Southern Darwin's Frog

• reproducciónThe male broods the fertilised eggs inside his own vocal sac until the young complete their metamorphosis.
• The male swallows the tadpoles and raises them inside his vocal sac: they stay there six or seven weeks feeding on secretions from its walls, and emerge from their father's mouth as fully formed froglets. There is nothing like it in any other vertebrate.
• It was discovered by Charles Darwin in Chile during the voyage of the Beagle in 1834, and has borne his name ever since.
• Its pointed snout and triangular body make it indistinguishable from a dead leaf on the forest floor, and in the face of danger it drops into the water and floats motionless on its back, imitating a drifting leaf.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat & environment

Damp understorey of the Valdivian temperate forest of Chile and south-western Argentina

Birth weight

It leaves the male's vocal sac already metamorphosed, at about 12 mm

Size at birth

The tadpoles complete metamorphosis inside the male's vocal sac and emerge as froglets of about 12 mm

Sexual maturity

2 years

Gestation / incubation

7 weeks of development in the male's vocal sac

Litter / clutch size

15 young

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoderma_darwinii

Best time: From November to March in the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina, by day, among damp leaf litter; it is very scarce and hard to find.