A brown frog has been discovered during August of 2007 in a remote part of the Bornean rainforest (Indonesia) by David Bickforth. Amazingly, it has no lungs and breathes only through its skin. The aquatic frog is called Barbourula kalimantanensis.
The New Lungless Frog
Bickford said the species is the first frog known to exist without lungs, linking it to a small number of amphibians with this feature, including a few species of salamanders. The frog also has a tendancy to flatten itself out as it glides on the surface of the water. They also have skin flaps that aid in their amazing swimming act, much like skin flaps help sugar gliders to “fly” from tree to tree. The fact that they have no lungs is evolutionarily significant because it shows that these frogs have evolved to adapt to live in an environment of cold, fast streams which are rich in oxygen. This lowers their bouyancy so they are not swept downriver.
The habitat of this amazing creature has recently come under fire from the logging and mining industry. We must protect this rainforest that is home to, as seen here, a plethora of fascinating and unique wildlife.
