As fully aquatic species, Surinam toads live in slow-moving water sources,such as rainforest pools and moist leaf litter throughout eastern Trinidad and Tobago and much of the Amazon Basin, including its namesake country, Surinam.
The odd characteristics don’t stop there. These amphibians have long fingers that end in four star-shaped sensory lobes that inspired their other common name, the star-shaped toad.
Blending into their environment with brownish or olive skin and a death-like stillness, the toads both stay safe from predators and catch crustaceans, fish, and invertebrates in the water.
Males call to females by snapping a bone in their throat, the hyoid, which makes a sound underwater.
The male fertilizes the eggs, then pushes them onto her back. A thick layer of skin will grow over the eggs until they are nestled in protected, honeycomb-like pockets.
Baby toads don’t go through a larval or tadpole stage, instead erupting from mom’s back as fully formed, half-inch toadlets after about three to four months.
Conservation statusThe Surinam toad population is not currently in danger, though its habitat is threatened by human encroachment, such as logging, farming, and ranching.
Ref: kidadl, wikipedia, nationalgeographic, animals.sandiegozoo, honoluluzoo,Pic: wikipedia, animals.sandiegozoo, pinterest, American Museum of Natural History, fishingthai, talitabateman, honoluluzoo, catapult, Natural History Museum, biolib, clipart-history, warrenphotographic, theonlinezoo