Vic: Facts about the Growling Grass Frog

AAP General News (Australia)
08-25-2008
Vic: Facts about the Growling Grass Frog:

The Growling Grass Frog:



- Can live up to 18 years

- Has a reputation as a "frog eater" because it can hear other frog species' calls
and then zone in on them when hunting for food

- Measures up to 10cm from head to tail

- Has a white, granular belly. Back colour ranges from brown or dull olive to bright
emerald green with spots or lines and can carry large warts

- Active during the warmer months of the year and can be found in large swamps, ponds
and lakes, as well as man-made bodies of water such as dams

- Is rarely seen during the day but often heard due to its distinctive sound, similar
to that of an outboard motor starting up

- Until the late 1980s, was common in southeastern Australia

- Since then, numbers have plummeted due to the frog killing disease, Chytrid Fungus

- Listed as threatened

- In Victoria, Growlers can be heard at Grampians National Park, Wilson's Promontory
National Park and Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park



Source: Victoria Naturally Alliance factsheet



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KEYWORD: GROWLING FACTBOX

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