Frog Sings Like a Bird

You might not believe it until you hear the frog sing for your self, but a newly discovered frog species in Vietnam actually vocalizes like a bird song.

Click the link (or below) to listen to an MP3 file of the frog singing.

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The Australian Museum in Sydney posted the audio file and is hosting it because one of their researchers, Jodi Rowley, discovered the frog in the mountain forests of Vietnam. Clearly, hearing a bird song or something like one in a forest would not lead one to believe a frog was close by, but Rowley made the discovery anyway. It was found in the Pu Hoat Proposed Nature Reserve and named Quang’s tree frog (Gracixalus quangi). Forest habitat between about 1800 and 4200 feet is where it lives. Fortunately this frog discovery does not also include the information that it is already known to be in danger of extinction, as some new species discovery stories do.

What makes the frogs song more bird-like is that it constantly changes, whereas frogs typically have a very simple and repetitious vocalization. Rowley explained, “In fact, no two calls that I recorded were exactly the same, with each frog mixing clicks, whistles and chirps in no apparent order! It is the most variable frog call that I’ve heard of, and sounds a lot more like a bird song than a frog call.” (Source: Mongabay.com)

She has previously discovered new frog species in Vietnam including one with ‘fanged’ tadpoles, with black curved hooks in their mouths. In the video below she talks about that discovery (not the singing frog). This video was included to show her talking about her research.