Spanish Frogs

Nestled upon luscious green leaves and leaping from one to another with the utmost grace, the myriad of frogs keeps up a constant chatter. They croak to one another loudly addressing beginnings of the day. They create a symphony of constant sound that follows you as you walk softly along the path. Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (Ancient Greek an-, without +oura, tail). The oldest 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 in tropical 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.