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Lately, I’ve become fascinated by cool examples of animal camouflage. One that came to my attention recently is the Vietnamese mossy frog. Take one look at this frog, and you can easily guess where it spends most of its time: near edges of water where there is an abundance of moss.
They are found in northern Vietnam, especially on the banks of rocky streams in the forested hills. Like most frogs, they are predators, feeding on insects like crickets and cockroaches. They usually hunt at night, and during the day they sit very still on the moss or clinging to rocks, looking very much like a clump of moss.
Have you ever tried to locate a creature that is capable of “throwing its voice”? I suppose the more official term is “acoustic ventriloquism.” Some animals, such as bullfrogs, cicadas, and some birds, can direct their calls away from their own body, making it extremely difficult for predators to precisely locate their location. Numerous times, I have tried to zero in on a calling (buzzing) cicada, only to fail… even when I’m only a few feet away from the darn thing. Well, Vietnamese mossy frogs can “throw their voice” up to four meters (13 feet). This confuses predators, and it also confuses rival males who are looking for a fight.
Okay, one more exceptional fact. Like most frogs, Vietnamese mossy frogs lay their eggs in water. Interestingly, the gender of the tadpoles that hatch from the eggs is mostly determined by the temperature of the water. In warmer water, nearly all the frogs will be male. Cooler water will produce mostly female frogs.
Photo Credits:
- Frog sitting on green moss - DepositPhotos
- Frog on white background - DepositPhotos