African Bullfrog Facts

African bullfrogs are known for the amount of parental investment the males put into the tadpoles. Discover facts about African bullfrogs with information from a published biologist in this free video on frogs and amphibians.

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Video transcription

Here, I'm holding an African bullfrog. Its scientific name is pyxicephalus adspersus. It is found in eastern and southern Africa. It likes sub-tropical and tropical dry shrublands. Unlike most other species of frogs, the male is actually larger than the female. The male can be up to nine and a half inches to ten inches in length, and the female, up to four and a half inches. A very interesting fact about this particular bullfrog is the amount of parental investment the male puts into the tadpoles. During mating, the female likes to lay her eggs in ephemeral bodies of water. Ephemeral bodies of water don't tend to last very long, and therefore, the male will use his snout to dig tunnels to the next ephemeral body of water for the tadpoles, so that they don't dry up with the water. This body of this frog, as you can see is very broad, and they have a short, narrow snout, and they actually have teethlike projections on their lower jaws, which is generally uncommon in frogs. This African bullfrog can lay up to three thousand to four thousand eggs in shallow water, and they can hatch in as little as two days after being laid. The African bullfrog is carnivorous, and it will eat just about anything it can fit into its wide jaws. It likes to eat insects though and small mammals. This bullfrog is very interesting because of one of its special adaptations. It lives in dry, arid climates, and in order to survive droughts, the bullfrog can go into a state of dormancy. It can hide underground after creating a cocoon that is water tight. This cocoon keeps this specific bullfrog from losing its, from losing its water, and it loses half the water that another frog does who doesn't have a cocoon. During this state of dormancy, it gets its water and hydration from water that it stores inside of its bladder. Once the rainy season begins again, the moisture will seep through the ground, and it will moisten the cocoon, wakening the frog from dormancy, and the frog may even eat its cocoon for nourishment. And that's an African bullfrog.