The Frog Does Incredible Things to Protect Its Offspring

the fortress has been completed the guard is on duty his mission is to protect the offspring at any cost during the siege which is about to begin this is the territory of the male bullfrog the largest known frog in africa here lies his offspring which could include up to 4 000 eggs not all of them will turn into adults but the parent will do anything to protect them and when i say anything i mean literally anything the bullfrog has many skills to guard its kids if this animal has occupied some territory it'll not let anyone else there the first line of defense is screaming seriously the first thing a bullfrog does is scream very loud the sound is so piercing it not only stuns the intruder but also makes him retreat seems like after hearing this nasty scream cows bulls deer dogs and other animals immediately try to flee however the screaming is just the beginning it's a warning so to speak like warning shots in the air the real battle begins later see this snake it has quite clear intentions to eat helpless tadpoles but the male bullfrog is ready for anything this battle will be legendary and pretty quick looks like the snake got the hint right this territory belongs to the best dad in the world and a great fighter as well one strike was enough to drive away the enemy but this is not always the case oh don't worry the bullfrog has a pretty vast arsenal if disgusting sounds and aggression don't work and it makes no sense that the skies are swell to appear larger the poison comes to the rescue like many other species of frogs and toads bullfrogs defend themselves against predators by exuding poison from special glands behind their ears it makes frogs an absolutely repulsive dinner for predators but what do you do when they say they're not after you you can't approach a predator and say no first you look me no an already aggressive amphibian goes into berserk mode and all its abilities get 10 times stronger how well the thing is these animals bite unlike many other frog species bullfrogs have really powerful jaws that allow them to eat rodents small lizards snakes other frogs scorpions bats worms in short everything that's within reach and will not have time to flee the bullfrog will probably still have enough strength to take down the prey also there are three large tooth-like growths in the front of its lower jaw which only enhance the effect of the bite add to this the territorial nature of males and their desire to protect their offspring from all animals at any cost and you'll understand why most animals try to stay as far away from them as they can and if you think a frog bites not that scary then you're just lucky this never happened to you though let's be honest being loud strong and biting is not enough to defend the offspring against all the dangers of the wilderness and you know what the bullfrogs understand this very well so they also upgraded their intellect most often they give birth to offspring in shallow pools but places like that won't have water forever for tadpoles a dried up pool well let's just say it's not the healthiest environment [Applause] what do you do in this situation even if there's a good pond around the task is not easy imagine you have 4 000 kids and you need to move to a safer place as soon as possible and you're just a frog but as i mentioned bullfrogs have a decent intellect for an amphibian as well as instincts and legs with their help they can dig a channel between two bodies of water to save the tadpoles moreover it seems like the frog has some understanding of physics the male will work until conditions are perfect the wider the channel the better the water flows through it and the easier it is for tadpoles to move into the new pond again the bullfrog won the title of best dad ever however the genius of bullfrogs does not end with the protecting offspring they also don't forget about themselves one of the natural habitats of the african bullfrog is the savannah that's not the wettest place on the planet when the amphibian is out of water mucus on the skin keeps it from drying out this mucus won't last forever the frog still needs moisture but what if the pool is dry not a problem first the african bullfrog quietly buries itself eight inches deep underground then it creates a mucous membrane that hardens into a kind of cocoon the frog can stay in this cocoon for up to seven years while waiting for rain seven years the sleeping beauty from the fairy tale slept for a whole hundred years maybe she was some kind of improved version of a bullfrog however common amphibians don't need a princess kiss to wake up when it rains moisture softens the mucus sac waking the frog and signals the start of the rainy season the time when the frog breeds it's clear there's no time for sleep then though actually it is rather strange that such a cool predator which scares very large animals simply hides underground doesn't look like the way it does things though the reason is quite simple the bullfrog becomes truly formidable and strong only when it protects its offspring if there's no offspring skill levels seem to drop sharply yes the frog can still scream it can bite and use poison but this just isn't the same you know anyway something similar happens with banded bull frogs this species is smaller than the african bullfrog more harmless lives in asia and becomes the prey of snakes although the poison of banded bullfrogs is weaker they exude a substance through their skin that's