http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Ribbit! Didn't you hear me? RIBBIT!

Gulp.

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It was quite amusing to imagine what that frog looked like.

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did it prey on dragonflies the size of bowling pins?

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The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

ToSeeked. But you can't have too many giant frog threads.

@ ipgeorge123 - There is a drawing of the frog at the linked article. It was similiar to the current species commonly know as the "Pak Man" Frog.

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I saw the drawing, but I had a modified version of it in my head. Picture it smiling with lots of pointed teeth, and armor kind of like what the bears have in The Golden Compass.

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I'd like to see how it was armored.

My african bullfrog, Frogzilla will get about half that size. And homey's got teeth too. (Odontids actually, bony extentions of the jaw bones that mimic the function of teeth.) Sounds exactly like scissors closing when he takes something. Found out he had teeth when he bit a jumbo goldfish in half through the thick part and I wondered what he did it with. I feed him chicken wings and hotdogs too. Plus crickets are always available to him.

This one is a four and a half pounder. Note the tooth sticking up from the lower jaw.

Attached Images

african_bullfrog.jpg (41.5 KB, 18 views)

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Holy crap that is a freaky looking frog! Pretty cool though. The tooth sticking up adds such a nice touch. I'm use to the slim little frogs, or even the small round toads. I'm not sure what I'd do if I saw a frog that big sitting out in the yard!

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George.

I also had a large pacman frog. An expensive yellow red morph I traded a two foot nile monitor for. Best deal I ever made.

Both pacman and african bullfrogs will go on the attack when they feel threatened. The the pacman (Honez was his name) bit me one time when I tried to get him out of his tank so I could clean it. I chased him around the tank for two laps when he shuddered and a change occured. He spun around and went on the attack and bit me on the thumb after chasing me back across the tank.

And even though he was only the size of two ping pong balls it felt like I had slammed my thumb in a car door. It was numb for an hour.

African Bullfrogs are more intelligent by a long margin though. They can tell between strangers and the people who feed them. I still don't risk a bite from Frogzilla as you can hear the bones breaking when he eats chicken wings.

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

Frogs and toads make for interesting reading. So if a swallow can carry a coconut from one continent to another (given that it is the 'right' sort of swallow) could it carry a frog?

The species we hear most about is the cane toad introduced back in 1935 to the Queensland cane fields. That was our mistake but there is some research currently underway to sex change all the female toads into male toads, that should cause a bit of confusion.

As for not knowing what to do if you saw a frog that big sitting out in the yard ... well spare a thought for some of the residents in Queensland. The male toad is, well let's say somewhat amorous and not too fussy. If an object is of approximate size and doesn't move away it will be 'considered'

Quite a number of residents have been less than amused by some of the toads cavorting with their precious garden gnomes. Perhaps a thread about how to reconstruct this new large frog could be started or even a few ideas on toad control lines. I was thinking of a 'tiny terracotta army of gnome warriors' tactically positioned in the lines of advance with the most appropriate toad control devices or weaponry.

Cane toad golf is now illegal as cruel and unusual. Maybe a method that plays kind to their unusual might tip the balance. (product not safe for deployment around known concentrations of Jack Russells)

And then again maybe not, this is a family forum after all.

Cool frog, BigDon.

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Now I'm picturing a bird carrying around an armored frog with sharp teeth. I've heard about the "amorous" frogs in Australia. Those poor Garden Gnomes! That's quite the surprise...

Being from Minnesota, the only unusual frogs we have are the ones with the weird mutations. Frogs with no eyes or an extra couple of legs? Not so strange. But frogs the size of a softball? Woah!

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If ever I should meet you again, by land or sea,
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The bird reference is my Monty Python humour approach. Cane toads have evolved longer legs in their short time here in Australia to increase their rate of spread and one of the common names for them is giant toad or marine toad. Giant toad is the one the article compares them to and the marine name came from the mistaken idea they could handle sea water. It takes only 15% the concentration of salt found in sea water to kill them.

Perhaps the ancient toad may have been more resistant with the armour or the salt levels at the time lower in some current flows. Coming from Central and South America there is a possibility of survival on a large enough piece of drift material. Or the message in a bottle approach ... I used to collect tadpoles as a child and noted the severe delay in becoming frogs depending on food (more often lack of or wrong food). Sometimes I used to return them to give the tadpoles a more natural chance of developing 'aged' as they were.

So if bottles can travel and well the article did say land bridge so there is the leg adaption bit. The cane toad produces a hallucinogen among a lot of other toxins and yes there were some people that licked them, so life isn't always pleasant for the cane toad either. My thought was some large migratory bird slightly tripping with muddy frog egg encrusted feet flying intercontinental between fresh water sources .

Wikipedia has a very good article on the cane toad here and maybe it is a decendant from the ancient one ... and Monty Python handled the idea so skillfully, cheers

I've seen a skeleton of one of those things once! The size of a medium dog. And it had teeth. I'd be a little wary trying to collect that one!

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