Common Name: Purple Frog, Pignose Frog
Scientific Name: Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
Family: Nasikabatrachidae
Location: India
Size: 3.5 inches (89.9 mm)
The Purple frog has a face that only a frog lover could really love. Their odd looking snout is used to eat termites, their primary food source. They live in the southern part of India in the Western Ghat Mountain. The frogs are fossorial, meaning that they live underground. They can be found 12 feet (3.7 meters) underground!
Best chance to see them is when they come to the surface during the early monsoon season (July) rains to mate. The females of the Purple Frog are much larger than the males. When its reproduction time, the male jumps onto the female’s back and she transports him to a mating site she selects. Spots are usually ponds created by the rains that connect to streams. Once the eggs hatch, the tadpoles move into the stream.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Purple Frog as Near Threatened with Extinction. The frog has a large range but the quality of the habitat is decreasing rapidly. Luckily, it does occur in some protected areas.
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