Milk Frog

Trachycephalus resinifictrix

Amphibian

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing milk frogs. Also known as mission golden eyed frogs for their fabulous eyes, these milk frogs are called so because they secrete a smelly, poisonous, sticky, milky substance when disturbed. Milk frogs are also known as blue milk frogs due to their colors, but honestly, I can only think of Star Wars when I hear blue milk, so we’ll stick with just milk frog. Thanks to their poisonous, milky secretions, adult milk frogs are not often attacked by predators. However, eggs and juveniles may be taken by other frogs as well as invertebrates and parasites.

Milk frogs live through the Amazon River basin in South America. They can also be found on South American coastal islands. They’re nocturnal and spend their lives in the tree canopy. The round, sticky discs on their toes keep them up in the trees with little effort. In fact, they don’t ever need to descend to the forest floor if they decide not to because they have a special method of raising their young. Milk frogs tend to mate in the rainy season from May to November, though there are reports stating they call year-round. A male will call from a water filled hole in a tree in order to attract larger females to him. Milk frogs can reach up to 4 inches (10cm) in length and the ladies are bigger than the boys. When a female finds the right male, she’ll release eggs into the male’s water pool and he’ll fertilize them. In total, she may lay upwards of 2,500 eggs. These won’t all be fertilized, though. The unfertilized eggs will act as food for the growing tadpoles. The fertilized eggs hatch about a day later and, along with the eggs left behind by their mother, they’ll also eat plant material present in the tree hole.

Their mother won’t return to lay more eggs, like poison frogs, however the male may bring other females around to lay eggs which he won’t fertilize and can then be eaten by the tadpoles. It takes about two months for the tadpoles to fully develop into adult frogs. As adults, milk frogs eat insects and other arthropods. They also eat their own skin! This isn’t uncommon for reptiles who shed their skin. Some, like snakes, don’t eat their shedding, but these frogs do and they do so about once a week! Sources seem to differ on how long these frogs can survive though it seems they may reach nearly a decade old in captivity. As they age, their colors fade and they may even develop bumps and speckles not unlike aging bottlenose dolphins!

Sometimes these frogs are known as boatman frogs because of the sound they make which is described as being similar to the sound of an oar hitting the side of a paddleboat. Personally, we think they sound like they’re embarrassed to be talking. We’ve linked a video in the description so you can hear how they sound!

For more facts on milk frogs, check out the links in the description. Thank you to CJ films for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!