Natural resources impress with their diversity. There are a huge number of plants and representatives of the animal world in the world. Almost every year, scientists discover more and more new species. Today we will talk about an amphibian, which is known as the "flying frog". There are several varieties of these amphibians.
frog
There are about 80 species of flying frogs in the world. All of them belong to the Copepod family. Frogs of this species not only jump and swim, but also soar perfectly in the air. This feature is due to the fact that on the paws of these amphibians there are wide membranes. In some species, their area can be up to 20 cm 2.
Most often, flying frogs are found in the following tropical regions:
- China;
- Japan;
- India;
- Philippines;
- Malay Archipelago;
- Madagascar;
- African countries.
These frogs prefer to live in trees. Amphibians descend to earth only during the mating season to mate and lay eggs. The structure of the body allows them to carry out a small flight at a distance of up to 15 meters. The amphibian has a high tenacity, due to which the landing is always successful. Such maneuverability and accuracy is ensured by the presence of small teeth and webs on the legs, which are covered with sticky mucus. When a frog needs to descend from a tree to the ground, it makes a jump and carries out its gliding flight.
Description of the frog Rhacophorus arboreus
The habitat of Rhacophorus arboreus, or the Kinugass flying frog, is the islands of Sado and Honshu (Japan). The amphibian is found in moist forests tropics and subtropics, in freshwater swamps and on irrigated lands.
This species of tree frogs mainly lives on trees, and only during the mating season do individuals gather near water sources. Their diet consists exclusively of insects.
The body structure of the Kinugass frog is somewhat different from other amphibian species. She has a very large head, and on the paws there are special membranes. Female frogs are larger in size than males. Their body size ranges from 59 to 82 mm, while that of a partner does not exceed 60 mm. The color is bright green, there may be black or brown spots on the back, although there are individuals that do not have any marks. The color of the iris can vary from orange to red-brown.
During the mating season, the male calls the female with a special call, which consists of a series of clicks. The flying frog is capable of laying 300 to 800 eggs. A substance is released from the female's cloaca, which she forms into foam. The frog attaches the resulting mixture to the branches of a tree, near a reservoir, and lays eggs there, after which the male fertilizes them. After a short period of time, the foam becomes hard, which provides future offspring with protection from predators and desiccation.
Description of the giant flying frog
Polypedates dennysii, or the giant flying frog, lives in northern Vietnam. In size, an amphibian can reach 15-18 cm. Females, unlike males, are larger and have a bright color. The body may have white or brown spots. Quite rare varieties have speckles of a bright blue hue. If an amphibian is frightened, its color may change and take on a darker shade.
Interesting fact! Amphibians born in captivity do not come in a bright green color, their shade is something between green and blue, more like turquoise. The membranes on the hind limbs are pink in color.
The giant flying frog is predominantly nocturnal. The breeding season lasts from May to October.
V Lately it became fashionable to breed all kinds of outlandish creatures at home. Amphibians are especially popular. Giant flying frogs are quite picky in keeping, but their reproduction in captivity is almost impossible.
If you decide to get yourself such a pet, you will need a special terrarium, it is better to choose more spaciously so that the frog is comfortable. Inside it needs to be equipped with snags and branches. Since amphibians love moisture, instead of soil, you need to fill the bottom of the terrarium with water. The layer should be approximately 5-7 cm.
Cleaning in the pet's home should be done regularly, as the water quickly becomes contaminated with amphibian excrement, and the walls get dirty due to the mucus on the frog's legs. Content temperature:
- daytime: + 26;
- at night: +20.
You can feed frogs with insects, large cockroaches. Large individuals can be given small mice.
The life span of flying frogs is about 15-20 years.
flying frog
The king of animals called: a frog, a giraffe and a hippo. Whoever jumps over the lake will take my throne. confess who kicked me!
It's already dinner, - the Frog was surprised, who croaked all night, and I so wanted to see how the lilies bloom at dawn. Okay, I'll take a look tomorrow.
Such promises the Frog made to herself almost every day and in general many, many promises. But all the time I did not have time to fulfill them. Then I wanted to sleep, then I really wanted to eat, then to sleep again, and then my girlfriends called me to the shore to croak. Well, simply, there is no time to meet the sunrise, visit my mother, clean up the house.
So what, - thought the Frog, - others ...
One night Brother Bruno's prayer was interrupted by the loud croaking of a giant frog. All his attempts to ignore these sounds were unsuccessful, so he shouted from the window: “Well, be quiet! I need to pray."
Brother Bruno was a saint, and his request was granted immediately. All living beings fell silent so that nothing would interfere with prayer.
But then there was another sound that prevented Bruno from praising God. The inner voice said:
Maybe God does not hear the croaking of this frog ...
Itziku is thirty-three. Age of Jesus Christ. Itzik is single. His girlfriends, of course, would-
Lee. So what?! "Things and now there."
