The Frog, The Myth, The…Wrinkles
I’m just going apologize beforehand about this post… I listed out some animals to coworkers, and the resounding choice was an unfortunately named frog, with an even more unfortunate nickname. This is one of those animals where you say “Its got a great personality” or “Its face is cute” but that’s about it. Lords, Ladies, and everyone else…. I present the Titicaca water frog.
Ok, What is it? I’m going to teach you a little trick (60% of the time it works every time). When looking at animal names, if it has a multiple part name, the first word(s) is the descriptor and the last is what the animal is. So, the Titicaca water frog is, in fact, a frog. What’s really nifty is that it is one of the largest fully aquatic frogs in the world! They can grow up to 20 cm (or 8 inches) and weigh up to 2lbs. That’s like, the Shaquille O’Neal of frogs. They are known for their large size and odd shape due to their… plethora of skin and wrinkles. I do think they have cute faces though.
Where do they live? Scientists are smart people, lovely people, but they are not a creative bunch. In addition to naming animals what they look like, often they name animals after the location the animal is found. Saying that, the Titicaca water frog can only be found in the waters of Lake Titicaca, located within the countries of Peru and Bolivia. The lake itself is famous due its status as the highest navigable lake in the world as well as the largest lake in South America.
What do they eat? Across the board, frogs will eat anything that will fit in its mouth. They are not picky by any means. Their favorites foods are gastropods (i.e. snails) and crustaceans (i.e. crayfish)…not my cup of tea. I know, not the most interesting section but not everything can eat the exotic Titicaca invisible crayfish *not real*.
What does froggy dating look like? When a frog meets that special lady, he makes his move…. which is to grab on to her back and become a backpack for however long he feels like. As the special lady drops her eggs, he fertilizes them. Females…I mean, special ladies can lay an average of 500 eggs. She’ll lay them in little clusters of 20-50 eggs on various plants in shallow water. The grand metamorphosis from frog eggs to tadpole to whole frog takes about 4 months. Boom, science.
What are the Titicaca water frog’s super powers? This frog hands down is the best amphibian at living in Lake Titicaca. You may think this isn’t a big accomplishment but this lake is located way up in the Andes at an elevation of just over 12,500ft. At such a high elevation, oxygen is a bit thin. This would be a problem for our favorite frog of the week, but in comes its super power…. WRINKLES! That’s right, the extra skin and wrinkles allow the frog to get more oxygen from the water. If the frogs need a deep “breath”, they will do push-ups in order to move water across the wrinkles. They are built for living where most where most amphibians couldn’t survive. Last thing, I truly wish this frog had a better nickname, but due to the frog’s wrinkles and appearance it is also known is the scrotum frog….I’m leaving it at that.
How many Titicaca water frogs are there? The issue with an animal being found in one spot in the great wide world is that they are only found in one spot…that’s it. Lake Titicaca is the only home these marvelous frogs can be found. That being said, there is an estimated 50,000, but it is difficult to know exactly how many are in a lake as deep as Lake Titicaca. However with decreasing numbers the Titicaca water frog is the most endangered species in Bolivia.
Image from Wikipedia
Just to show the elevation of Lake Titicaca…it’s high up there. Image from the Great Lakes System Project
Science Time! (Woooo! My Favorite Part!!)
Titicaca water frog, Telmatobius culeus
Up until 2020, these frogs were listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Redlist. With a new survey done they are now listed as Endangered. Despite having large numbers of frogs die, the lake is so large and deep, and with frogs preferring to muddy bottoms, there is no adequate count of just how many frogs there are. Reported numbers of large frogs has gone down drastically.
Threats for Titicaca water frog include pollution and habitat loss/degradation of the lake, over-harvesting, climate change, and a fungus that is taking out large populations of amphibians across the globe.
Click here to learn more about Titicaca water frog conservation initiatives
Resources
Berlin Zoo (n.d.). Titicaca water frog. Species Conservation. https://www.zoo-berlin.de/en/species-conservation/worldwide/titicaca-water-frog
IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2020. Telmatobius culeus (errata version published in 2020). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T57334A178948447. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T57334A178948447.en.
J., S. (2019). The amazing lake titicaca water frog. Zoo Atlanta: Keeper Stories, https://zooatlanta.org/the-amazing-lake-titicaca-water-frog/
