Common Reed Frog

Fascinating facts about the Common Reed Frog

• Its range stretches across eight confirmed African nations, from the rain-soaked forests of Uganda to the arid savannas of Sudan, showing a tolerance for wildly different climates.
• The frog thrives in everything from high-altitude grasslands and swampy marshes to urban gardens and irrigation ditches, proving it can live in both pristine wilderness and human-altered landscapes.
• During the long West African dry season, it stops making urine (anuria) and stores water in its bladder, then drinks it back up when rain returns, letting it survive months without external moisture.
• A single observation in a captive colony suggests the species might switch from female to male after breeding, hinting at sequential hermaphroditism, a rarity among amphibians.

At a glance

About the Common Reed Frog

The common reed frog, Hyperolius viridiflavus, occurs in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, with possible presence in the Central African Republic, Chad, and Eritrea, inhabiting subtropical and tropical forests, savannas, wetlands, urban gardens, degraded forests, and irrigated lands. During the dry seasons of West Africa it can halt urine production and increase water intake, storing fluids in its bladder, and a single observation in captivity suggests sequential hermaphroditism, with females potentially changing to males after breeding.

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