Indian Bullfrog | 23 Jul 2020

• Scientific Name: Hoplobatrachus tigerinus.
• Common Names: Bullfrog, Golden Frog, Green Frog, Tiger Frog etc.
• IUCN Red List: Least Concern.
• Indian Wildlife Act 1972: Schedule IV.
  
  • Schedule IV along with Schedule III provide protection with lesser penalties.
• It is native to the Indian subcontinent (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan) and is the largest frog in India.
• These are prolific breeders (producing many offspring), have short breeding seasons, and each egg clutch can contain up to 5,750 eggs.
  
  • Indian bullfrog tadpoles are carnivorous and eat other tadpoles (including their own species).
  • The tadpoles grow to be the largest (around 20 millimetres) and also grow the fastest.
• Adult bullfrogs pose a threat to small endemic vertebrates because they can eat everything which fits into their mouths like centipedes, leeches, native frogs, lizards, small snakes and even chicks and ducklings.
  
  • Bullfrogs eat the native frogs as well and their diets overlap, indicating a possibility of competition.
• It is one of the invasive species on the islands of Andaman and Nicobar.
  
  • An invasive species is a species that is accidentally or artificially introduced into a biosphere where it is not normally found.
  • In the absence of a natural predator, as it generally happens, the invasive species thrive and causes economic and environmental damage due to the imbalance created by its introduction.