Today I Learned

#CrownedTreeFrog I observed this female Crowned Tree Frog, Anotheca spinosa, in Costa Rica. She was valiantly guarding her tadpoles which she was raising inside the protected nursery site of a bamboo stem. This frog is quite unique, being the only species in its genus, and sporting a bony crown of knobs and spines on top of its head. Like poison dart frogs, the female nourishes the voracious tadpoles with a diet of unfertilized eggs laid directly in the water. Yum! Filmed at Rancho Naturalista birding lodge in Costa Rica.