Interesting article about horned frog tongues.

[monster]

Yes obviously we cant and wouldn't be able to lift 400 pounds and its not to grab attention. Its just the equivalent to make it easier for some people to picture. Just like how ants can carry so much more then their own weight it would be the equivalent to a human being able to pick their car up and carry it to work instead of driving it. Imagine this thing was still hopping around. I wanted to put this picture as my avatar but I cant anymore because of the uploader.

Giant Frog Jumps Continents, May Have Eaten Baby Dinosaurs

Date:February 19, 2008Source:University College LondonSummary:A giant frog fossil from Madagascar dubbed Beelzebufo or "the frog from Hell" has been identified. It would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth. If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of living Horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs.

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Artist's impression of prehistoric giant frog, with a modern-day frog and pencil for comparison.
Credit: Courtesy of Stony Brook University


Artist's impression of prehistoric giant frog, with a modern-day frog and pencil for comparison.
Credit: Courtesy of Stony Brook University
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A giant frog fossil from Madagascar dubbed Beelzebufo or 'the frog from Hell' has been identified by scientists from University College London and Stony Brook University, New York. The discovery of the 70 million year-old fossil frog, of a kind once thought unique to South America, lends weight to a new theory that Madagascar, India and South America were linked until late in the Age of Dinosaurs.
The new frog resembles living Horned toads (ceratophryines or 'pac-man frogs') in having a squat body, huge head and wide mouth. With a body length (not counting the legs) of up to 40 cm -- longer than a rugby ball - and a weight of around four kilos (10 pounds), it is more than twice the size of its largest living relatives.
The fossil, published in the journal PNAS, enters the Malagasy history books alongside meat-eating dinosaurs, plant-eating crocodiles and giant snakes, all very different from the present day animals of Madagascar.
Professor Susan Evans of the UCL Department of Cell & Developmental Biology says: "This frog, a relative of today's Horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth. If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of living Horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs.
"Beelzebufo appears to be a very close relative of a group of South American frogs known as 'ceratophyrines,' or 'pac-man' frogs, because of their immense mouths," said Krause. The ceratophryines are known to camouflage themselves in their surroundings, then ambush predators.
"The finding presents a real puzzle biogeographically, particularly because of the poor fossil record of frogs on southern continents," said Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause, who led the research. "We're asking ourselves, 'What's a 'South American' frog doing half-way around the world, in Madagascar?'"
He said that because frogs "are not adept at dispersal across marine barriers, and since the few fossil frogs that are known from the Late Cretaceous in Africa are unrelated to Beelzebufo, one possibility is that there was a land connection between South America and Madagascar during that period."
Some geoscientists have suggested a lingering physical link between South America and Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous Period -- a link involving Antarctica. Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous was much warmer than it is today.
"The occurrence of this frog in Madagascar and its relatives' existence in South America provides strong evidence that the supercontinent Gondwana 'disassembled' during the latest part of the Cretaceous," said Richard Lane, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
"Madagascar has a mainly endemic frog fauna whose history has generated intense debate, fuelled by recent phylogenetic studies and the near absence of a fossil record. Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today's Madagascan frogs, and akin to the Horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial paleobiogeographical model suggesting that Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent and South America were linked well into the Late Cretaceous. It also suggests that the initial spread of such beasts began earlier than that proposed by recent estimates."

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University College London. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Again, saw it. I'd love to own one, they'd literally be like a pacman on steroids

[monster]

Instead of having to watch the dogs and cats around the frog so they don't try to eat it, it would be watching the frog around everything else in the house including the baby so it doesn't inhale anything. L.O.L

[jasonm96]

Why the hell is this frog not still alive :'( I heard of it first on david attenborough fantastic frogs (brilliant film) and I was gutted that I couldn't have such an amphibian.

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Yeah, I'm bummed too, the largest frog (Goliath for all the people reading who didn't know) is insanely hard to get your hands on, and are typically illegal exports and sickly WC and rarely fare well in captivity due to their natural environment. Doesn't stop it from being a dream species though!

[monster]

Ya those Goliath bullfrogs can get pretty big, I could just imagine how big of a tank you would need. Im thinking you would have to live somewhere you could keep him in a outside enclosure most the year. They are built more like our common bullfrogs too so you would have to take jumping distance into consideration when building an enclosure also. Would be cool to have but like you said I think these guys are very rare to come by. I seen a video on youtube from LLL Reptile and that blond Jen girl was feeding one a huge rat/mouse with barbeque tongs.

[AKFROG]

Now if only someone could clone " The Frog From Hell" he would have a lot of customers but only rich ones.