IN ITS NATIVE PUERTO RICO, THE COQUÍ
frog’s eponymous croak is the stuff of
lullabies. According to myths of the island’s
indigenous Taíno people, the tiny amphibians
memorialize a goddess’s lost lover by singing
his name over and over: ko-kee, ko-kee.
species—let alone any interested in eating loud-
mouthed frogs—so the coquí are more likely to take
food from native island creatures than feed them.
So far, they’ve remained mostly in wet, warm
lowlands that already host other invasives like rats
and mongooses. But climate change could coax
coquí up into warming mountains, potentially put-
ting them in direct competition for food with localby Eleanor Cummins / illustration by Meredith Miotke POPSCI.COM•WINTER 2019 17