In the vast streams and rivers of South America, as well as various moist lowland forests and tropical swamps, there is a strange-looking amphibian. This animal looks ugly, flattened, let people see the fear, but in fact, this animal is harmless to humans, but also an excellent mother of the animal kingdom, it is the famous possum toad, also known as Surinamese toad, star finger toad. It also has a strange name for it academically, Pipa Pipa.
The possum toad is a species of the possum toad family, the common Surinamese toad resembles mottled brown leaves in appearance and is almost completely flat, so it is called "the flattest animal in the world". It can be said that this frog is flat like a leaf.
Their skin is mostly dark brown and has some deep spots on their backs, so they can easily avoid predators. The head of the possum toad is triangular. It has very small black eyes and no eyelids. The eyes are located overhead, like flounders.
Although the possum toad is an amphibian, it likes to stay in the water. It has broad webbing on its feet and star-like appendages on its front toes, somewhat similar to the nose of a star-nosed mole rat. So it is also known as the star-fingered toad.
The possum toad is very large, the male can grow up to 15 cm, the female can grow up to 17 cm, the size of the bullfrog is almost the same, belonging to the large toad.
Mating and breeding:
The most commendable thing about the possum toad is its reproductive characteristics. During mating, males call out to females underwater with a clicking sound. When the male toad finds the right female toad, the female releases 60-100 eggs. The male fertilizes these eggs and pushes them onto the back of the female toad, causing them to stick to her skin.
Over time, a layer of skin grows on the back of the female toad to envelop the fertilized eggs until each of the small toads hatch from the fertilized eggs and leave the mother. This time takes about three to four months.
It is worth noting that the larvae of the possum toad hatch directly on the back of the mother, skipping the process of tadpole development in the natural environment of ordinary frogs. This strange-looking breeding method is safer for newborns because it is not attacked by predators, but the process of childbirth is too difficult for female toads.
Hunting and eating:
As a fully aquatic species, the Surinamese toad lives in slow-moving water sources, and their skin color is generally brown or olive, which can be well integrated into the natural environment.
The possum toad does not have a tongue, so it cannot catch prey through its tongue like other frogs. The possum toad is a nocturnal biological clock, and it generally comes out at night to move. Their main diet is insects , crustaceans and small fish. Its predation method is to use its front paws to catch prey, and the star fingers on its front paws are a sensory organ that helps them hunt.