The 7 most beautiful amphibians are animals with a unique ability to survive both in water and on land. The name “amphibian” originated from the Greek word “amphibious,” which means “to live a double life.” Examples of Amphibians are toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. But 90% of amphibians are frogs. Though most amphibians are poisonous, some of them appear very visually appealing. Their colorful shining skin and resplendent hues makes them enchantingly beautiful.
This article brings you a list of the most beautiful amphibians in the world, together with their features, habitat, diet, and other amazing facts about them. You can even keep some of them as pets
Below are the seven most beautiful amphibians.
1. Mimic Poison Frog
The mimic poison frog, also known as Ranitomeya imitator, tops the list of beautiful Amphibians because of its wide variety of vivid beautiful colors. It is native to the northern and northeastern Peru rainforests. It is arboreal and can be found in vegetation between 0.3 and 6 m above ground. The size of a thumbnail it’s a beauty of a frog to behold. Pastel blue skin is typically dappled with royal blue body spots. Lime colored variants sometimes have turquoise legs while dark body spots are common on the species.
It is milder in toxicity than other poison frogs and gets its name because its coloration mimics more toxic species. It is often tiny -17 to 22 millimeters long and weighs 1.25g. Mimic poison frog has four major morphs. These morphs evolve through mimetic radiation, making a species closely resemble different model species.
Those models are other poison frogs, like the splash-back poison frog (Ranitomeya variabilis) and the red-headed poison frog (Ranitomeya Fantastica), and others. This frog is a skilled climber. It can be best viewed during the day.
It makes calls in the form of a high-pitched trill. Its diet includes mites, ants, beetle, flies, and springtails. The female frogs lay eggs in bromeliad plants, and the males will pick up the tadpoles and carry them on their backs to find water bodies. Their lifespan is often 3 to 10 years.
Mimic Poison Frog As Pets
If you plan on keeping the ranitomeya imitator, as a pet experts suggest you keep 2-3 frogs in a vivarium: Terra Glass Terrarium (18X18X18) with a temperature range of f 65 F to 80 F.
2. Goliath Frog (Contaua Goliath)
As the name suggests, it is the largest frog on the planet. It can grow as big as 32 centimeters and weighs between 600 to 3250 grams. They have a flattened, wide-body with a triangular head. Their dorsal skin is granular and dark green, and the ventral skin is light yellowish green. It’s not the prettiest frog on our list though its sheer size with oily, olive skin makes this frog a visual eye opener.
It is predominantly found in and near fast-flowing and highly oxygenated rivers with sandy bottoms in Africa with Cameroon still maintaining a healthy population. Its sexual maturity age is 10-12 months. The Goliath does not produce mating calls like other frogs and toads. Goliath frogs feed on spiders, worms, insects, fish, other amphibians like newts, salamanders, and smaller frogs. While in captive, The Goliath frog can live up to 21years and live up to 15 years in the wild.
Fantastic Facts About The Goliath Frog
- The Goliath frog lacks a vocal sac so it is silent in the wild or as a pet.
- The Goliath frog can jump 12 feet/3.65 m.
3. Amazon Milk Frog (Trachycephalus Resinifictrix)
This is a uniquely beautiful frog with alternative speckled bands and patches of coffee brown and ocean gray skin adown a resplendent pale turquoise blue. Even the inside of its mouth is a glowing beautiful blue hue. Golden rims can be seen around some species’ eyes. But this beautiful color fades with age. This large frog inhabits the Amazon rainforest of northern South America. The Amazon milk frog is 2.5 to 4.0 in (6.4 to 10.2 cm) in length.
Why is Trachycephalus Called a Milk Frog?
Interestingly they are called “milk frogs” because of the poisonous secretions this frog may secrete when threatened. The secretion is also used to deter predators and keep the frog hydrated. It is a nocturnal frog that spends its days hiding from predators in the rainforest’s leafy canopy. It comes out at night to hunt nocturnal insects. It needs a significant amount of space, humidity, and a regularly cleaned cage to survive captivity.
Amazon Milk Frogs As Pets
In captivity it’s best to give Amazon milk frogs as much space as possible. They like waxworms, dubia roaches, crickets and hornworms.
