Fun Striped Rocket Fro Facts For Kids

The Litoria nasuta is a native to the world's most amphibian-diverse country of the world: Australia. It is a tree frog that is dark and dull in appearance, unlike most of the tree frogs, which are bright and colorful with attractive patterns occasionally. It stretches across the northern and eastern coastal belt of Australia. Although classified as a tree frog, it is mostly terrestrial. The reason being, it cannot really climb a tree thus spends most of its life on the ground. Additionally, it is an active nocturnal frog that is known to hibernate only in winters. With its long legs, it is a very agile jumper and can spring up from the ground like a rocket, thus the name striped rocket frog. Since the Australian frog's diet is based around insects that are difficult to catch, it has sticky saliva on its tongue like most frogs which makes it easier to catch insects flying around in the air. An important feature to note about the frog is that it is unsuited to cold or dry climates since it needs enough moisture in its skin to survive. The tadpole of the striped rocket frog is very difficult to identify from tadpoles of the other species, thus specialized skills are required to identify it. It is also possible that it becomes recognizable only when it passes the tadpole stage and turns into a juvenile.

For more relatable content, also check out our articles on red-eyed tree frog and common frog.

What type of animal are striped rocket frogs?

The Litoria nasuta, which belongs to the family Hylidae, is a species of tree frog.

What class of animal does a striped rocket frog belong to?

The striped rocket frog belongs to the amphibian class of the animal kingdom.

How many striped rocket frogs are there in the world?

The striped rocket frog (Litoria nasuta) has a diverse distribution across Australia, which has a range of ten species in all. They have a very high rate of occurrence across Australia which makes it difficult to enumerate them.

Where does a striped rocket frog live?

The striped rocket frog majorly dominates the Australian sub-continent. It is spotted in regions like the northern and eastern coast of Australia, Southern New Guinea, bordering the Torres Strait, New South Wales, Northern Cape York, and the Peninsular region of Queensland. In Queensland, the greatest chunk of the striped rocket frog distribution is concentrated in the Great Sandy National Park and Gosford in New South Wales, while the site at New South Wales extends up to its Northern territory.

What is a striped rocket frog’s habitat?

The distribution of the striped rocket frog habitat consists of open forests, woodlands, and grasslands. The suitable breeding habitat includes swampy coasts with mud that receive adequate rainfall. In Queensland, they occur in a band along with the coast habitat loss due to human settlement.

Who do striped rocket frogs live with?

Usually, a solitary animal, the striped rocket frogs (Litoria nasuta) come together in groups only during the mating season.

How long does a striped rocket frog live?

An average frog from the Hylidae family lives up to 10 years, and the striped rocket frog lives between 10-15 years.

How do they reproduce?

The breeding of the striped rocket frog only takes place during the monsoons. The male reaches out through a specific call to attract mates, and their throats are yellow during the breeding season. The female lays her eggs are laid in clumps of 50-100. These eggs float in static water until they are fertilized and eventually hatch. The eggs are of a dirty brown shade and somewhat rubbery by the outer appearance.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status of the Litoria nasuta is listed as that of Least Concern under the IUCN red list of conservation.

What do striped rocket frogs look like?

It is a tiny frog with an angular streamlined body with slimy skin. It primarily is dark brown in appearance with dark brown stripes and visible blotches and spots all over the body. Although slimy, the skin is somewhat bumpy as well. It has a pointed snout with dark brown disks around the cheeks. Its belly is white with longitudinal skin folds, and the thighs are visibly yellow. The most distinguishable feature of this frog is its unusually long legs. The legs have webbed while the arms are not. The overall length of the body, including the legs, is around 1.7 in (4.3 cm), while its legs are almost double the length of the body. The longitudinal skin folds on the back of its body run down into two distinct stripes. The deep skin folds help to keep the skin moisturized during the dry season. Excessive moisture, however, can lead to the acquisition of dirt and pollutants, which may develop poison in their bodies. Its signature pointed snout is turned upwards, which helps it to breathe underwater, and the dark stripes that run along the back are a great tool to camouflage well. Thus its unpleasant appearance is actually pretty important for its survival.

How cute are they?

The Australian tree frog is definitely not an attractive animal. It probably only just looks fine in images.

How do they communicate?

The Litoria nasuta makes a unique call to attract mates. The call is quoted to sound like that of a duck. It makes a 'wick-wick' sound followed by a 'but-but.'

How big is a striped rocket frog?

The striped rocket frog size is relatively small if compared to other species of frogs. An average frog is around 2.4-3.5 in (6-9 cm). The biggest frog, called the Goliath frog, is around 12.5 in (32 cm). Thus the striped rocket frog is almost four times smaller than the largest existing frog.

How fast can a striped rocket frog move?

Even though the striped rocket frog can hop up to an impressive range, it cannot really move very quickly, given that its forefeet are webbed, which makes it hard for the frog to even climb the trees.

How much does a striped rocket frog weigh?

The tiny Nasuta litoria being a tree frog weighs no more than 0.3 oz (8 g), whereas the giant Goliath frog weighs up to 7.2 lb (3.3 kg). This makes the Goliath frog a whopping 400 times bigger than the striped rocket frog.

What are the male and female names of the species?

The male and female frogs are known by a common name which is the striped rocket frog.

What would you call a baby striped rocket frog?

The baby Litoria nasuta is known as a tadpole, just like other frogs in the world.

What do they eat?

The striped rocket frog diet is based on insects, insect larvae, spiders, moths, and worms. It forages on the ground for leaf litter of the forest floor and grounds that are frequented by water from surrounding water bodies. However, due to their tiny size, they easily fall prey to an array of predators like brown tree snakes, birds, bats, and foxes. Even larger frogs and fish eat tadpoles and eggs of striped rocket frogs.

Are they poisonous?

The Litoria nasuta is not poisonous naturally. However, their skin is very moist and tends to attract a lot of dust particles and pollutants from the atmosphere, which might intoxicate their skin. Thus it is advisable to stay away from them if they are in your vicinity.

Would they make a good pet?

No. The striped rocket frogs would not make good pets at all. They are completely wild animals that are also somewhat dangerous. Thus they are not suitable to be kept as pets.

Did you know...

The Australian tree frog has longer cartilage in its toes than most frogs have, while its sharp-pointed snout.

The striped rocket frog can jump up to 36 times more than the length of its own body, thanks to its super long legs.

The striped rocket frog is one of the frog species with the longest jump in the world.

The introduction of invasive species like the metamorph toads can prove to be infectious for the Australian tree frog.

Like many other frogs and seagulls, and pittas, the striped rocket frog is able to sense the incoming rain, and the Torres Strait Islanders were known to use the frog as a natural barometer.

How far can a rocket frog jump?

The striped rocket frog is one of the most agile jumpers among the tree frogs, can leap up to 6.5 ft (2 m). However, the longest leap achieved by a rocket frog is measured up to 40 times more than that of the length of the frog itself.

What does a striped rocket frog sound like?

How is its sound different from other frogs? The call made by a Litoria nasuta is known to resemble that of a loud duck which is an unusual comparison for a frog. It has shifting notes in its call, which is not common among frogs. Usually, frogs have a repetitive calling on a loop. Some studies even define its call as a 'bark.'

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these green tree frog facts and leopard frog facts.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable striped rocket frog coloring pages.

Second image by Jean-Marc Hero.