The Forest Rain Frog (Breviceps sylvestris) is a species of frog in the Microhylidae family. It is endemic to South Africa. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland, and rural gardens. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Forest rain frogs can range in colour from red, orange, yellow, green, and purple. They can also vary in size from a mere 2cm and grow to be about 10cm in body length. The purple frogs are known to contain a defense mechanism consisting of a toxic chemical on their slimy exterior. If contact is made with this toxin the temporary effect of paralysis can occur.
Famous quotes containing the words forest, rain and/or frog:
“All nature is a temple where the alive
Pillars breathe often a tremor of mixed words;
Man wanders in a forest of accords
That peer familiarly from each ogive.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“The life of a good man will hardly improve us more than the life of a freebooter, for the inevitable laws appear as plainly in the infringement as in the observance, and our lives are sustained by a nearly equal expense of virtue of some kind. The decaying tree, while yet it lives, demands sun, wind, and rain no less than the green one. It secretes sap and performs the functions of health. If we choose, we may study the alburnum only. The gnarled stump has as tender a bud as the sapling.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In almost all climes the tortoise and the frog are among the precursors and heralds of this season, and birds fly with song and glancing plumage, and plants spring and bloom, and winds blow, to correct this slight oscillation of the poles and preserve the equilibrium of nature.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)