unpleasant for predators but snakes know how to get to their prey without getting into trouble they use the teeth on their upper jaw to cut open the frog's belly and then nibble on its entrails ooh you know what's even worse than that the frog may still be alive well for a while by the way sometimes the snake just starts with the guts and then moves on to the whole victim why this particular order perhaps to avoid that very poisonous substance or maybe snakes just prefer to eat the most delicious part first okay enough about that let's get back to animals that can be called perfect parents seems like taking care of offspring is a completely natural thing even for the animal kingdom this doesn't surprise anyone but the animals couldn't even think of anything like that until they became terrestrial according to a new study on frogs by the milner center for evolution at the university of bath the evolution of aquatic creatures that started to live on land made them more attentive parents the logic of scientists is quite simple frogs and toads that breed outside water spend more time and effort caring for their offspring scientists believe it was parental care that allowed the animals to take over the land the more you care for your offspring the more likely you are to survive this means your genes will be passed on there'll be more animals of your species your territory will also increase well you know how it all works other research confirms these findings when males of the white spotted bush frog take care of and protect their offspring survival rates increase by 70 percent it's hard to argue with such numbers and when i talk about protecting babies i mean not only the ways bullfrogs do it some amphibians hatch eggs sitting on them like birds the male darwin's frog actually carries the offspring in its vocal sack rather than sitting on them other species create nests out of foam to keep their eggs safe it may sound strange but the foam creates perfect conditions and also protects the eggs from disease and fungus the suriname toad carries offspring on its back and scares tribophobes though hardly on purpose the males of the smooth guardian frog are so committed to their kids they don't even mate with other females while guarding the clutch yes other species usually don't miss the opportunity to pass on their genes to as many offspring as possible but not these guys moreover they don't eat and barely move for several days while they're guarding their offspring to find this out scientists had to observe caring fathers through cameras can you imagine how exciting it is to look at a screen where well nothing happens it's like your computer freezes endlessly freezes and then again and again and again and again well anyway frogs and toads are really cool parents especially for amphibians but all this parental care has a flip side snakes as the saying goes you can be as cool as you want but what's the point if you can be devoured right in the middle of the breeding season after all frogs scream not only to scare away predators very often this sound serves to attract females [Music] yes when you hear insistent croaking in a nearby pond it's just a frog tender but croaking is not only attracting amateur naturalists and kids snakes also follow this sound it's almost like hearing that your order in a cafe is ready you immediately realize it's snack time as a result instead of a female for a nice evening the male frog may encounter a hungry predator not the best dating scenario snakes are actually considered one of the worst enemies of all amphibians many species feed mainly on them while others regularly hunt amphibians when they have a chance no wonder snakes have long figured out where and how they can catch a frog and they didn't stop at just eating them even cutting open frog's stomach which i don't want to remember wasn't enough for the snakes they also decided to take the poison away from the amphibians right that sounds a little crazy i mean shouldn't these snakes be mega venomous themselves well turns out that not all species were lucky enough to receive the ability to produce toxins from evolution so they had to get creative the tiger keelback mainly feeds on small vertebrates like frogs and toads and this diet is not accidental in the upper part of the neck these snakes have special glands that release a caustic toxic liquid the clawing and biting of hawks and other predators most likely rips the snake's skin potentially blinding attackers it'd seem everything is logical here's a snake it has toxins what does it have to do with toads but when scientists bred several tiger keelbacks in the lab they witnessed unexpected changes most young snakes had little or no toxins in their glands at birth however they quickly accumulated the toxin after several days of feeding on the poisonous toads bufo corsicas you think this is just a lab error a coincidence but snakes living on an island with no toads don't have toxins in the nuclear glands while snakes which shared the same area with toads are venomous sounds like too many coincidences don't you think turns out tiger kielback simply eat amphibians steal their poison and exude it to avoid being eaten quite a complicated scheme in my opinion but scientists say snakes may simply have a hard time finding another way to exude the toxin and why would they they seem to be just fine see you later

Channel: WATOP

Views: 2,059,825

Keywords: WATOP, Wa Top

Id: aIXYSW2WyEM

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022