# Do these kinds of frogs really exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751 "2006-05-07T08:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/1 "2006-05-07T08:23:14Z")
Look at the little, fat frog at the very bottom of [this old German illustration.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Haeckel_Batrachia.jpg) Also, the weird frog with the huge webbed feet that looks like it’s flying through the air. Are those frogs real, or was Ernst Haeckel licking too many toads? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/2 "2006-05-07T08:31:42Z")
Yes, there’s nothing in that picture that is utterly absurd in terms of amphibian morphology. Certainly the illustrations are a little stylised in their presentation, but yes, there are tree frogs that glide on outstretched webbed feet and there are fat,globular frogs. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/3 "2006-05-07T12:16:25Z")
The rounded one looks almost like a stylized [Pac Man frog.](http://www.frogdaze.com/pac_man_frog.htm) Yup. Just like the video game. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/4 "2006-05-07T13:34:45Z")
Saw one that looked just like that yesterday on a Discovery Channel program about the Rufiji River in Tanzania. It hibernated underground most of the year and looked more like a half-deflated football with an owl’s face than a frog. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/5 "2006-05-07T14:12:10Z")
Here’s your flying frog: [http://www.ecologyasia.com/images-k-z/wallaces-flying-frog.jpg](http://www.ecologyasia.com/images-k-z/wallaces-flying-frog.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/6 "2006-05-07T15:03:01Z")
Just beware of this guy: [Mexican Staring Frog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mexican_Staring_Frog_of_Southern_Sri_Lanka) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/7 "2006-05-07T15:29:35Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Are those frogs real, or was Ernst Haeckel licking too many toads? Yes, although somewhat stylized all the frogs illustrated are quite real - the caption gives the current scientific name. The small fat one you mention is [Breviceps mossambicus](http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/anura/microhylidae/breviceps/mossambicus/breviceps_mossambicus_ebinuma.jpg). **Laughing Lagomorph** has already supplied the link for the Bornean Flying Frog _Rhacophorus pardalis_. Perhaps even weirder is the _Mexican Burrowing Toad_ [Rhinophrynus dorsalis](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/Grzimek_herps/Rhinophrynidae/Rhinophrynus_dorsali.jpg/medium.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-kinds-of-frogs-really-exist/355751/8 "2006-05-07T17:52:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > … > > Perhaps even weirder is the _Mexican Burrowing Toad_ [Rhinophrynus dorsalis](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/Grzimek_herps/Rhinophrynidae/Rhinophrynus_dorsali.jpg/medium.jpg) He looks like he’s been detailed. “Don’t like your plain green frog, bring him to Maaco!”