Friday 14 March 2014

Paradoxical Frog

Image: Wikipedia
Pseudis paradoxa
It's the amazing, shrinking frog!

The Paradoxical Frog spends approximately every moment of its life in ponds, lakes and lagoons in the eastern side of South America. They don't like dry land at all.


Life starts with a bunch of perfectly ordinary eggs deposited among aquatic plants. They hatch into tadpoles who exhibit the normal gluttony of most any tadpole the world over. They have to eat because they need to grow up big and strong before they can metamorphose into adults.

The thing with the Paradoxical Frog is once the tadpole grows up big and strong, it simply keeps going. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger until, after four months of growth, it can reach as much as 25 cm (10 inches) long. That's about 4 times bigger than its parents!

Image: Christopher
It then goes through metamorphosis, ending up as an adult some 7 cm (3 inches) or a little less in length.


Video: Joe Furman

Can you imagine an adult frog looking up at a giant tadpole, spreading its arms out as far as they can go and saying "I remember you when you were a tyke this big".

That's one baby that won't be getting bounced on his parent's knee.

10 comments:

Lear's Fool said...

I would've been convinced I'd discovered a completely new sort of fish!

Joseph JG said...

Apparently people initially thought it was a frog that went back to a tadpole so it could grow some more.

And guess that counts as a new sort of frog!

Lear's Fool said...

The Curious Case of Paradoxical Pablo.

Brad Pitt would be excellent as the lead!

Lear's Fool said...

By the way, I'm still loving the conversations that must have happened when they were trying to sort all this out.

*Scientist correctly holds up parents*
Other Scientist: Nice one!
*Both scientists laugh*
Third Scientist: Okay guys, enough joking around, there's a really big frog just waiting to be discovered by us!
French Scientist: *laughs Frenchishly*

Wait. . . maybe that's it? They evolved small-legged parents to avoid the French?

TexWisGirl said...

too funny - and very odd! baby huey!

Crunchy said...

I think maybe the big ol toad that lives down the way has some explaining to do.

Joseph JG said...

@Lear's Fool: Frogs are terrified of the sound of Frenchish laughter!

@TexWisGirl: Baby Huey! I forgot all about that one!

@Crunchy: Hahaha! Oh, man. You never know where love might blossom!

Anonymous said...

Froggy!

Anonymous said...

the froggy in the video was a bad guy that was going to kill a cow. I wish he dies.that would make no cow died.but he lives under water so he didnt.why are there no cows on this sight

Joseph JG said...

The man loves his cows!