Goliath - the biggest frog in the world

People are interested in the world of fauna and who and how it is represented. For example, what are his biggest and smallest representatives, who lives longer and who eats more? It is unlikely that there will be a person who would not be curious to know which is the biggest frog in the world where it lives and what are the characteristics of its life activity. Such a creature is really present in the living nature, and call it a frog-goliath (Conraua goliath).

Inhabitation

The biggest 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.

Goliath lives exclusively on the banks and under the canopy of waterfalls of rivers. The largest frog in the world is an amphibian, in need of constant maintenance of a certain temperature of its body (the temperature of the air 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 largest goliath frog is not in the water, it sits on the rocks, merging with their gray color. In this way, she gets protection from her enemies. Clinging to rocks that are slippery from water, it seems difficult, but the Goliath frog sits confidently on them. Help her in this special pads-suckers, located on the front of her fingers. Participate in this process and the hind legs, equipped with special membranes.

Despite its impressive size, the goliath jumps to the water with lightning speed at the slightest sign of danger. He is able to control the territory within 40 meters, and to an adult specimen of the Goliath is difficult to get close. After jumping into the water, the frog remains there for up to 15 minutes, then again gets out on land. At the same time, the nose and eyes are first shown above the water, and then the surface of the body.

Food

The largest frog in the world eats scorpions, insects, worms, small rodents and birds. On the hunt she goes out at night, briskly jumping out of the water for a fancy prey. It should be noted that the jump of the frog can reach 3 meters in length.

Such a "record" costs a frog of very high energy costs. Therefore, after hunting, it takes quite a lot of time to rest, in order to replenish the exhausted forces.

Reproduction

The females of the largest frog on the planet are spawning in the off-season, when nature "rests" on the ceaseless flow 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.

From the egg hatch a tadpole of length, on average, 8 mm. In 70 days, he must "turn" into a normal frog, losing his tail and gills. And during this time the tadpole can only eat plants. It is interesting that over 45 days of his life he grows up to 48 mm, that is, the weight gain and the increase in growth occur, it can be said, swiftly.

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 the frog proceeds both directly from the person himself, and from the consequences of his "management" in its habitats.

Frog-Goliath has long been the object of harassment from gourmets, collectors and other exotic lovers. At the same time, some of them are caught for the purpose of putting them in restaurants or to cook on their own. Others hunt for a strange trophy or for a specimen for their terrariums. It should be noted that all attempts to breed goliaths in captivity ended in failure.

"Suffer" is also these giant frogs from commercial deforestation of the tropical forests, which are the range of its habitat. So, due to the destruction of trees, the area of residence of frogs is reduced by several thousand hectares annually. In addition, the danger to her life and impure water resources, in which poachers throw off chemicals to catch fish.

If you do not count the local tribes, whose representatives can hunt frogs to sell it to a restaurant, then the greatest danger is represented by tourists, eager to taste frog meat. Still the meat of these representatives is considered very useful for pregnant women.

The biggest frog (photo)

The images show that the goliath is not in vain bearing its name - this frog really impresses with its size. Tribes that live near the range of its habitat, affectionately call these frogs "sons". Because the 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" the party. They settle exclusively where the water has crystal clearness, and this is one of the reasons why so many people hunt after them.

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