Young frogs do not yet have the ability to glide and their skin is bright red and warty. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Visitors to the Prague Zoo can now see black-bellied flying frogs in the Indonesian jungle pavilion. The webs between their fingers can function like miniature “gliders”, and thanks to them, flying insects can overcome a distance of up to fifteen meters. Arboreal amphibians impress not only with their ability to glide but also with their interesting coloring, which changes during their development.
“For the smallest frogs, a distinctive bloody color is typical. This serves as a cryptic coloring that imitates bird droppings,” explains expert reptile and amphibian breeder Vojtěch Víta. “Thanks to this, in the rainforest, they blend in perfectly with their environment, avoiding the attention of predators.” Gradually, white spots appear on the red skin, resembling plant seeds in the droppings. Subsequently, the appearance of the frog changes to a green color, until finally the white spots also disappear. The structure of the skin also undergoes a transformation. “While in adulthood the frog is completely smooth, fresh after metamorphosis its skin is covered with bumps,” adds Vojtěch Víta.
For its bright green color, black-skinned butterflies owe to carotenoids. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Black-skinned flies, whose food is crickets, cockroaches, and other invertebrates, inhabit Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. They are strictly an arboreal species and do not visit water even when breeding. Their large fingers with suction pads thus acquired a new function. When, for example, they need to escape predators in a tropical rainforest, they jump down from a branch and spread their membranes. It can even change direction during a flight.
Flycatchers, like other amphibians, belong to the lowest links of the food chain. Nevertheless, they have an irreplaceable role in the ecosystem and their disappearance has a devastating impact on the environment. This is followed by the extinction of other species that depend on them for food – for example, snakes. At the same time, amphibians are currently among the most endangered animals.
Visitors will find black-bellied kites right at the entrance to the Indonesian Jungle, where they inhabit the circular aquaterrarium on the right. They spend most of their time on the leaves of plants above water.
Females use their hind legs to whip up a foam nest made of special mucus, in which they lay their eggs. The hatched tadpoles then fall straight from the nest into the water. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo