People are interested in the world of fauna and who and how it is presented. For example, what are his biggest and smallest representatives, who lives longer and who eats the most? It is unlikely that there will be a person who would not be curious to find out what is the largest frog in the world, where it lives and what are the features of its life. Such a creature is really present in wildlife, and they call it the goliath frog (Conraua goliath).
Habitat
The largest frog in the world, like many other exotic animals, hails from Africa. Rather, it lives in its western part, in the tropics of Cameroon and in Equatorial Guinea.
Goliath lives exclusively on the banks and under the canopy 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 temperature of the air in its habitat should not be lower than 22 degrees). Therefore, it is vitally important for her to always be surrounded by moisture. Goliath avoids open, sunlit places.
When the largest goliath frog is not in the water, it sits on the stones, merging with their gray color. In this way, she receives protection from her enemies. It does not seem easy to cling to 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 also participate 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. After jumping into the water, the frog remains there for up to 15 minutes, then again gets out to land. In this case, above the water, the nose and eyes are first shown, and then the surface of the body.
Nutrition
The largest frog in the world eats scorpions, insects, worms, small rodents and birds. She goes hunting at night, jumping briskly out of the water for the prey she liked. It should be noted that the frog jump can reach 3 meters in length.
Such a “record” costs the frog a very large energy consumption. Therefore, after the hunt she needs a lot of time to rest in order to replenish the expended energy.
Breeding
Females of the largest frogs on the planet spawn in the offseason, when nature "rests" from the constantly flowing streams of water from the sky. To do this, she needs 6 days, for which one individual can “give” up to 10 thousand eggs, each of which reaches the size of a decent pea.
A tadpole hatching an average of 8 mm long from an egg. In 70 days it should “turn” into a normal frog, having lost its tail and gills. And during this time, the tadpole can only eat plants. Interestingly, in 45 days of his life, he grows to 48 mm, that is, weight gain and growth increase occur, we can say, rapidly.
As for the parameters of the adult frog, its length can be 30 cm, and weight - more than 3 kg.
Threats to the giant frog
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 exotic lovers. At the same time, some catch it with the aim of putting it in restaurants or in order to cook it on its own. 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 commercial deforestation of tropical forests, which are its habitat. So, due to the destruction of trees, the area of frogs is reduced by several thousand hectares annually. In addition, unclean water resources pose a danger to her life , into which poachers dump chemicals for catching fish.
Apart from the local tribes, whose representatives can hunt frogs in order to sell it to a restaurant, it is tourists who are eager to taste frog meat who are most dangerous. Even the meat of these representatives is considered very useful for pregnant women.
The biggest frog (photo)
The images show that the goliath has its name in vain - this frog really impresses with its size. The tribes that live near its habitat affectionately call these frogs "little sons." Because an adult goliath reaches the size of a normal infant.
It is interesting, but unlike their relatives, for whom the swamp is a natural habitat, Goliaths like reservations "bypass" this side. They settle exclusively where the water is crystal clear, and this is one of the reasons why so many people hunt for them.
Now you know which frog is the largest in the world, as well as the features of its vital functions and everything that threatens its existence.