4. Axolotl: The Mexican Walking Fish (Ambystoma Mexicanum)
The axolotl is a cute adorable salamander named after Xolotl, the god of fire and lightning. They have stubby legs, four toes on the back feet and five on the front feet. Their sometimes bright pink, feathery external gills, rock to and fro under water, like beautiful pink leafy branches in the wind.
Wild axolotls only inhabit exclusively the swampy Lake Xochimilco and the canals leading to it on the southern edge of Mexico City. To Mexicans the endangered species is an important cultural symbol. They face threats from carp and Tilapia who compete for food and also eat the eggs of the axolotls.
Unlike other amphibians, axolotl often reaches adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. It comes in any of the four mutant colors. These are melanoid (all black with no gold speckling or olive tone), leucistic (pale pink with black eyes), albino (golden with gold eyes), and axanthic (grey with black eyes). The axolotl often eats worms, insects, snails and small fish in the wild.
Axolotls as Pets
Axolotls can survive captivity if they are kept with care. They spend a lot of time at the bottom of their homes so the water must be cleaned regularly so they don’t ingest waste matter. A diet of salmon pellets, frozen or live bloodworms, earthworms, and waxworms is advisable.
5. Tomato Frog (Dyscophus Antongilii)
Tomato frogs are bright and attractive frogs found in northeastern Madagascar’s tropical rainforests, particularly Antongil Bay of the eastern rainforest belt. While female tomato frogs have a bright red-orange color, looking just like a tomato, the males have a yellow-orange.
The females are typically larger than males. Tomato frogs’ size is between 2.5 and 3.5 inches (60 to 90 millimeters). These frogs spend much of their time under leaves and mud hiding from predators. They secrete a bad tasting, sticky white-colored mucus through their skin which gums up the mouths of snakes.
Tomato frogs usually consume insects, insect larvae, beetles, and worms. Tomato frogs’ sexual maturity age is between 2 – 4 years. Tomato frog can survive up to 10 years in the wild. A sexually dimorphic species, female tomato frogs range in size from 8.5 to 10.5 cm while the smaller male is typically (6 to 6.5 cm) in length.
Tomato Frogs as Pets
Tomato frogs should not be taken from the wild in order to protect the species in the wild. Domestic tomato frogs do not like to be picked up and get by better with a companion. A sheet moss substrate over a pea gravel bed is ideal and crickets are among their favorite insects.
Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobates terribilis)
Though very beautiful, it is considered and one of the most poisonous animals on earth. It carries 1,900 micrograms of poison, enough venom to kill ten grown men. They can be deep golden with black fingers, orange, or mint green, depending on their particular range. The golden poison frog inhabits a tiny plot of 40 miles squared rainforest on the Pacific coast of Colombia called Choco.
It consumes flies, crickets, ants, termites, and beetles. It is a skilled tongue hunter, using its long, adhesive tongue to catch food. The golden frog is harmless when raised away from its natural food source. This frog is typically shorter than a human thumb at 2.2 inches long. Like all poison dart frogs, captives can recognize human caregivers after exposure of a few weeks.
Golden Poison Frogs as Pets
Luckily for pet enthusiasts, captive bred specimens contain none of the batrachotoxins of which this frog is renowned. Export of the frog from Colombia is illegal, though descendants of historical captives are permitted.
7. Blue Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates tinctorius “Azureus”)
This is a small bright blue frog. Its back and top are a lighter-colored sky blue with intermittent black speckles, while its belly and legs are a darker blue color. This stunning creature is thought to stand out so much to warn those who’d go too close. Poison Dart Frogs’ skin has lethal toxins that can paralyze or kill potential predators. The blue poison dart frog is 1.5-3.8 centimeters long and weighs about 8.5 grams. The females are slightly larger than males. Darker pastel blue bellies and legs make this frog look like it was colored in by a child with only two blue shades of crayons.
These frogs are found in the forests surrounded by the Sipaliwini Savanna, located in southern Suriname, northern Brazil. Blue Poison Dart Frogs consumes caterpillars, ants, beetles, flies, mites, spiders, and other arthropods in the wild and use their great eye sight when hunting.
In captivity, they can be fed with fruit flies and crickets. Their life span is between 4-6 years in the wild, while they can survive up to 12 years in captivity.
