African bullfrog

These frogs have large bodies with broad ridged backs and strong hind legs. The sexes can be identified through the colour of their underbellies. Females usually have creamy beige bellies, whilst the males tend to have yellow or orange bellies and throats. On all frogs the rest of the body is usually coloured olive green.

 

These frogs are renowned for their monstrous appetite. The general rule for this predator is: if it moves, it’s a meal. African bullfrogs have been known to eat large birds, monitor lizards, snakes, and even other African bullfrogs!

The African bullfrog is fossorial for most of the year, which means that during this time, it remains in burrows or cocoons. It emerges at the start of the rains to breed in shallow pools and ditches.

 

What they eat: Invertebrates, lizards, birds and other small vertibrates - almost any small animals that will fit in their mouths! 

 

Habitat: Dry savannah, moist savannah, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

 

Where they live: Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

 

Threats: Habitat loss, forest clearing.