the island and feed on tiny insects, which are usually much smaller than the insects that frogs eat, explains Austin. - And they probably feed on them a large number of invertebrates, which are usually much smaller than the insects that frogs eat."

These predators most likely include scorpions.

Interestingly, in other regions of the Earth with a wet and thick layer of leaf litter, small varieties of frogs also live.

Before scientists discovered Paedophryne amauensis, the world's smallest frogs were held by the two-toed toads (Brachycephalus didactylus) and their slightly larger Cuban relatives of the species Estrada et Hedges. These frog species are less than one centimeter long.

The smallest representatives of the type of vertebrates were previously fish.

The size of adult fish Paedocypris progenetica living in Indonesian swamps is about 7.9-10.3 mm.

Male Photocorynus spiniceps generally do not grow larger than about 6 mm. However, they spend their whole lives clinging to much larger females (measuring 50 mm), so one can argue with their right to participate in the competition for the title of the smallest vertebrate.

The average size of adult Paedophryne amauensis is 7.7 mm, so the authors of the discovery are convinced that the crown of diminutiveness should belong to them.

The little-studied corners of Papua New Guinea and Madagascar are among the regions where scientists are trying to look for unknown representatives of the amphibian order.

Noble's frog

The smallest frog was found, oddly enough, high in the mountains. Namely, in the southern part of Peru, in the Andes mountains. The new kind The animals were named Noblela (Noblela pygmaea). It turned out to be very difficult to see the smallest amphibian, since its size is very miniature, an adult reaches only 10-13 millimeters in length. The females of these amphibians reach slightly larger sizes than the males: the former grow up to 12.5 millimeters, and the latter only 11.

In the thickets of Peru

This small frog, the size of a tiny coin, also has a camouflage brown color, so it is almost impossible to notice it in the thickets of Peru.

Nobles live in dense tropical evergreen forests and meadows located high in the mountains, at an altitude of about 3000-3200 meters above sea level.

Caring for offspring

The smallest frog in the world has several differences from other amphibians. One of them is that the frog lays only 2 eggs (eggs). Each of which is 1/3 the size of the frog itself. Lays eggs in something wet, it can be fallen leaves, moss, grass.

An amphibian wraps around 2 eggs and cares for them until they mature and hatch. Newborn animals do not have such a stage of development as a tadpole, they are immediately in the stage adult.

uncharted territories

Nobles live in the same territory all their lives, not leaving it even during the breeding season. This is very unusual for other frogs. Their small size allows them to take their place in the distribution of animals throughout the territory without interfering with larger inhabitants.

Scientists believe that with further search and study of uncharted territories in the region of South America, even smaller creatures can be found.

Amazing natural comparisons. They can strike for a long time and firmly cut into memory. If, for example, you visit the Museum of Natural History in New York, you can see the diversity of the world's fauna. There is a skeleton of a huge moa bird, which reaches a height of about three meters. The giants themselves have already died out, the last representative disappeared in the 19th century. And next to the moa is a tiny skeleton of a small hummingbird, an inhabitant of South and Central America. And the contrasts don't end there. If you were looking for tours to Thailand, then you can buy a Moscow Thailand tour on msk.viasun.ru.

The biggest frog

An unusual exhibit, which is in the museum, belongs to a giant frog. They look more like the remains of a monster. And these are the bones of a squat and wide-boned goliath frog belonging to the genus Konraua. This is the largest frog on the planet. The skeleton left in the museum has a size of about a meter. But next to the goliath, the remains of a tiny coconut frog nestled, these are jewelry fragile, tiny, thimble-sized remains.

And here's what we know about the champions

The goliath frog is the most major representative of 250 species of real frogs. Amphibians can be found to this day in the wilds of West Africa, namely, in Rio Muni and Cameroon. By the way, the local tribes of frogs are called rather affectionately “nia-moa”, which means “sons” in translation. They are called so because the frog grows to the size of a one-year-old baby.
The goliath frog lives near the noisy waterfall of the river called the Mbia River. Under the canopy, she hides on gray stones, thus taking a plentiful shower. It is noteworthy that gray frogs so pressed against the stones that even at a close distance it is impossible to distinguish them from the gray surface. And in its shelter, the animal is quite comfortable, since water sprays bring them an abundance of oxygen. And it is necessary for amphibians for normal skin respiration. Even with the smallest danger, the frog, which was sitting motionless, like a statue, disappears in a moment - it makes an almost lightning-fast jump into the water. And after that you can not find it in the waterfall. The goliath frog feeds on insects, rodents, scorpions and small birds. And in search of food, the animal comes out only at night. She jumps ashore near the waterfall and begins to leisurely look for dinner. The giant is able to jump three meters in length and cover its prey own body. However, the energy required for such a long jump dries up quickly, after which the goliath, as a rule, rests for a long time. By the way, locals consider frogs to be silent, because they do not have vocal cords. However, the sounds that the giants still make are almost impossible to hear among the noise of the water.

By the way, it is truly a miracle to call an amazing device that allows the frog to stay on the surface of slippery stones, which are washed by swift streams of water. And this device is suction pads located at the very ends of the fingers of only the front paws. However, the hind legs also help the choliath to sit firmly on the stone - they have elastic membranes.

