Wednesday May 11, 2022
Field and Stream —
A non-native frog species that was intentionally imported to the United States for use in pregnancy testing is being called “one of the worst invasive species on earth” by wildlife officials in Washington. The state agency is working to mitigate the impact of the voracious amphibian.
The potentially devastating invaders? African clawed frogs, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa. The species’ name is derived from the claws on the critter’s webbed back feet, which they use to grasp and feed on a wide range of prey. “The primary use of these claws is likely to shred food, which could be a decaying carcass, another frog species, fish, bird, snail, or anything else they can fit in their mouth,” said Max Lambert, a research scientist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), in an interview on the agency’s website. “Their claws help them eat other frogs and fish that are bigger than them because they can tear their prey into smaller pieces.”
The frogs breed rapidly, have relatively long life spans, can survive droughts and deep freezes, and feast on native species including trout and salmon. A 1992 study in which four female African clawed frogs were launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour proved they can even reproduce in orbit.