National Geographic Kids USA - September 2017

Gulf of

PACIFIC

OCEAN

an

Se

MEXICO a

GUATEMALA

EL SALVADOR

ICARAGUA

C

LIA

URAS

AATLANTIC

OCEAN

Where red-eyed

tree frogs live

KLEIN AND HUBERT / MINDEN PICTURES (SITTING ON LEAF); JUAN CARLOS MUÑOZ / GETTY IMAGES (CLIMBING); MARTIN

WALZ (MAP)

A RED-EYED

TREE FROG IN

THE COUNTRY

OF COSTA RICA

SCALES A

PLANT SHOOT.

Shake It Off

When researchers visited the

country of Panama in 2010 to

study these frogs, they saw

something that gave them a jolt:

a male frog plucking the shoot of

a plant with his hind feet, like a

person strumming a guitar

string! They realized that males

do this when other males come

too close to their turf. The pluck-

ing creates vibrations, which

intruders interpret as a signal

to back off.

Why not just croak loudly

to ward off intruders? “They

don’t want to reveal their

location to the entire pond,

including enemies such as

frog-eating bats,” biologist

Michael Caldwell says. That’d

shake things up way too much.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS 17

L

ooking for a snack, a 30-inch-

long viper slithers down a

tree in a steamy rain forest

in Central America. Suddenly

it sees a tasty-looking, three-inch-

long red-eyed tree frog resting on a

nearby leaf. The reptile lunges for-

ward and snatches up the tiny

croaker in its fanged mouth. But

the snake’s in for a not-so-pleasant

surprise—the frog tastes terrible!

The snake immediately spits out the

amphibian. Landing unharmed on

the forest floor, the frog blinks its

big red eyes, then hops off to safety.

Red-eyed tree frogs have some

features and behaviors that sur-

prise other animals in their rain

forest home, as well as the experts

who study them. Discover how these

jaw-dropping jumpers turn their

habitat into one big surprise party.

BY SCOTT ELDER

Red-eyed tree

frogs astonish

others with their

weird behavior.

One of the

frog’s calls

sounds like a

baby rattle.