Günther's Red-and-black Frog

Fascinating facts about the Günther's Red-and-black Frog

• At just 10 cm from snout to vent, this frog is the size of a small notebook, yet its hind legs stretch 1.5 times longer than its body, giving it a spring-loaded look for leaping across puddles.
• You can find Günther's frog from sea-level rice paddies all the way up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in the mountains, showing it thrives across a surprising elevation range.
• When the female deposits her eggs in still water of rice fields, the emerging tadpoles are silver-white with a dark stripe from nose to eye and a spot behind each eye.
• Its skin secretes a cocktail of chemicals, (Val1)-bradykinin to deter predators and antibiotics like guentherin and brevinin-2GHa, that act as a natural defense line against infection.
• Although not threatened, this frog can host the rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a parasite that can cause meningitis in humans, reminding us that even common wildlife can intersect with human health.

At a glance

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