#odorous frog

[herpsandbirds]

Splendid Odorous Frog (Odorrana splendida), family Ranidae, Amami, Japan

photograph by Yuji Abematsu

[vintagewildlife]

Hose's frog (Odorrana hosii) By: Robert F. Inger From: Living Amphibians of the World 1966

[toadschooled]

Here we see a large odorous frog [Odorrana graminea] trying to breed with an Asian common toad [Duttaphrynus melanostictus] in Hong Kong. As you may have guessed, frogs of the genus Odorrana smell extremely bad. This is because these frogs are covered in enormous amounts of antimicrobial peptides. These peptides form a shield against bacteria and fungi that grow in the warm, wet leaf litter of their environment, thus keeping the frogs safe from infection. The stinky smell is an unfortunate side effect to this otherwise amazing biological adaptation. This image was taken by WK Cheng.