Bicolored frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bicolored frog |
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| Male in breeding colours | |
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Rana curtipes Jerdon, 1854 |
The bicolored frog, also known as the Malabar frog, is a cool type of frog that lives only in the Western Ghats mountains of India. Its scientific name is Clinotarsus curtipes. These frogs are special because their tadpoles are black and swim together in big, tight groups, like little schools of fish. You can find these tadpole schools in slow-moving streams within forests.
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What Does the Bicolored Frog Look Like?
The bicolored frog has a large head and a short, rounded snout. Its eyes are quite big, and its eardrum (called the tympanum) is almost as large as its eye!
Its fingers and toes are short. The tips of its fingers and toes are a bit swollen, like tiny pads. The skin on its back feels a little bumpy. It also has a special fold of skin on its side that looks like a narrow line.
These frogs can be greyish or brown on top, sometimes with small black dots. The special fold on their side is usually lighter and outlined in black. They often have a dark spot or band below their eye. Their legs are dark purplish-brown, and their underside is light brown, though their throat can sometimes be dark brown.
Male bicolored frogs have a special pouch under their throat called a vocal sac, which they use to make sounds.
Cool Frog Facts
Scientists can actually tell individual bicolored frogs apart by the unique patterns of spots on their backs. This is like how human fingerprints are unique! Researchers use these patterns to count how many frogs live in an area. For example, a study in the Bisale Reserve Forest in Kodagu, India, found about 0.08 to 0.1 frogs per square meter.
Sometimes, if an adult frog feels threatened by a predator, it might pretend to be dead to escape! This is called feigning death.
Bicolored Frog Tadpoles
The tadpoles of the bicolored frog are quite large, growing to over 9 centimeters (about 3.5 inches) long. They are known for swimming together in large groups, called shoals, in slow-moving streams. In some local areas, these tadpoles are collected and eaten.
Images for kids
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Underside of a breeding male
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Upperside of a breeding male
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Shoals of tadpoles in a stream
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A pair in amplexus
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A bicolored frog
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Another view of the Malabar frog
