To protect against predators, an African toad disguises itself as a highly venomous snake. An international research team found a striking similarity between the Congolese giant toad Sclerophrys channingi and the Gabon viper (Bitis gabonica).
Even the triangular body shape of up to 14 inches long toad looks like the head of the Viper. The dark round spots and a dark vertical stripes on the back, which are also on the snake head, make the deception perfect.
The smooth skin is rather untypical for a toad, but resembles that of a snake, writes the team around Eli Greenbaum from the University of Texas at El Paso in the "Journal of Natural History". It is especially curious that the toad hisses in a similar way to the snake when it feels threatened.
The longest fangs of all snakes
"This is a form of mimicry in which a harmless species avoids predators by pretending to be dangerous or poisonous," says Greenbaum. The Gabon Viper is considered one of the largest poisonous snakes in the world and has the longest fangs of any snake.
Such deceptions are widespread in the animal kingdom, such as butterflies, fish and lizards. For example, there are a number of harmless Natter species in America, whose striped color is similar to the poisonous coral viper. However, the toad now described is the first known case in which a frog's throat disguises itself as a venomous snake.
Wolfgang Boehme / Taylor & Francis Online
The juxtaposition shows the amazing similarity
According to the researchers, the toad in the Democratic Republic of the Congo lives exclusively in places where the snake is at home. According to genetic analysis, both animals arose at a similar time, about four to five million years ago. Given the similarity of the common habitat and the time of emergence, the researchers assume that both species developed in parallel.
For lizards, mammals, snakes and birds the toad is a welcome snack. But because she looks and sounds like a poisonous snake, most of them probably go very far.