Itzik's parents are in despair. They want a wedding, they want a chuppah, they want an end
End of grandchildren. Itzik doesn't seem to mind. And even he himself is looking for a friend of his life on the Internet.
Neither. Searches but does not find.
Everything would be okay if it weren’t for these very thirty-three. Who doesn’t know that in this age
You already “don’t take them without looking”, but as in the bazaar you start to sort through: “this one is not ripe ...
About the frog
A frog lies on a lotus, basking in the sun. A frog swims past and asks: "How is the water, warm?" Frog with an offended look: "I am resting like a woman, not like a thermometer!"
New Russian and penguin
“It's 30 degrees outside. A man is taking penguins to the zoo in a refrigerator. Suddenly, halfway through, the car breaks down. What to do? The man was not at a loss - he began to catch rides ... He asks everyone to take one penguin to the zoo. Our people are kind, they agree ... Here he has one left ...
Once, many years ago, a family of caterpillars lived in an old mulberry tree. They hatched from eggs, ate a lot of leaves during their life and ended it by turning into pupae. The caterpillars had well-developed eyesight, but they had no idea where the eggs come from and how they are created.
They assumed they came from eggs because they saw their smaller brothers hatch from eggs, but since butterflies laid their eggs at night, the caterpillars had no idea where they came from ...
The creature looked away from the red sun rising above the horizon, blinked a couple of times, moistening its huge blue eyes with a mixture of concentrated acids, and sniffed the warm morning air with a small black nose, grunting lazily at the same time. Sensitive receptors detected the Predator nearby. Soon the information was confirmed by a rumor: the Predator was moving towards the Creature, apparently also sensing its presence. The Beast now hunting the Creature was not particularly dangerous and passed according to...
THE LEG IS NOT THE SAME
- You got too rich
I don't like bullies! -
So called the octopus centipede
On polynomial tournament.
Yes, I have one foot!
- And what kind of leg?
- Yes, anyone!
- Well, what is it?
Well, at least the one with which I get up
from the forty sofa.
- And with what?
- Oh, but really, with what?
The centipede lay down
thought a little,
I started to get up and
She flopped back onto the bed.
© Yuri Tuboltsev, 2005
SUCH SUCH
Before meeting him, the princess...
“Born to crawl - cannot fly” - this is clearly not about our hero of the note. Of course, real flight is possible only for birds, and all other animals (mammals, reptiles and amphibians) can only soar in the air, using all kinds of devices for this.
Here are some types of tree frogs that have acquired them. Thanks to the huge membranes on the hind and front legs, they can glide in the air for a distance of several tens of meters. The membrane area of the Javan flying frog from the islands of Java and Sumatra can reach 19 square meters. cm.
But it's not the only frog that can fly. Many members of the copepod or copepod family are capable of this. We already wrote about one of them - this is Wallace's flying frog from the island of Borneo. In total, this family includes 231 species included in 10 genera. All of them live in tropical forests South-East Asia, in the Malay Archipelago, in Central and South Africa and also on the island of Madagascar. Almost all lead an arboreal lifestyle.
Photo by Jodi J. L. Rowley
Our heroine lives in the mountainous regions of the islands of Sumatra and Java, in connection with which, in fact, she got her name.
Outwardly, it is very similar to that famous flying frog from the island of Borneo, but still has its own distinctive features. Firstly, the presence of a leathery keel along the ridge, and secondly, in adults, the membranes on the hind and fore legs do not have dark stripes or spots.
Photo by Takeshi Ebinuma
The length of adults does not exceed 7.5 centimeters. Females are larger than males. The body is slender, the legs are long. The color is bright - the back is painted in rich green, and the abdomen is bright yellow or orange. In young individuals, the webs on the paws and axillary areas are covered with dark purple or blue spots, which disappear with age (sometimes there are barely noticeable spots between the 4th and 5th toes of the hind legs).
On the fingers there are special swellings that act as suction cups during landing on a vertical surface. An important role is also played by intercalary cartilage-shock absorbers between the last phalanxes of the fingers, which help to soften the landing.
Photo by Tim Laman
Their larvae also have a slightly unusual structure. They have suction cups on the front half of the abdomen, just behind the mouth opening. The tadpoles themselves are very long and can almost reach the size of their parents. The length of the tail alone reaches 4.5 centimeters. Above and below it is covered with a wide leathery crest.
Java frogs can fall into a kind of hibernation.
Their breeding season lasts quite a long time - from January to August, but it reaches a special peak in the spring months - in March-April. After mating, the female moves closer to coastal plants. The place for laying eggs is chosen directly above the water, so that immediately after hatching the tadpoles are in the water. But before that, alone, and sometimes together with a partner, with the help of her paws, she whips up a special foamy substance, where she lays her eggs. There are about 60-70 eggs in a clutch.
