Wild Facts

It is time for another exciting week of Wild Facts. Today we are going over to Africa to learn about an interesting frog. The African Clawed Frog can be found throughout the African continent and is also known as the Platanna. Grab your chest waders and water wings because we are going swimming.

The African Clawed Frog can be about 12 cm (5″) in length and weigh about 220 g (8 oz). This particular frog gets its name from the three short claws on their hind feet. This frog eats small fish, water bugs and other insects. As well, the African Clawed Frog will actually eat their own skin after shedding it. How gross is this, eh? They use their specialized claws to assist with catching and tearing apart their food.

Most frogs can occasionally be found hanging out on land, however, the platanna spends all of its time in the water. As you would expect the African Clawed Frog is a very proficient swimmer. They are capable of swimming very quickly in all directions. Whether they are going forwards, backwards, sideways, up or down, these frogs are incredibly comfortable in the water.

Again, most frogs have some pretty cool croaking sounds but this particular frog doesn’t actually have a vocal sac. This doesn’t stop the persistent males from contracting their laryngeal muscles (basically, their throat muscles) to make long and short trills which they alternate during mating season. If the female is interested in the frog then they will respond back with a rapping sound. I highly doubt this “rapping” sound is anything like Eminiem or Snoop Dogg does but it is effective in the frog world. If the female wants nothing to do with the singing male then they will respond with a slow ticking sound. So I guess rap is the favourite music genre of the male African Clawed Frogs.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed today’s fact. Have a good one!