And the waterfall itself on Mbia Riva, by the way, is very formidable, especially after heavy rains. Water cascades fall down with a roar and try to tear off the frogs that have sat firmly on the stones. Well, where the water does not boil so much, the female frogs spawn. And each egg comes out the size of a whole pea. The frog breeds only during the dry season, in 5-6 days the female lays about 10 thousand eggs. The development of an egg to an adult, that is, metamorphosis, lasts approximately 70 days. If at the time of birth the tadpole has a length of only 8 millimeters, then after 45 days it grows to 48 millimeters.
Tadpoles feed on plants for the first time, and after they pass the necessary stages of development, they become the same size as their relatives. And at this time, the goliath's gills and tail disappear, the frog begins to grow rapidly and reaches a weight of three kilograms.

However, the place of residence of the largest frogs in the world is not so safe. It has come under human scrutiny. All because he tasted the taste of choliath meat. Therefore, the herd is constantly hunted and gradually destroyed completely.
However, the local Fanga tribes who live near the Mbia River Falls are not interested in the frog as a hunting item. The Bayel pygmy tribes, who are well aware of the existence of the giant, do not see the source of food in the choliath. However, the frog is hunted by tourists, collectors and gourmets who have tasted frog meat. They catch rare animals with spinning rods, so the number of choliath is slowly but surely declining.

The smallest frog


But the tiny cocoa, a representative of amphibians, is the smallest frog. These dwarfs live in the virgin forests and jungles of Colombia. Even despite their miniature size, they will be able to fend for themselves. Local Indians, who still use blowguns, risk their lives, but they look for cocoa, collect the poison that is secreted by the skin, moisten the tips of their arrows and go to hunt wild animals.
By the way, the Indians extract poison from the skin glands of a frog in a far from humane way. They tie a live coconut to a wire and start spinning it over an open fire. Then poison begins to accumulate along the back. And if it is dried, but the solid mass will not lose its property until fifteen years. It is worth noting that the poison of the green toad, which was caught in Kyrgyzstan in 1935, retained its toxic properties until 1949.

And the crystalline poison, which was obtained from an alcohol solution of the skin glands of coconut, is ten times more toxic than the deadliest animal poison - puffer fish.
What is Cocoa. Those are red creatures with yellow bright stripes that are located on the sides of the body. In terms of brightness, the creatures, by the way, are similar to gems, so they attract the attention of curious and unknowing tourists. The size of the frog is only 2-3 centimeters, so two adults can easily fit in one teaspoon.

Frogs belong to the largest detachment amphibians are tailless. There are thousands of varieties, this issue contains 10 of the strangest and most unusual.

The rainbow frog is an object of worship in India. Hundreds of people flock every day to Reggie Kumar's home in India to pray and ask for miracles. The frog shimmered white when Reggie from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala in southern India, saw it for the first time. Then she glowed yellow, and then turned gray. A frog that constantly changes color is considered a god in India.

Hyalinobatrachium pellucidum - also called glass frog or transparent frog because of its transparent skin through which you can see its insides. Unfortunately, this is an endangered amphibian species.

The harlequin frog is known by many names, such as the clown frog or the Costa Rican harlequin toad. Whatever you call it, this is a neo-tropical frog that used to be quite common in Costa Rica and Panama. Now this species is listed in the Red Book, frogs of this species live today mainly in Panama.

The northern leopard frog is considered unusual view, reaching a length of up to 9 cm. The colors on her back vary from brown to dark green, and round spots are highlighted by a white line.

It is believed that the greater the geographical height, the larger the animal that lives there. However, the smallest frog in the world lives just at a height - in the Andes of southern Peru at an altitude of 3 - 3.19 meters.

Coloring poison dart frog, such as this blue subspecies, - common name groups of frogs in the poison dart frog family that lives in Central and South America. Unlike most frogs, this species is active during the day and almost always has brightly colored bodies. While all poison dart frogs are venomous to some degree, venom levels vary by subspecies and population. Many subspecies are in danger of extinction. The American Indians used their poison for their arrows and darts. (Gail Shumway/Getty Images 2007)

The goliath frog is the largest extant species of toad on Earth. Its dimensions reach 33 cm in length from the muzzle to the cloaca, and it weighs up to 3 kg. This species lives mainly in western Africa, near Gabon. The goliath frog can live up to 15 years. They feed on scorpions, insects and small frogs. These frogs have excellent hearing but lack a vocal resonator.

Theloderma corticale, or the Vietnamese marsh frog, is a species of frog in the copepod family. It can be found in Vietnam and possibly China. Usually found in tropical and subtropical regions moist forests, intermittent freshwater swamps and rocky areas. The frog is also often referred to as a moss frog due to the fact that its skin resembles moss growing on a rock, which, by the way, provides it with excellent camouflage. Some people have such a frog at home. The price of this miracle is about 45-75 dollars.

As the name suggests, the Mantella frog is red/orange. These are small frogs, reaching a length of up to 2.5 cm. It lives in Madagascar.

This horned frog can grow up to 15 cm in length and is native to Uruguay, Brazil, as well as northern Argentina. Although this giant looks like a tortilla (or a pincushion, if you like), it reacts very quickly when a lizard, small rodent, frog or bird flies by.

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