Flying Vampire Frog

Looks like bats aren’t the only animals named after creatures that go bump in the night. Rhacophorus vampyrus, a frog first discovered in 2008 in South Vietnam, has been nicknamed the “vampire flying frog”.

Now don’t go thinking that you are going to be attacked by a flying frog hungry for blood because these guys aren’t really bloodsuckers. This frog gets its scary nickname from the fangs that it grows when it’s young, instead of the beak-like mouth parts other tadpoles have. These fangy frogs like to live high in the trees and really have no reason to come down to the ground. Their webbed feet help them jump from tree to tree and they lay their eggs in water pools in the tree trunks.

If you had to give your favourite animal a scary nickname, like our friend the vampire flying frog, what would it be, for example what if you ran into the dreaded hippo of doom…

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02727p055.pdf

http://australianmuseum.net.au/media/Vampire-Flying-Frog-Discovery

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.