The flying frog, or scientifically, the Javan copepod frog (Rhacophorus reinwardtii) lives on the islands of Java, Sumatra and Banka (Southeast Asia). Settles in the humid jungle, bamboo thickets, sometimes found in mountain forests. The Javan flying frog leads an arboreal way of life, in many ways related to tree frogs, descending to earth only for reproduction. This amphibian is active at night, but during the day it rests, falling into a state resembling sleep. The diet of the flying frog includes insects and small invertebrates that live in the crowns of trees.
Characteristic features of the Javanese copepod are a wide flat head and bulging yellow eyes with horizontal slits in the pupils. The body is slender, long paws with tenacious fingers help the copepods to climb fine twigs perfectly.
The Java frog, like its other copepod counterparts, is brightly colored: the back is emerald green, the abdomen is yellow or orange, in young individuals the swimming membranes and armpits are bright blue (they turn pale with age). The green coloring serves as an excellent camouflage among the foliage. The length of adult Javanese copepods does not exceed 7.5 cm.
The structure of the paws deserves special attention. The toes of the hind paws are strongly elongated due to additional cartilages between the penultimate and last phalanges. Each finger is equipped with a suction cup in the form of a round pad, and between the fingers there are highly developed swimming membranes. A skin rim stretches along the forearm and along the edge of the fifth toe of the hind legs. These devices allow the frog to fly, or rather, to make long-range gliding jumps from branch to branch. During the jump, the amphibian spreads its fingers wide, inflates the body and easily glides down, deftly maneuvering on the fly. The Javan copepod frog is capable of flying up to 12 meters.
In general, the Javan copepod is not the only flying frog. Other species capable of flight live in the forests of Japan, India, Africa and the island. Madagascar. The wisdom of gliding flight was mastered not only by copepod frogs, but also by other animals, including flying dragons (Draco volans) and some geckos.
The breeding season for Javan copepods is from January to August. During mating, the male climbs onto the back of his girlfriend and freezes for a long time, clasping her armpits with his front paws. Meanwhile, the female with the male on her back is looking for a suitable place to lay eggs. Finding a suitable branch hanging over the water, she sits down on it and begins to secrete thick mucus from the cloaca, which she whips into thick foam with her hind legs. After that, the male slides back, grabbing the abdomen of his girlfriend, encourages her to lay several eggs and fertilizes them with seminal fluid. The fertilized eggs sink into the foam, and the female secretes another portion of the mucus, but this time she beats it together with the male. A clutch usually contains 60 to 80 eggs. Having fulfilled his conjugal duty, the male emerges from the foam, followed by the female. A lump of mucus envelops the leaves and twigs, and the dried crust protects the foam and eggs from drying out. Hatched tadpoles gather in a small chamber at the bottom of the lump, where they wait for heavy rain - water dissolves the foamy nest and washes the tadpoles into the nearest reservoir. Tadpoles grow and turn into frogs already in the water. Young individuals migrate to trees, and in aquatic environment come back only to give life to a new generation.
Of course, it is too early to say that they have mastered the airspace. The so-called representatives of the copepod family are the only more or less flying frogs. They do not fly higher than tree crowns, but they do not cease to be amazing creatures.
If you look closely at copepod frogs sitting on a branch of a tree, then it will not be easy to guess that they are about to take off. After all, usually flying have wings or special organs that replace them. Flying frogs don't have anything like that at all, but they still take off.
flight technique
Copepod frogs can safely be called glider pilots! Before flying, they inflate their body in a peculiar way, spread their fingers quite widely and stretch the swimming membranes, which have turned into flying ones in this family of amphibians. Then the balloon frogs jump forward, positioning their legs so that, without a shadow of a doubt, turn into a single plane.
It should be noted that the design of this aircraft» copepod frogs is very mediocre. For example, leopard flying frogs living on the islands of the Malay Archipelago can quite easily overcome a distance equal to 3/5 of the height from which they jump.
For example, black-footed, which is next to the leopard (also in Thailand and Laos), jumping from a height of 10 m, flies 14 m. The Javanese flying frog is also worth noting. She, of course, is less talented than the "black-paw", but she is still able to overcome distances of 10-12 m.
Flying frog lifestyle
The vast majority of individuals from the family of copepod frogs lead a predominantly arboreal lifestyle. Mostly representatives of the genus of flying frogs fly. The fact is that their long fingers on the paws are interconnected by special membranes. The tips of these fingers are swollen.
These swellings are necessary so that the frog can firmly hold on to one or another tree trunk. When it sits down, for example, on a smooth leaf, the swellings on the fingers flatten, turning into special suction cups, which hold the amphibian on the branches of trees during rest.
Where do they live?
The family of copepod frogs is considered quite extensive and includes more than 400 different species. The traditional habitats of these glider aeronauts are the tropical zones of Southeast Asia, Japan, Central and South America(including Madagascar), the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
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