Forest Frog

Among the rushing waters of the forest, the forest frog gently calls out to others in a steady rhythm. The entire forest seems to come alive with birds, hikers passing by, children paying and the steady tempo kept up by the frogs. Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura.Theoldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is found intropical rainforests. There are approximately 4,800 recorded species, accounting for over 85% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders.