Today is the eighteenth day of the April A to Z Challenge. I will be writing about different frog species based on their latin species names! See the introduction here.
Trichobatrachus robustus – Hairy Frog
Any guesses as to why it is called the Hairy frog?
The hair-like structure found on breeding males looks like a bad Halloween chaps costume. These frogs can be found in Nigeria, Gabon, Guinea, Congo & Cameroon in the tropical forests, rivers and plantations. This species is hunted with long spears and machetes in some countries. The Bakossi people traditionally believed that these frogs fall from the sky and when eaten they will help women become fertile.
The T. robustus also possess”claws” which are made of bones that are intentionally broken to allow the sharp bone project out of the skin. It is thought that this is used as a defense mechanism. It is hypothesized that the claws retract at a later time after the damaged tissue has regenerated.
Pretty cool frog. I would say pretty cool little frog, but these frogs can reach almost 4.5″ long.
Check out my previous A to Z posts:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
Sources:
(1) iNaturalist(2) Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities (3) Wikipedia
Image Sources:
(1 & 2) Wikipedia(2) newscientist.com
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