Argentine horned frog
Ceratophrys ornata
— Where the name comes from
Ceratophrys is Greek for “horned toad”, from kéras, horn, and ophrýs, brow: the pointed folds above the eyes. Ornata, Latin, “decorated”, for the vivid colours. In English it is known as the Pacman frog, for the enormous mouth and voracious appetite: it is almost all head and mouth.
— Facts
- Group
- Amphibians · Amphibia
- Order
- Frogs and toads
- Habitat
- Wet grassland and flooded pampas
- Range
- Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil
- Size
- 10–16 cm for the female
- Diet
- Carnivore — insects, other frogs, small rodents and reptiles
- Lifespan
- 6–10 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The mouth is nearly as wide as the body: it can swallow prey as large as itself.
- 02
It lies motionless half-buried in mud, ambushing whatever passes.
- 03
It has sharp “teeth” on the jaw to hold prey that struggles.
— What sets it apart
The horned frog is all appetite: it attacks anything that moves and more or less fits in its mouth, including prey as large as itself, and sometimes chokes to death trying to swallow too big a mouthful. It is so voracious that the young are cannibals. It even has a sort of teeth: two pointed bony projections on the lower jaw, unique among frogs, with which it grips and does not let go. An amphibian that is, in practice, a trap with eyes.
