Animal
Titicaca water frog
This big frog lives its whole life under the water of a lake high in the mountains. Its baggy skin helps it breathe!
The Titicaca water frog lives only in Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes between Peru and Bolivia, and in a few nearby lakes. It never leaves the water. Loose, baggy folds of skin hang from its body, and it takes in almost all the oxygen it needs through its skin. Once there were millions, but it is now endangered.
Telmatobius culeus (family Telmatobiidae) is an entirely aquatic frog endemic to Lake Titicaca and nearby waters at about 3,810 m. Its loose dermal folds enlarge the skin surface used for gas exchange. The IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group listed it as Endangered A4acde (assessed 25 September 2019, published 2020), with a decreasing trend driven by over-harvesting, pollution, introduced fish and chytrid fungus.
Photo: Petr Hamerník, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Titicaca water frog
This frog is big.
Its skin is loose and baggy.
It is green or dark on top and pale underneath.
The Titicaca water frog is a large frog: it can be up to 14 centimeters long from the snout to the end of the body, and it often weighs more than 250 grams. Loose, baggy folds of skin hang from its sides, back and back legs.
It can be olive green, dark green or even black on top, and white or pearl-colored underneath. It has a big, flat head with a rounded snout, and webbing only on its back feet.
ADW: loose, fibrous, glandular dermal folds on the sides, dorsum and hind legs give a 'baggy' appearance; dorsal colour olive green, dark green or black, venter white or pearl; large flattened head with a rounded snout; long hind legs, webbing only on the hind feet; snout-vent length up to 14 cm and often over 250 g, described there as the largest fully aquatic frog. The IUCN notes that T. albiventris and T. crawfordi were synonymized with this species (Benavides, Ortiz and Sites 2002).
Quick facts
- Group
- Amphibian
- Length
- up to 0.14 m
A lake high in the Andes
This frog lives in a huge lake high in the mountains.
It never comes out of the water.
The Titicaca water frog lives only in Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia, about 3,810 meters above sea level, and in a few small lakes and rivers nearby. It is entirely aquatic: it spends its whole life in the water.
Grown-ups like muddy or sandy places with rocks and water plants, often in deeper water near the lake bottom, while young frogs stay in shallow, rocky areas.
IUCN: endemic to Lake Titicaca, also Lago Saracocha, Lago Umayo, Lago Chajchora, Laguna Arapa, Río Ilave and Laguna de Alonso; about 3,810 m; EOO 18,563 km², a single threat-defined location; entirely aquatic; adults prefer muddy or sandy areas with rocks and vegetation, juveniles rocky habitats (Genova 2011). ADW: the lake lies at 3,812 m and is up to 281 m deep, with deep water at a steady 10 °C; adults mostly near the bottom, juveniles in shallow water.
Continent
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Only Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia, and a few nearby lakes and rivers (IUCN).
Places: Peru and Bolivia.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked November 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Bolivia and Peru.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Snails and small crustaceans
This frog eats snails and other small water animals.
Titicaca water frogs eat many kinds of food, but mostly snails and small crustaceans, the shelled animals related to shrimps that live in the lake. Grown-ups find this food in the muddy and sandy places with rocks and water plants where they live.
They are more active at night and live alone. When a boat comes near, they hide.
Diet diverse but mainly gastropods and crustaceans (Pérez 1998, via IUCN). Solitary and more active at night; hides when a boat approaches; social behaviour unknown (ADW).
Did you know?
Its lake is very high in the mountains.
Lake Titicaca is about 3,810 meters above sea level, and the deep water stays at about 10 °C all year.
About 3,810 m (IUCN); deep water a constant 10 °C (ADW).
Breathing through baggy skin
This frog breathes through its skin!
Its baggy folds give it more skin to breathe with.
The Titicaca water frog takes in almost all the oxygen it needs through its skin. Its baggy skin folds give it much more skin surface, and its lungs are small.
If the water has too little oxygen, it can swim up and breathe air at the surface. If it can't, it stands on the lake bed and bobs up and down, which makes its skin folds wave and helps it take in more oxygen.
Dermal folds enlarge the surface for cutaneous gas exchange, so the lungs need hardly be ventilated; lungs are about a third the size of a ranid frog's. In low-oxygen water it surfaces to ventilate the lungs or, if it cannot, stands on the bottom with limbs extended and 'bobs' about every six seconds so the folds wave and break up the boundary layer of water (ADW). The IUCN notes that it performs all gas exchange through its skin, which makes chytrid infection especially harmful.
Eggs among underwater plants
The mother lays her eggs on plants under the water.
The tadpoles take about four months to become frogs.
Titicaca water frogs breed in shallow water near the shore, among underwater plants, 2 to 15 meters deep. They can breed at any time of year. A female lays a few hundred eggs, in small groups of 20 to 50 stuck to water plants.
