#Surinam Horned Toad
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arthistoryanimalia · 2 years ago
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#WorldFrogDay: Maybe this Surinam Horned Frog (Ceratophrys cornuta) wouldn't look so happy if it could read what naturalist George Shaw wrote about it in its description...
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"Horned Frog" from The Naturalist's Miscellany, v.3, pl. 76 (1791-2) by George Shaw (English, 1751-1813). Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Here's what Shaw said: "Should inquiry be made, which is the ugliest animal yet known to exist? The creature here represented might perhaps with justice be proposed as an answer: an animal of such prodigious deformity as even to exceed in this respect the Surinam toad...." ☹️
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