A Master of Camouflage and Gliding. Prague Zoo Is Now Breeding Wallace’s Flying Frogs.

Females use their hind legs to whip up a bubble nest of special mucus into which they lay their eggs. Once hatched the tadpoles develop for a while, then drop straight from the nest into the water. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

As Vojtěch Víta, an expert on breeding reptiles and amphibians, explains, “The distinctive blood-red colour is typical for the youngest frogs. This serves as a cryptic colouration to mimic bird droppings. Thanks to this, they blend in perfectly with their environment in the rainforest and thus avoid the attention of predators." Gradually, white spots appear on the red skin, resembling plant seeds in the droppings. Then the frog's skin turns green until eventually the white spots disappear. The texture of the skin also changes. “Although the adult frog’s skin is completely smooth, fresh from metamorphosis its skin is dotted with bumps,” adds Víta.

Wallace’s flying frogs, whose food is crickets, cockroaches and other invertebrates, live in Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. They are strictly tree-dwelling and do not visit water, not even when breeding. Not used for swimming, their large toes with suction pads have thus acquired a new function. When they need to escape predators in the tropical rainforest, for example, they leap from a branch and spread their membranes. They can even change direction whilst “flying”.

Young frogs are not able to glide and their skin is bright red and warty. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Similar to other amphibians, flying frogs are lower down in the food chain. Nevertheless, they play an irreplaceable role in the ecosystem and their disappearance has a devastating impact on the environment. Once gone, other species that depend on them for food, such as snakes, also become extinct. Amphibians are some of the most endangered animals today.

Visitors will find the Wallace’s flying frogs directly in the entrance to the Indonesian Jungle, where they inhabit the circular aquaterarium on the right. They spend most of their time on the leaves of plants above the water.

Wallace’s flying frogs owe their bright green coloration to carotenoids. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo