Goliath is the biggest frog in the world

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

People are interested in the world of fauna and who and how it is represented. For example, what are its largest and smallest representatives, who lives longer and who eats the most? There is hardly a person who would not be curious to know what is the largest frog in the world, where it lives and what are the features of its life. Such a creature is indeed present in wildlife, and they call it the goliath frog (Conraua goliath).

Habitat

The largest frog in the world, like many other exotic animals, comes from Africa. Rather, it lives in its western part, in the tropics of Cameroon and in Equatorial Guinea.

The goliath lives exclusively on the banks and under the shadow of river waterfalls. The largest frog in the world is an amphibian creature that needs to constantly maintain a certain temperature of its body (the air temperature in its habitat should not be below 22 degrees). Therefore, it is vital for her to always be surrounded by moisture. Goliath avoids open, sunlit places.

When the biggest goliath frogis not in the water, it sits on the stones, while merging with their gray color. In this way, she gains protection from her enemies. It seems not easy to cling to the stones slippery from the water, but the goliath frog sits quite confidently on them. Special suction pads located on her front fingers help her in this. The hind legs, equipped with special membranes, are also involved in this process.

Despite its impressive size, the goliath jumps into the water with lightning speed at the slightest sign of danger. He is able to control the territory within 40 meters, and it is quite difficult to get close to an adult goliath. Having jumped into the water, the frog remains there for up to 15 minutes, then again gets out onto land. In this case, the nose and eyes are first shown above the water, and then the surface of the body.

Food

The world's largest frog feeds on scorpions, insects, worms, small rodents and birds. She goes hunting at night, quickly jumping out of the water for the prey she likes. It should be noted that the jump of a frog can reach 3 meters in length.

Such a "record" costs the frog a very large amount of energy. Therefore, after the hunt, she needs a lot of time to rest to replenish her expended strength.

Reproduction

Females of the largest frog on the planet spawn in the off-season, when nature "rests" from the incessantly pouring streams of water from the sky. To do this, she needs 6 days, during which one individual can "give" up to 10 thousand eggs, each of which reaches a decent sizepeas.

The egg hatches into a tadpole 8 mm long, on average. In 70 days, he should "turn" into a normal frog, having lost his tail and gills. And during this time, the tadpole can eat exclusively plants. Interestingly, in 45 days of his life, he grows up to 48 mm, that is, weight gain and increase in height occur, one might say, rapidly.

As for the parameters of an adult frog, its length can be 30 cm, and its weight can be more than 3 kg.

Giant Frog Threats

The main threat to the life of a frog comes both directly from the person himself, and from the consequences of his "management" in its habitats.

The goliath frog has long been the object of persecution by gourmets, collectors and other lovers of the exotic. At the same time, some people catch it for the purpose of delivering it to restaurants or in order to cook it themselves. Others hunt for an outlandish trophy or for a specimen for their terrariums. It should be noted that all attempts to breed goliaths in captivity ended in failure.

These giant frogs also "suffer" from the commercial deforestation of the tropical forests that are their habitat. Thus, due to the destruction of trees, the area of residence of frogs is reduced by several thousand hectares annually. In addition, unclean water resources, into which poachers throw chemicals for catching fish, pose a danger to her life.

Except for the local tribes, whose representatives mayhunt for frogs to sell them to a restaurant, it is the tourists who are eager to taste the frog meat that pose the greatest danger. The meat of these representatives is also considered very useful for pregnant women.

The biggest frog (photo)

The images show that the goliath is not in vain bears its name - this frog is really impressive in its size. The tribes that live near its habitat affectionately call these frogs "sons". Because an adult goliath reaches the size of a normal baby.

Interesting, but unlike their relatives, for whom the swamp is a natural habitat, goliaths "bypass" such reservations. They only settle where the water is crystal clear, and this is one of the reasons why so many people hunt them.

Now you know which frog is the largest in the world, as well as the features of its life and everything that threatens its existence.