More on the Mysterious, Long-Fingered Frog

By Edith Zimmerman March 29, 2012

Remember that guy? Here’s more of his story, courtesy Adam Leache, the curator of herpetology and genetic resources at Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, via Hairpin pal Alaina.

Here’s a photo of an actual “long-finger” frog that I found in Nigeria. Notice the super long finger!

We think that it has to do with sex. They wrap the long finger around the female when they mate. This is called amplexus. The male hops on the back of the female (she’s usually bigger than him), and he wraps the fingers around to hold on. He can actually hold on while she hops around through the forest! You can’t see the long fingers in the photo, but they’re pretty impressive for a little frog.