Goliath Frog

We just learned about the smallest frog in the world, the Paedophryne Amauensis.

The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog.

This frog can grow to be over a foot long and weigh over seven pounds!


(from: wikipedia - goliath frog)


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Paedophryne Amauensis

We just learned about the Mountain Chicken Frog.

Another frog is the Paedophryne Amauensis.

It is the smallest frog in the world, and is less than half an inch long!
Unlike a lot of other frogs, this tiny frog does not start out as a tadpole, the eggs hatch into tiny little baby frogs.

The first part of the name paedophryne means child-frog, and there are a few other types of tiny little frogs in the same family as the Amauensis, but this is the tiniest one.
Their croak is a high pitched chirp, almost like an insect, which is why no one found them for a long time!


(from: wikipedia - paedophryne amauensis)


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Mountain Chicken Frog

We just learned about the Purple Frog.

Another type of frog is the Mountain Chicken Frog.

This frog is called the mountain chicken because it lives in the mountains and is so large it was hunted a lot for food.
Some people think it tastes like chicken, or it is big enough to eat like a chicken.

It is one of the largest frog in the world and can grow to be 8 inches long.
This frog eats a lot, and will eat anything from crickets and millipedes to snakes, bats and even other smaller frogs!
Because it was hunted for food a lot, there are not a lot of these frogs left, so it is now illegal to hunt them.


(from: wikipedia - leptodactylus fallax)


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Purple Frog

We just learned about the Darwin's Frog.

Another frog is the Purple Frog.

This frog stayed hidden for a long time and nobody ever knew about it, because it kept itself buried in the mud, and only came out during big monsoon rainstorms.
It has a funny sounding croak that almost sounds like a chicken clucking.


(from: wikipedia - purple frog)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Southern Hognose Snake

Darwin's Frog

We just learned about the Common Midwife Toad.

Another type of frog is Darwin's Frog that lives in South America.
It is called Darwin's frog because it was discovered by Charles Darwin in 1841.

The white and brown on the frog makes it look like a dead leaf laying on the ground when they are sitting still trying to hide.

One very interesting thing about this type of frog is that the male frogs carries the eggs inside their mouth until they are ready to hatch.


(from: wikipedia - darwin's frog)


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Common Midwife Toad

We just learned about the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog.

Another type of frog is the Common Midwife Toad.

Even though it is called a Toad, it is not part of the "Bufonidae" family, so it is a frog.

This frog lives in Europe, grows to about 2 inches. It can be brown, grey or green with has dark spots on it, and warts on it's smooth skin.

One of the most interesting things about this frog is that the eggs are carried by the male frog.
After the female frog lays the eggs, the male frog picks them up and sticks them to his back legs and carries them around until they are hatched.
He can carry around 150 eggs, for 3 to 8 weeks!
He keeps them wet by lying in damp places, or going for a swim if they are drying out.


(from: wikipedia - common midwife toad)


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Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog

We just learned about the Edible Frog.

Another type of frog is the Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog.

This type of frog is poisonous, and it gets the poison on its skin from eating certain types of ants and mites.

One way that animals show that they are poisonous is to have bright colors.
This type of frog has many different types of colors, called "morphs".
There is the "La Gruta" morph which means "The grotto" or "The cave" which is green and yellow with black spots.
Another funny one is called the "Blue Jeans" morph, because it looks like the red frog is wearing blue jeans.


(from: wikipedia - strawberry poison-dart frog)

La Gruta Morph:

(from: wikipedia - strawberry poison-dart frog)

Blue Jeans Morph:

(from: wikipedia - strawberry poison-dart frog)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Massasauga

Edible Frog

We just learned about the Panamanian Golden Frog.

Another type of frog is the Edible Frog.

This type of frog is trapped and then served as frog legs for food in places like France.


(from: wikipedia - edible frog)


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Panamanian Golden Frog

We just learned about the European Fire Bellied Toad.

Another type of frog is the Panamanian Golden Frog.

This frog is part of the true toad family.
Remember that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads.
And some frogs are called toads, and some toads are called frogs.

The people in Panama love this golden frog, and put pictures of it all over the place.
There are even stories saying that when this frog dies it will turn to gold and bring good luck.
This frog even has it's own holiday, "National Golden Frog Day" on August 14th.

The skin of this frog is poisonous, and was used long ago to make poisonous arrows.

When this frog wants to talk to other frogs, it will wave its arms around.
Scientists think this is because the frogs live close to noisy rivers and couldn't really hear each other croaking well, especially because they don't really have normal ears and can't hear well.


(from: wikipedia - panamanian golden frog)


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European Fire-Bellied Toad

We just learned about the difference between Frogs and Toads.

One type of frog is the European Fire-Bellied Toad.

Even though these are called toads, they are not part of the family of "True Toads" called Bufonidae.

These toads have a green back with black spots, and an orange or red belly with black stripes.
Their eyes have heart shaped pupils and webbed feet.

A full grown toad can be about 2 inches long.
To protect themselves, their skin makes a poison that might give you a rash if you pick one up, and would make you feel sick if you ate it.

Some frogs like this one shed their skin.
They puff themselves up big, cough to loosen the skin, then tear the old skin off and eat it!


(from: wikipedia - european fire-bellied toad)


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Frogs and Toads

We've learned a whole lot about snakes, now let's learn about frogs!

Frogs and toads are all part of the same group of animals in nature, called the "Anura" order.
Anura comes from an old Greek word meaning "without tail".

There is a smaller group of animals that is part of the Anura order, called the "Bufonidae" family, or sometimes called the "True toad" family.
But even in that family, some of those animals are still named frogs, like the harlequin frog which is a true toad!

So all toads are frogs (Anura), but not all frogs are toads (Anura Bufonidae).

A lot of times people think of frogs as the ones that go into water or are wet all the time, and toads as the ones with warts that are dry and live on land.

That's not always true either!
The European fire-bellied toad isn't a true toad even though it's called a toad, and it lives in the water.
And the Panamanian golden frog which is a true toad even though it's called a frog has smooth skin and lives in the water.

There are about 4,800 types of Anura, and only a few hundred of them are true toads.
So really most of them are frogs, even if we call them toads.

True toads don't have any teeth, and they have glands to spit poison from their skin, and they sometimes are warty but not always.
To really tell if it is a toad, you have to know about its skeleton, skin, mouth, glands and a lot of other things that you can't tell without a lot of research!


(from: wikipedia - frog)


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Frog breathing

We just learned that the red thing on a rooster's head is called the Comb

Let's learn more fun stuff!

How can frogs stay so long underwater?
Because they can breathe air right through their skin!

When they are in the water, the oxygen they need to breathe
can go right into their body through their skin.

Their skin is permeable which means it allows things like water to get through it.

(from: wikipedia - frog)

When they are above water, they don't have very strong lungs to breathe with,
so they do something called buccal pumping. Buccal means cheeks or mouth.

This means they use their mouth to suck air in and out of their lungs.
If you watch underneath a frog's mouth, you can usually see their throat area puffing out and sucking in.
That's them breathing using buccal pumping!


(from: wikipedia - buccal pumping)