Frogs, the special animal which made our childhood amazing. In childhood frog was like a entertainment for all of us though many were scared of it and some enjoyed to play with it. I remember when I was in high school had seen organs of the frog, which always left me in wonder. We all have seen frog as a tiny animal but in frog species too there are largest frogs.
Yes, the goliath frog is the largest frog in the world. It grows up to 12.5 inches long and can weigh up to 7.2 pounds. The goliath frog is as big as some house cats!Despite its remarkable size, it doesn’t begin with a head start over other frog species. Instead, its tadpoles are the same size as an average frog tadpole.
Goliath frogs live in small ranges in the rainforests at the equator of western Africa, near swift-moving rivers and waterfalls. These giant amphibians need to be near water much like the average frog. Goliath frogs come out at night and sit on river rocks to look for food. An adult goliath frog eats the same types of food that other frogs do: insects, crustaceans, fish, and other amphibians.
The most simple and common type of nest involved clearing leaves, sediment, and other litter out of rock pools in the river bed, taking advantage of pre-existing structures for breeding. The second type of nest involved enlarging existing shallow ponds. The giant frogs push gravel and other litter out of the way, essentially forming their own mini-dams. The most impressive type of nest saw the frogs use their legs to dig depressions into the riverbanks, which they encircle with large stones and rocks. Some of the rocks the frog hurled to form their own ponds could weigh up to 2 kilograms, more than half of the Goliaths’ weight.
According to the researchers, it is the male Goliaths that do all the heavy digging and lifting. Once the nest is finished, the male will make whistling sounds to attract females. After they mate, the female deposits her eggs, which she’ll guard until the tadpoles are ready to hatch.
When goliath frogs reach maturity and have babies, they do things a little differently from most frogs. The male builds a nest of rocks and gravel near a riverbank, and wrestles with other males to breed with females. The wrestling and rock moving may be why males are larger than females: this is unusual for frogs. Then the female lays thousands of eggs in the nest. That is where the parenting stops: they don’t even wait around to ensure the eggs hatch.
Goliath frogs are endangered now. Major contributors to their decline are, unfortunately, humans. Many people enjoy eating frogs, and a goliath frog makes a big meal. Even though it is now against the law to hunt the goliath frog, poachers still do so to sell the delicious meat. Many goliath frogs are exported to the United States each year for frog-jumping contests.