Video: bizarre purple frog sounds like a squeaky toy
Native to India, the purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis) is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The species is also a focal amphibian for the innovative ZSL EDGE program, which selects the species it works with based on their evolutionary uniqueness and threat level.
According to the EDGE website: “The purple frog is the sole representative of an ancient lineage of frogs that has been evolving independently for over 130 million years. […] Formally discovered in 2003, the purple frog spends most of the year underground, surfacing only to breed during the monsoon. It was the first new family of frogs to be discovered since 1926. This species is threatened by ongoing forest loss for coffee, cardamom and ginger plantations.” Video courtesy of ZSL EDGE-TV.
