Raymie's Zoo

These are African clawed frogs.  Other names they go by are clawed frog, common platanna, and upland clawed frog.  Some people also call them clawed toads, but I don’t understand that because they aren’t really toads.  We saw them at the Milwaukee Public Museum.  They are different from other frogs because they don’t have a tongue.  They eat almost anything, but their favorites are mosquito larvae, insects, worms, and dead organic matter.  They have claws on their back feet that they use to tear apart their food.

They are originally from Africa, but they have been introduced to lots of other parts of the world, where they are causing problems.  A bunch of states in the U.S. have made it illegal to have these frogs as pets because of all the problems they cause if they escape into the wild.

These are Chinese gliding frogs.  They live in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma (also called Myanmar).  They eat insects and live in montane forests, which are forests on the sides of mountains.

Chinese gliding frogs are very special.  They can jump and glide through the air a long way.  They can do this because they have webbing between their toes that acts like a wing.  They can even do turns in midair by moving their legs around.  When they land, their sticky toes will grab onto a branch or a leaf.

The frog in this picture was stuck to the glass.  You can see his webbed and sticky toes.  Don’t forget that you can click any picture on my website to make it bigger.

We took these pictures last week at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

This is an Amazon milk frog.  It lives in South America in the rain forest of Amazon.  It lives in the tree branches of the rain forest.  I think it is called a milk frog because it looks like chocolate milk and white milk.  It eats insects, just like most other frogs.  It is about 4 inches long.  This frog breeds high in the trees.  The female lays 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in tree holes filled with water, and the tadpoles swim around in the tree hole until they grow legs and can climb out.

We saw this frog at the Frogs exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum.  If you want to see these frogs, the Frogs exhibit is open until January 2, 2011.