Exotic Frogs

So many different types of frogs around the world – there are few places on earth that don’t have frogs. Technically speaking, the distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5, 000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. This list presents ten cool species of exotic frogs.

10. Chile Darwin�s Frog

The Chile Darwin’s Frog (Rhinoderma rufum) is one of only two members of the family Rhinodermatidae. It is endemic to Chile. This species of frog exhibits a highly unusual form of parental care in that the tadpoles spend part of their life developing in the vocal sac of their father, where they ‘hitch a ride’ to a pool of water in their father’s vocal sac where they complete their development from the tadpole to the frog form.

Very little is known about this species, but its natural habitats are probably Temperate Forests, Rivers, and Swamps. It is currently considered critically endangered, but as there have been no confirmed records since around 1980, it may already be extinct.

9. Pipa or Surinam Toad (Pipa pipa)

This Surinam toad is the world�s flattest amphibian�in fact, it looks like the victim of an unfortunate road accident. Yet this frog�s unusual shape helps hide it among the leaves and plant debris in the streams they inhabit in the Amazon River Basin of South America. Like some of the other frogs above, they have an amazing reproductive strategy: after the female lays eggs the male attaches them to the female�s back. They stick to her skin, which grows to form pockets over them, giving her a honeycomb appearance. The tadpoles grow within these pockets and emerge as toadlets after 20 weeks. You can learn how to care for one here.

8. Flying Frogs

These frogs leap and glide from tree to tree by spreading out their huge webbed feet like parachutes. They are rarely found on ground except to mate and lay eggs. Their oversized toe pads help them stick to tree trunks and to land softly. Flying frogs inhabit the dense tropical jungles of Malaysia and Borneo.

7. The Hip Pocket Frog

This is called a Male Marsupial frog because like a kangaroo it carries its young in pouches. It has two openings, one on each hip, where tadpoles develop. First the female lays eggs in damp sand, then they are guarded by the male, and finally they hatch into finless white tadpoles, which wriggle their way into the pouches. Only about half make it. They emerge 7 to 10 weeks later as froglets. Hip-pocket frogs are terrestrial and live among leaf litter in the forest (and like a few of our other unusual frogs, they are only found in Australia).