I am become leaf, the destroyer of bugs…

Say hello to the Amazonian Horned Frog, one of the strangest and most elusive creatures on the planet. If it wasn’t for the fact that their eyes reflect back to you at the end of a torch beam, these amazing amphibians would be almost impossible to spot.

Masters of camouflage, Amazonian Horned Frogs are ambush predators with an almost unbelievable amount of patience. When hunting, they start by find themselves a comfortable spot in the leaf litter, and then, they wait.

And boy do they wait… I recently monitored a single individual which sat in EXACTLY the same spot for EIGHT DAYS. While I assume it must have occasionally caught a meal, I never saw it move, and it was in an identical position when I returned each evening.

These frogs are also known as Pacman Frogs, due to their voracious appetite and a mouth that takes up most of their body, and they’re known to try their luck with just about any kind of prey. From small insects like grasshoppers and ants, to larger vertebrates such as lizards, mice, and even other frogs, these insatiable amphibians will attempt to eat anything that might fit in their mouths – and even some stuff that won’t. There have been multiple records of these frogs suffocating to death after attempting to swallow prey that was too big for them.

Imagine wandering around the rainforest floor and wondering if every leaf was suddenly going to gobble you up. That’s life for any creature that looks tasty to the Amazonian Horned Frog.

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Amazonian Horned Frogs (Ceratophrys cornuta), various locations, Peruvian Amazon