Categories: Others

Strange-Looking, Purple Pig-Nose Frog Found in Remote Mountains of India

The newly discovered species of frog spends nearly its entire adult life underground.

Scientists have discovered a new and rather strange species of frog in the Western Ghats mountain range in India. Called the Bhupathy’s purple frog, (Nasikabatrachus bhupathi) — in honor of Dr. Subramaniam Bhupathy, a respected herpetologist who lost his life in the Western Ghats in 2014 — it has shiny purple skin, a light blue ring around its eyes, and a pointy pig-nose.

The amphibian’s odd appearance is due to countless of years of evolution, according to the scientists. Its tiny eyes, long snout, and short limbs with hardened ‘spades’ enable the frog to spend almost its entire life underground.

These frogs don’t even go up the surface to eat.

They instead use their long, fluted tongue to capture ants and termites underground.

Bhupathy’s purple frog is closely related to another purple frog (N. sahyadrensis) that was found in the region in 2003. The two species make up the only known members of their family. Elizabeth Prendini, a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History and coauthor of a paper describing the species, told National Geographic:

“This frog lineage is very ancient and has a very low diversity, so this finding is very special and unusual.”

The rain, however, can lure the purple frogs to the surface.

During the monsoon season, male frogs start making loud mating calls. They mate with females in the streams, where they deposit their fertilized eggs. And a day or two after, the eggs hatch into tadpoles.

Instead of swimming around like other tadpoles, Bhupathy’s purple frog tadpoles develop mouths like that of a suckerfish and use these to cling to rocks behind waterfalls, where they graze on algae with their tiny teeth. The cliff-hanging tadpoles spend around 120 days in the torrent. That’s the longest time they stay above ground in their entire lifetime.

The newly discovered species has fascinated scientists because of its ability to live almost permanently underground. The discovery also shows how much more research is needed to learn more about frogs.

Leave a Comment

Recent Posts

March 14th Holiday – Pi Day or Something Else?

Table of Contents: Introduction: The Significance of the March 14th Holiday The Mathematical Marvel: Unraveling…

November 1, 2023

Mystery Of Missing Pages

Who made them disappear? What was the reason? Where did they go? Why? Gather round,…

July 26, 2023

Bees Kill Penguins by Stinging Them in the Eyes

Swarm of bees stings the eyes of penguins in Cape town 60 penguins died from…

November 16, 2021

2000 Kilogram Sunfish Caught Off North African Coast

A massive ocean sunfish measuring 2,000 kilograms was caught on North African Coast It is named Mola alexandrini or…

November 16, 2021

Man Embezzles $57K in COVID-19 Relief to Buy Pokemon Cards

A businessman in Georgia utilized the Covid-19 relief to buy a limited edition Charizard Pokemon card He committed…

November 8, 2021

Florida Man Catches and “Recycles” Alligator in Driveway

Man captures an alligator in his neighbor's yard in FloridaHe uses a trash can to…

November 1, 2021

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience.