The burrowing frog is a large sized species of frog that is natively found in Australia. Burrowing frogs are most commonly found in their burrows in river banks and close to marshes, streams and lakes.
There are six different species of burrowing frog in Australia which vary in size from around 6cm to 10cm long. Only one of the six species of burrowing frog is found in south-eastern Australia, as the other five burrowing frog species are all found in western Australia.
The burrowing frog has a very distinctive appearance and is easily identified by its large, bulging eyes, short body and long legs and toes. Unlike many other species of frog, the toes of the burrowing frog are not webbed as webbing would make digging much more difficult.
As with all amphibians, burrowing frogs are semi-aquatic and are always found close to large bodies of water. Burrowing frogs hide in the banks close to the water where they can remain unseen by predators and undetected from potential prey.
The burrowing frog is a carnivorous animal that uses it long, sticky tongue in order to catch food. When the burrowing frog spots a meal, it remains very still watching it closely with its large eyes before shooting its tongue out of its mouth at remarkable speed to catch its prey before pulling its back in. Burrowing frogs primarily hunt invertebrates such as insects, spiders and worms.
Due to their relatively small size, the burrowing frog has numerous natural predators within its natural environment. Foxes, cats, dogs, birds, snakes and lizards are among the most common predators of the burrowing frog.
After mating, the female burrowing frog can lay up to 1,000 eggs in a foamy mass in her burrow in the river bank, where the eggs develop until they hatch. Burrowing frog tadpoles hatch after water has flooded the burrow, the aquatic tadpoles to leave the burrow into the water.
