Red-Eyed Tree Frog
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Red-Eyed Tree Frog
The Red-eyed tree frog has to be the most photographed frog in the world; especially here in Costa Rica, where its image appears on everything from t-shirts to billboard advertisements and everything between. They also live here in abundance and if you know where to look, they can be viewed in their natural habitat.
Costa Rica has many species of frogs, but the red-eyed tree frog is the most common. It has red eyes and vertical pupils but what separates it from the other species is its pattern of pale cream, yellow, or white vertical bars on both sides of the body. These light bars are normally on a blue or purple background. The back is a bright green and frequently accented with one or many small white or pale-yellow spots. The belly and throat are white and vibrant orange colors the hands and feet. When the frog shuts its eyes, a transparent lower eyelid is highlighted with a beautiful golden reticulum.
The Red-eyed tree frog is fairly large with the female being slightly bigger than the male (2 ¾ inches and 2 ¼ inches respectfully). In Costa Rica, they are normally found along the Caribbean coast, but isolated populations inhabit the Pacific lowlands as well.
During the dry season and generally during the day, Red-eyed tree frogs stay hidden in the treetops. In the rainy season, the frogs move back and forth between tree canopy and breeding pond, often through a slow hand-over-hand movement but sometimes parachuting from elevated positions.
Breeding activity usually begins at the start of the rainy season and takes place in the permanent and temporary ponds. Males advertise by emitting a short single or double “chuck,” which they normally begin at dusk, near the surface of the water. When a female is attracted they make a ‘beeline’ to the male, bypassing all the other males. The male climbs on the females back and she begins to search for a suitable place to lay her eggs, while the male merely hangs on. The pair descends to the pond where they remain for several minutes while the female fills her bladder with water. After locating a suitable site, (usually on the upper or lower surface of a broad leaf overhanging a body of water) the female deposits 20 to 50 eggs, which are instantly fertilized by the male. She then empties her bladder on the eggs. This process can be repeated one to five times during the night and all the while the male is still on the females back.
Hatching tadpoles free themselves by thrashing about until the egg capsule breaks and the tadpole then drops into the water below. Sometimes the tadpoles land at the water’s edge, but as they are experts at using their tails to flip about, they can survive several hours until they hopefully flip into the water. Since they often drop into temporary pools of water that contain few or no fish or other large predators they have a very good chance of survival.
The Red-eyed tree frog does contain skin toxins, but they don’t appear very powerful as they are choice food for a variety of predators such as birds, bats, and snakes.
