Audio Transcript:
Jabba -- the frog.
I'm Bob Karson with the Discovery Files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(SOUND EFFECT: ancient swamp) 70 million years ago. It may be the largest frog ever to have hopped or waddled the earth. It voraciously dined on lizards and perhaps young dinosaurs. The scientific name for this ten-pound, sixteen-inch frogantuan behemoth?
"Beelzebufo" -- the 'Devil Frog.' (SOUND EFFECT: large, low croaaak)
Aside from it's more-than-ample girth, the bizzare thing about this amphibian-on-steroids is its home turf. The remains were found by a team led by Stony Brook University on the unlikely Island of Madagascar, off Africa's southeastern coast. Unlikely, because devil frog's relatives all hail from South America.
Odds are, Mr. Had-one too-many-lizards didn't swim across -- possible direct evidence of a one-time land connection between Madagascar and South America.
(SOUND EFFECT: multiple frogs) So how does the top contender for world's-largest-ever frog compare with our current frogs? The biggest we have today is the goliath of West Africa -- at about three-quarters of the size. The largest frogs in current Madagascar are only four inches long -- little more than a snack for the devil frog. (SOUND EFFECT: big frog burp)
"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
