Pinocchio frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pinocchio frog |
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The Pinocchio frog or northern Pinocchio treefrog (Litoria pinocchio) is a special type of frog. It lives on the island of New Guinea. You can find it in the Foja Mountains, which are in Indonesia.
This frog has a mix of colors like green, brown, and yellow. The male Pinocchio frog has a unique pointy tip on its nose. This point can actually change size, becoming bigger or smaller at different times. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why this happens.
What's Special About Its Nose?
Scientists have noticed that the male frog's nose point gets bigger when it sings. They think this might be a way for the male frogs to impress female frogs. Other scientists believe the changing nose helps Pinocchio frogs recognize each other. This is important because it helps them tell their own kind apart from other frogs that look similar and live in the same area.
Discovery and Naming
The Pinocchio frog got its name from the famous story character, Pinocchio. In the story, Pinocchio is a puppet whose nose grows longer whenever he tells a lie. Scientists first knew about this frog around 2008. However, they officially described it in a scientific paper in 2019. This means they wrote the first detailed scientific report about it.
See also
