Frog Legs

Part of the Frogs: A Chorus of Colors exhibition.

Smokey jungle frogs are excellent jumpers, but their powerful thigh muscles often land them on human dinner plates. Other large frogs throughout Central and South America are also used in gourmet cooking, and some populations are suffering. One species from the Caribbean island of Dominica has been eaten to the brink of extinction. Local people refer to these endangered frogs as "mountain chicken."

Smokey Jungle Frog

Leptodactylus pentadactylus

Class: Amphibia
Family: Leptodactylidae
Size: Up to 8 inches
Food: Insects, rodents, snakes, frogs
Range: Southern Central America and northern South America
Habitat: Semiaquatic
Life Cycle: These frogs deposit their eggs in floating foam nests in shallow water. The tadpoles wriggle free after hatching.