ANIMAL: Togo Slippery Frog Conraua derooi Type of Animal: Frog Habitat: Forests (especially in/near fast-flowing water), flowing streams, highlands in/near waterfalls/clean fast-running streams (especially those w/ large rocks), fast-flowing water areas Location(s): Togo-Ghana border area Appearance: No visible eardrums on head, moderately sized frog, brown to mottled brown to green-brown, large head w/ prominent eyes/fairly small snout, short muscular forelimbs w/ webbed fingers, long robust hindlimbs Food/Diet: Adults eat insects & worms. Tadpoles eat algae. Status in Wild: Critically Endangered Conservation: 25 tadpoles brought over from Togo to Brookfield Zoo in 2016 pioneering breeding program, since then 11 tadpoles have made it to adulthood, w/ more subsequently hatching. As of May 2020, Brookfield Zoo has 40 adults & more than 50 tadpoles, Plan is to send them to other institutions worldwide as well as keep some. Setup of conservation breeding facilities in Ghana. Monitoring of important frog habitat. Lifestyle: Solitary Additional Info: Called: Male Female Young: Tadpole Group: Solitary Weight: Male: 3 oz Female: 2.8 oz Gestation: 7-9 days Life Span: Unknown Body Length: Male: 3-3.3 in Female: 2.9-3.2 in Critically endangered due to water pollution, habitat loss/destruction/alteration, deforestation, landslides, meat consumption, decrease of water quality, human encroachment, farming, mining, & restricted range. Closely related to world’s largest frog-Goliath Frog but much smaller. Specific name derooi honors Belgian ornithologist Antoon De Roo, who helped discover species. Spends 90% of time in fast-flowing water. Tadpoles live life in fast-flowing streams, growing to adulthood in water. Tadpoles 1st only have tail, then developing back legs, then developing front/back legs & stay in this stage until 6-9 months old, then entering froglet stage until a year old. Unlike many frogs, females are smaller than males. There are less than 300 of these frogs in wild. Females lay 100 white eggs per clutch. Very shy/elusive in wild & in captivity. Main predators are lizards, snakes, birds, crocodiles, larger frogs, & small predatory mammals. Due to elusive nature, not much else is known about these frogs. Fun Fact(s): From 1984-2005, species had been unrecorded & feared extinct until population rediscovered in 2005. Males guard eggs, often urinating on them reducing pH in water preventing mold/fungi growing on eggs. It was thought that males didn’t have mating calls until high-pitched whistling call heard.
