Goliath frog

Goliath frogs eat bugs, fish and other frogs.

Their tadpoles eat only one kind of water plant.

Goliath frogs hunt at night along the rivers. Adults eat insects, crustaceans, fish, snails, small mammals and other amphibians, including newts, salamanders and smaller frogs.

Their tadpoles are plant eaters, and very picky ones: they feed on just one kind of water plant that grows near waterfalls and fast streams.

Adults feed at night along rivers on insects, crustaceans, fish, mollusks, small mammals and amphibians, including newts, salamanders and smaller frogs (Animal Diversity Web); San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance mentions a scientist who found a bat in one frog's stomach.

The tadpoles are herbivores that, according to ADW and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, feed on a single aquatic plant found only near waterfalls and the banks of swift rivers.

Goliath frogs are busy at night.

They sit on rocks by the river and watch for food.

Goliath frogs are most active at night, when they hunt along the rivers. Grown frogs sit on rocks near the water, and young ones stay mostly underwater. In the daytime, young frogs rest beside flowing water.

Much about their lives is still a mystery. Scientists do not know for sure how long they live or how often they breed. The nest-building discovery shows how much there is still to learn about even the biggest frog on Earth.

The species is mainly nocturnal, foraging along rivers; adults bask on rocks while juveniles remain largely aquatic, and the IUCN notes that young frogs rest beside flowing water by day. Breeding takes place in streams and small rivers.

Key parts of its biology remain poorly known: lifespan, breeding season and frequency are not well documented (ADW), San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives maturity as possibly 10 to 12 months but uncertain, and the IUCN assumes a generation length of about five years. Mark-Oliver Rödel, the 2019 study's project leader, noted that the late discovery of nest building shows how little is known even about spectacular species.

There are fewer Goliath frogs than before.

Many are caught for food or to sell as pets, and their forests are being cut down. People are working to protect them.

The Goliath frog is endangered. Many are caught by hunters for food and sold at markets, and others are collected for the pet trade. Forests are cleared for farms and logging, and soil and chemicals wash into the streams where tadpoles grow.

Hunters once found big frogs within an hour's walk of their villages. By the time of the 2018 assessment, they often had to walk three to five hours into the forest. Scientists want to work with local communities so that hunting stays at a level the frogs can survive, and the frog lives in Monte Alen National Park in Equatorial Guinea, a protected area.

The IUCN assessed Conraua goliath in 2018 (published 2019) as Endangered (A2d), estimating a decline of at least 70 percent over three generations (15 years) from over-harvesting: hunters who about 15 years earlier found adults within an hour of villages were walking three to five hours by the time of the assessment, and in Ebo Forest in 2011 the species was found only after eight hours' walk. Threats include hunting for subsistence and bushmeat markets with new, more effective traps, large-scale collection for the international pet trade, forest loss to cocoa, banana and palm plantations, logging and roads, and sedimentation and chemical dumping in breeding streams.

It is confirmed in Monte Alen National Park. The IUCN calls for community-based harvest management and consideration of captive breeding, and warns that susceptibility to chytrid fungus has not been fully assessed.