Tag: animals

Common Name: Black Spotted Rock Frog or Black Spotter Rock Slipper
Scientific Name: Staurois guttatus
Family: Ranidae – True Frog Family
Locations: Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia
Female Size:  38.0 – 54.7 mm
Male Size: 34.9 – 37.7 mm 

The Black Spotted Rock Frog lives along rocky, clear, fast moving streams in forests. They are a diurnal species of frog (active during the day). The frogs are able to live amongst the loud streams thanks to their ability to communicate through foot flagging. There are some other species that foot flag but they are one of the only ones where both males and females do the behavior.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Black Spotted Rock Frog as Least Concern for Extinction. They have a good size range and are numerous throughout it. The deforestation in the region is the primary threat to the frog. People are clearing the forests to make room for oil palm plantations, towns, or just to just sell the lumber.

Common Name: Crowned Bullfrog, African Groove-Crowned Bullfrog
Scientific Name: Hoplobatrachus occipitalis
Family: Dicroglossidae – Forked Tongue Frog family
Locations: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia
Size: 2.6 – 5.3 inches (68 – 135 mm)

The Crowned Bullfrog lives in savannas and some forests in sub-Saharan Africa. Frogs start to move to temporary ponds once the rainy season starts and the ponds start filling up. The Crowned Bullfrog takes the phrase don’t store all your eggs in one basket to heart. The mating pair only deposits a few eggs per rock pool and move on to the next one to prevent all their offspring from being eaten by one predator or drying out.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Crowned Bullfrog as Least Concern for Extinction. They have a extremely wide range and are common throughout it. Overharvesting of the frogs is a problem for locale populations but overall, not a serious threat.

Common Name: Northern Spadefoot Toad
Scientific Name: Notaden melanoscaphus
Family: Myobatrachidae – Australian Ground Frog family
Locations: Australia – Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland
Size: 2 inches (5 cm)

The Northern Spadefoot Toad lives in savannahs and grasslands in northern Australia. They are not a technically a “True Toad” member of the family Bufonidae (side note – no species of true toads are native to Australia) but they share many characteristics. Both are short and fat with small hind legs, but the Northern Spadefoot Toad lacks parotoid gland behind in their eyes that contain toxins that Bufonidae toads have.

They spend most of their time underground, only coming to the surface to mate. Mating takes place after heavy rains that fill shallow areas with water. The males call while floating in the pools. Once the female arrives, the male grasps her from behind in amplexus. Then, she lays her eggs and the male fertilizes them. Females lay between 500 – 1400 eggs. Tadpoles take 8 week to complete their metamorphosis.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Northern Spadefoot Toad as Least Concern for Extinction. They have a wide range and presumed large population.

Common Name: Bruno’s Casque-headed Frog
Scientific Name: Nyctimantis* brunoi
Family: Hylidae – Tree Frog family
Locations: Brazil
Male Size: 1.9 – 2.5 inches (48.9- 62.4 mm)
Female Size: 2.2 – 3.2 inches (56.3 – 81.2 mm)

Do you know the difference between venomous and poisonous? Poisonous is where you have to absorb, inhale, or swallow the toxins while venomous is where the toxin is injected into you. Most people know about poisonous frogs such as the many different species of dart frogs. But do you know about venomous frogs? Maybe now you are thinking about the fangs that these frogs must have to be venomous but guess what? They don’t have any. They use a spike on their head to inject venom as a defensive mechanism. A single gram of their poison could kill 80 people. I wouldn’t try to handle these frogs without gloves.

The Bruno Casque-headed Frog lives in the rainforest and the coastal restinga shrubland, often hiding in the holes of bromeliads and shrubs during the day. They move backwards into these holes and then plug the hole with their weird shape head. This helps protect against water loss.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Bruno’s Casque-headed Frog as Least Concern for Extinction. The frog has a large range and a presumed large population. Only potential threat to them is the increase of agriculture and grazing in the area.

*formerly Aparasphenodon brunoi