If you think the frogs are all the same, it is because you have not yet known the Rana of the desert rain (Breviceps Macrops), a small and round amphibian who lives among the sandy dunes from the Namibia and of the South Africa. With his chubby cheeksthe gaze packed and the body similar to one potato with legshas become a web star thanks to its tenderly grumpy appearance and its acutesimilar to a toy that creases.
This frog just measures 4–6 cmweighs a few grams and is completely adapted to life in desertwhere the annual rain does not exceed i 7 cm. Lives hidden in the sand during the day, digging up to 20 cm in depth to find the necessary humidity. Emerging at night is his strategy to escape the heat and go hunting for termitehis main source of food and water! A termite, in fact, is composed for about the 75% of waterand this small frog can eat it up to 100 In one night.
Does not jump, but walk
One of its most fascinating characteristics is the transparent skin on the bellythrough which you can see the internal organsand one adhesive surface who attacks the sand to his body, excluded mouth and nostrils. Unlike other frogs,: walk With clumsy but decided pace thanks to the short and palm tams, similar to palettes.
His natural environment it is fragile and threatened by human activities like themining extraction And tourism. There reduction of the habitatless than 2,000 km²and climate change expose it to strong risks. From the 2015an exceptional drought made its survival even more difficult. Despite the attempts to restore the habitat, that the population is recovering.
During the reproductive period, between June and Octobermales emit a high frequency reference To attract the females. The latter, if interested, reach them and lay down to 40 eggs in a hole in the ground. From there, they are born small already formedwithout going from the Girino phase. In a changing world, this frog teaches us that the smaller and strange beings have a important role In the ecosystem and, let’s admit it, also to make us smile.
