I was doing one of my favorite things this morning, watching a BBC David Attenborough-narrated nature show. They come out with new ones all the time, and photography is just incredible, no one narrates nature better than he does, and I always learn something new.
This morning I watched part of a series from about ten years ago that featured a leaf-folding frog from the Congo. These small climbing frogs in the genus Afrixalus have a neat trick I’d never seen before. Once a male and female have paired up, they lie along the length of a reed over water. The female lays eggs, the male fertilizes them, and then he zips up the edges of the leaf with a glue that he secretes. This encloses the eggs as they go. The female may lay dozens of eggs, and when the pair is done, the eggs are sealed up inside the rolled leaf, where they develop. The next time it rains, it washes away the glue, the leaf opens and the newly hatched tadpoles drop down into the water.
Such a clever way to hide and protect eggs until they are ready to hatch!
The BBC show I saw this in was released in 2013. It’s called Africa, and the leaf-folding frogs are in episode three, Congo, at about the 24 minute mark. You’ll have to search your TV or streaming provider to see if they have it.
