What is the largest frog in the world?

The Goliath frog of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, which reaches about 32 centimetres in body length and over three kilograms - roughly the size of a domestic cat. It can jump around three metres, which for a frog that size is a considerable amount of animal in the air.

It builds nests, which was only documented in 2019. Goliath frogs move rocks weighing up to two kilograms - a substantial fraction of their own body weight - to clear ponds at the edge of fast streams for their eggs, and then guard them. That may be why they are so large: the size looks like an adaptation for construction rather than for anything else.

It is endangered and the reasons are ordinary rather than exotic - habitat loss to logging and agriculture, hunting for food, and collection for the pet trade and for frog-jumping competitions. It also has no vocal sac and does not croak, which for the largest frog on Earth is a slightly deflating detail: it whistles with its mouth open.