The tadpoles take about four months to turn into frogs.
Breeding in shallow near-shore water in submerged vegetation (Elodea), 2 to 15 m deep; reproduction possible all year, amplexus seen only in May to November; clutches of 115 to 941 eggs recorded by Pérez (1998), 200 to 500 in recent wild records; eggs in groups of 20 to 50 on aquatic plants; metamorphosis about four months; generation length about 14 years (IUCN).
Life on the lake bed
This frog stays near the bottom of the lake.
It rarely needs to come up for air.
Because it breathes through its skin, the Titicaca water frog does not need to come up to the surface often. Grown-ups spend much of their time near the bottom of the lake, where the deep water stays at about 10 °C all year.
It lives alone and is most active at night.
Does not need to surface regularly; adults mainly near the bottom, where deep water stays at about 10 °C; solitary and more active at night; strongly wind- and wave-mixed lake water is well oxygenated (ADW).
Did you know?
It does push-ups under water!
When the water has little oxygen, this frog bobs up and down on the lake bed about every six seconds, making its skin folds wave.
'Bobbing' about every six seconds in low-oxygen water (ADW).
Saving the frog of the lake
There are fewer and fewer of these frogs.
People in Peru and Bolivia are working to protect them.
The Titicaca water frog is endangered. In 1994 there were thought to be about 75 million in the lake, but their numbers have fallen sharply since. People catch many of them to sell in markets, and the lake is harmed by sewage, waste from farms, mines and towns, and too much water being taken out. Fish brought into the lake and a frog disease called chytrid add to the danger.
Its international trade is now banned, and zoos and scientists in Peru, Bolivia and the United States are breeding it and studying it.
Endangered A4acde (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group; Global; assessed 25 September 2019, published 2020; trend decreasing; previously Critically Endangered in 2004): a decline of at least 50% expected over three generations (1994 to 2036). Threats: unregulated over-harvesting, water extraction and sedimentation, domestic, industrial and agricultural pollution, introduced trout and pejerrey, chytrid fungus, climate change. CITES Appendix I since 2016; Titicaca National Reserve; Denver Zoo project with Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia since 2007; captive breeding at Huachipa Zoological Park and the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d'Orbigny; Peru-Bolivia binational action plan (2018) (IUCN).
IUCN Red List
How is the titicaca water frog doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered (this animal)
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Endangered
At very high risk of disappearing from the wild.
Amazing facts
-
This frog breathes through its skin!
The Titicaca water frog takes in almost all the oxygen it needs through its baggy skin, so it hardly ever needs to use its lungs.
Cutaneous gas exchange through dermal folds; lungs small (ADW).
-
It does push-ups under water!
When the water has little oxygen, this frog bobs up and down on the lake bed about every six seconds, making its skin folds wave.
'Bobbing' about every six seconds in low-oxygen water (ADW).
-
Its lake is very high in the mountains.
Lake Titicaca is about 3,810 meters above sea level, and the deep water stays at about 10 °C all year.
About 3,810 m (IUCN); deep water a constant 10 °C (ADW).
-
Once there were millions of these frogs.
In 1994, scientists estimated there were about 75 million Titicaca water frogs in the lake. Since then their numbers have fallen sharply.
About 75 million estimated in 1994 (Morawetz 1994, via IUCN); Endangered (2020).
Words to know
- aquatic
- living in water
- oxygen
- a gas in air and water that animals need to live
- skin fold
- a loose flap of skin
- crustacean
- an animal with a hard outer shell and jointed legs, like a shrimp or crab
- endangered
- at very high risk of dying out in the wild
- endemic
- found naturally in only one place in the world
Discovery challenge
-
How does this frog get most of its oxygen?
How does the Titicaca water frog take in most of its oxygen?
What is the main mode of gas exchange in Telmatobius culeus?
- Through its skin
- Through gills
- By gulping air all day
Show the answer
Through its skin
Through its skin!
Its baggy skin folds take in oxygen from the water.
Cutaneous gas exchange via dermal folds (ADW; IUCN).
-
Where does this frog live?
Where does the Titicaca water frog live?
What is the range of Telmatobius culeus?
- In Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia
- In the Amazon rainforest
- In the sea near Chile
Show the answer
In Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia
In Lake Titicaca!
Only in Lake Titicaca and a few nearby lakes and rivers.
Endemic to Lake Titicaca and nearby waters (IUCN).
-
What does this frog mostly eat?
What does the Titicaca water frog mostly eat?
Which prey dominate the diet of Telmatobius culeus?
- Snails and small crustaceans
- Fruit
- Birds
Show the answer
Snails and small crustaceans
Snails!
Mostly snails and small crustaceans.
Mainly gastropods and crustaceans (Pérez 1998, via IUCN).
-
Does this frog ever leave the water?
How much of its life does a Titicaca water frog spend in water?
