Giant frog 'as big as human baby' discovered in Solomon islands, villagers stunned

Villagers in the Solomon Islands were recently left stunned after they discovered a frog that was as large as a healthy human baby. The gigantic amphibian was found by timber mill owner Jimmy Hugo while hunting wild pigs on the outskirts of Honiara. Speaking to Daily Mail later, Hugo said that initially, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He called it the biggest frog he had seen in his life. The 35-year-old revealed that the creature had been caught by several wild dogs who were playing in the bush. “That’s how I found it,” he added.

'It was eaten up' 

Although the frog was eventually eaten up as it was dead by the time it was found, photos and videos of the seemingly unreal frog have created a stir on the internet. As per Daily Mail, the infant-sized frog belongs to Cornufer Guppyi, a species found in New Britain, in the Bismarck Archipelago to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. On the Solomon Islands, the species are colloquially known as ‘bush chickens' and could grow as long as 10 inches.

Although the species is listed as ‘least concern' species, its continual declining population has caused concern amongst the environmentalists. The largest frog in the world is known as the Goliath frog. They are found in the tropical rainforest of central Africa, within the southwestern part of Cameroon and north of Equatorial Guinea.

In other news, state service for natural protected areas revealed that a new species of marsupial frog has been discovered in the Cordillera Colán National Sanctuary in Peru's Amazon jungle and has been considered as an important discovery in Science. As per an official press release, an agency attached to the Ministry of the Environment (Minam), this discovery was made as part of a research study developed in the mountainous and humid forest of the Colán Mountain Range, between 3136 and 3179 meters above sea level. Termed as  Gastrotheca gemma sp. Nov, the new species is a part of the Gastrotheca genus, anuran amphibians, which is found in Central and South America.

The recently discovered species has been differentiated from its congeners as it has a thick granular skin on the back, a green dorsal coloration without a pattern, turquoise irises and a belly without spots. As per the Peruan authorities, the area is of great biological importance as several unique species live there.

Representative Image: Pixabey