Card #087 · Amphibians
Hairy frog
Trichobatrachus robustus
Common LC · Least Concern
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Anura · Family Arthroleptidae
- Range
- Rainforest streams of Central Africa
- Size
- 10–13 cm (4–5 in)
- Weight
- ~80 g (3 oz)
- Lifespan
- Not established
- Diet
- Insects, slugs, spiders
Most Notable
The hair is not hair. A breeding male grows fringes of skin threaded with blood vessels along his flanks and thighs, extra surface for taking oxygen straight out of the water while he guards the eggs.
Cornered, the male breaks the bones in his own toes and drives the sharpened ends out through the skin. There is no sheath and no opening waiting for them. The claw is the broken bone itself, and the wound closes over once the fight is finished.
Nothing else is known to do this. Other clawed animals grow a claw and keep it. This one manufactures the weapon by injuring itself, and the bone withdraws back under the skin as the tissue heals.
Only breeding males go hairy, which is why the frog looks like two different animals depending on the season and on which one you have caught.
This card was built as Near Threatened and shipped as Least Concern. Checking the status before publishing turned up a 2017 assessment covering a range from Nigeria to the Congo basin, so the rarity tier was moved to match. On these cards the rarity follows the Red List, never the other way round.
It is hunted for food across much of that range, roasted whole, and the claws are handled with the same respect you would give any small animal that can open your hand.
Range: Rainforest streams, Nigeria to the Congo basin.