How would you describe the habitat use of Telmatobius culeus?
- All of it
- Only the winter
- None of it
Show the answer
All of it
It always stays in the water!
It is entirely aquatic: it spends its whole life in the water.
Entirely aquatic (IUCN).
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Natural wonder
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca lies 3,810 meters above sea level in the Andes of South America, on the border between Peru and Bolivia. Britannica calls it the world's highest lake that large ships can sail on. Some people still live on floating islands made of totora reeds, and a big, wrinkly frog lives in its water and nowhere else.
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Watch
Country
Peru
Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America. It has a dry desert coast, the high Andes mountains and the Amazon rainforest, and about 34 million people lived there in 2025, many of them in the capital, Lima.
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Watch
Country
Bolivia
Bolivia is a landlocked country in the middle of South America. In the west, the Andes Mountains hold a high, cold plateau with Lake Titicaca and a huge salt flat; in the east, warm lowlands stretch toward the Amazon. It has two capitals, La Paz and Sucre, and about 12.6 million people lived there in 2025.
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Watch
Life around the world
Floating reed islands of the Uros, Lake Titicaca
In Puno Bay, on Lake Titicaca, Uro families live on islands they build from totora, a reed that grows in the lake's shallow water. Blocks of tangled reed roots form the base, layers of cut reeds go on top, and families keep adding fresh reeds. In 2013, Peru declared the Uros' knowledge of totora part of the nation's cultural heritage.
Explore next
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Watch
Natural wonder
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca lies 3,810 meters above sea level in the Andes of South America, on the border between Peru and Bolivia. Britannica calls it the world's highest lake that large ships can sail on. Some people still live on floating islands made of totora reeds, and a big, wrinkly frog lives in its water and nowhere else.
-
Watch
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Axolotl
The axolotl is a salamander from the canals and lakes of Mexico City. Unlike most amphibians, it keeps its baby features, such as feathery gills and a fin, its whole life. It can regrow lost legs and even parts of its heart, but in the wild it is critically endangered.
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Llama
Llamas are South American cousins of camels, without the hump. People in the Andes Mountains bred them from wild guanacos thousands of years ago, and they still carry loads, give wool and even guard sheep. Llamas do not live in the wild: every llama lives with people.
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Country
Peru
Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America. It has a dry desert coast, the high Andes mountains and the Amazon rainforest, and about 34 million people lived there in 2025, many of them in the capital, Lima.
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Watch
Country
Bolivia
Bolivia is a landlocked country in the middle of South America. In the west, the Andes Mountains hold a high, cold plateau with Lake Titicaca and a huge salt flat; in the east, warm lowlands stretch toward the Amazon. It has two capitals, La Paz and Sucre, and about 12.6 million people lived there in 2025.
-
Watch
Life around the world
Floating reed islands of the Uros, Lake Titicaca
In Puno Bay, on Lake Titicaca, Uro families live on islands they build from totora, a reed that grows in the lake's shallow water. Blocks of tangled reed roots form the base, layers of cut reeds go on top, and families keep adding fresh reeds. In 2013, Peru declared the Uros' knowledge of totora part of the nation's cultural heritage.
-
Watch
3D
Animal
Amazon milk frog
The Amazon milk frog is a large tree frog that lives high in the treetops of the rainforest in northeastern South America. It is active at night, has big golden eyes, and lays its eggs in pools of rainwater trapped in holes in trees, where its tadpoles grow up.
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3D
Animal
American bullfrog
The American bullfrog is the largest true frog in North America. It lives in warm, still ponds and lakes, sits and waits for food to come close, and the males' deep 'jug-o-rum' call carries more than a kilometer. Its tadpoles can take years to turn into frogs.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain how the Titicaca water frog breathes under water.
- Locate Lake Titicaca on a map of South America.
- Describe how the frog's life cycle uses shallow and deep water.
- Name threats to the frog and actions that help it.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might baggy skin help an animal that breathes through its skin?
- How might dirty water from towns and farms affect animals that live in a lake?
- Why do countries that share a lake need to work together to protect it?
Try at home or in class
- Surface area: crumple a sheet of paper and a smooth sheet of the same size. Which has more surface? Talk about how skin folds give a frog more skin.
- Bobbing frog: watch a raisin in a glass of fizzy water rise and sink, and compare it with the frog that bobs on the lake bed.
Key vocabulary: aquatic, oxygen, skin fold, crustacean, endangered, endemic
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Telmatobius culeus (Titicaca Water Frog), global assessment 2019 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Telmatobius culeus: taxonomy, justification, range, population, habitat, threats, trade and conservation text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Telmatobius culeus: IUCN Red List global assessment record (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group 2020), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Telmatobius culeus (Kristen Batko) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- File:Vodnice posvátná zoo praha 1.jpg (Petr Hamerník, Zoo Praha, 3 March 2019) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.