#this is a Scaphiophryne marmorata fan blog | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

markscherz · 5 months ago

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I put it to you that Scaphiophryne marmorata is peak frog.

Why?

Well first, it's pretty round, which is key.

Now get a load of those fingers.

Big, expanded discs at the end, ideal for climbing.

But what's happening back there with those toes? No discs there. Those are good for walking and hopping around on the ground.

Now, let's gently turn them over

First, excellent tum, 17 out of 10, no notes.

But what's that at the base of the foot? Those big projections? Yep, those are spades. This climbing, hopping frog is an excellent digger!

I like to think of these Scaphiophryne as all-terrain frogs. They're basically good at everything. They defy our categorical labels of 'arboreal', 'terrestrial', or 'fossorial', and say 'por qué no los tres?'—but in Malagasy, so 'nahoana no tsy izy telo?'

#frogs #animals #cute #biology #science #Scaphiophryne marmorata #Scaphiophryne #actually the fact that these frogs are hard to categorise makes them a pain in the ass to study sometimes #because the methods we have do not really allow for complexity beyond simple categories #I feel sure I have posted something very similar to this post before #but oh well #this is a Scaphiophryne marmorata fan blog #other Scaphiophryne are good too #this is what peak performance looks like #now if someone would only fund the grant I applied for to prove it #that would be grand

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