Rain frogs can it

It has a round body with a bloated head and a snout with forward-facing eyes. The legs are shorter than the length of the body. It has coarse skin, brown and cream in colour and dotted on the belly.

The males have coarser skin on their throats than the females. They have short, stubby toes that are thick and unwebbed. The Cape rain frog is a burrowing species. When they walk, they waddle back and forth. Cape rain frogs start calling in winter just before the rains start. They produce a harsh squawking sound with short intervals during mating season. The males will call from beneath vegetation or from their burrows to indicate to females where they are.

This species is endemic to the southwestern parts of the Western Cape in South Africa, from the central Cape Peninsula in the south, to west of Citrusdal in the north.

Cape rain frogs occur in a variety of disturbed habitats, such as pine plantations, agricultural landscapes and residential gardens. They inhabit the renosterveld and fynbos and adapt well to residential and agricultural landscapes.

They spend most of their lives underground and emerge before the rainy season starts. Sex: During mating season, males call from beneath vegetation or from their burrows so that the females can locate them.

Since he is too small to get a firm grip on the female, she secretes a sticky liquid that glues him to her back. Fertilisation takes place in a burrow that the female has dug where groups of approximately 22 eggs are laid. They lay fertile eggs and jelly capsules, which provide moisture for the developing froglets.

The females will remain burrowed near the eggs until they become young froglets without undergoing the tadpole stage. The adults grow up to 45 mm in length. Cape rain frogs play a vital role in the ecosystem and in the food chain. Many predators such as lizards, snakes and bush pigs depend on them for food. They also depend on small insects for food to keep the food chain balanced. When they are scared or angry, Cape rain frogs blow themselves up so that they seem much bigger than they actually are to a predator; hence they were given the Afrikaans common name, blaasoppie.

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