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:
“Look at this poet William Carlos Williams: he is primitive and native, and his roots are in raw forest and violent places; he is word-sick and place-crazy. He admires strength, but for what? Violence! This is the cult of the frontier mind.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“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)
“A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. A frog he would a-wooing go (l. 1–5)