There are so many varieties of frogs and toads throughout the world that it would take volumes of books to tell about them all. It would also be a never-ending job, as new species are often being discovered.
Among them are several hundred kinds of tree frogs. They live mostly in North, Central and South America and Australia. Their sizes range from less than an inch to four or five inches long. They eat insects.
One of these is named red-eyed. If you saw its huge, crimson, round, bulging eyes with their coal-black pupils, you’d agree it was well named. In contrast to its red eyes, it is green over its entire back and the front of its legs. It has nimble feet with three toes and a blue-spotted yellow stomach. A close relative has similar eyes and a green back, but its stomach and sides are orange and white. Its legs are a combination of green, yellow and red, with long, deep orange toes.
Another odd little fellow is the Cuban tree frog, which is a drab tannish color with huge speckled eyes and coal-black pupils. Its wide mouth seems to be in a perpetual grin, but also suggests an ability to make a meal of a smaller frog.
A very odd one in Central America has the long name spatulate nose tree frog. A dark brown top and legs are mixed with darker brown speckles and a gray-white stomach. It gets its name because an upper part of its lips protrudes way beyond the mouth itself (spatulate means “knife-like”). Perhaps the Creator arranged it that way to help it reach into narrow spots where insects are often found.
While tree frogs will at times visit ponds or streams looking for food, they are called tree frogs because they spend much of their lives in trees. Some live in the very tops of giant trees and never come down. Their bony feet have sticky pads that never fail to grip the branches tightly. Some have been seen clinging to big leaves and playfully swinging in the wind.
They usually choose trees that have large, smooth, cup-shaped leaves holding rain water, in which the female lays hundreds of eggs. If one leaf is not big enough for her, she joins two or three together, making a larger home for the little tadpoles when they hatch. Some tree frogs lay their eggs in ponds.
Did the Lord God actually create these odd little creatures? Indeed He did, as the opening Bible verse says. Another verse assures us that “all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist [subsist].” Colossians 1:16,1716For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16‑17).
You would find it interesting to study other tree frogs. Almost without exception, they are all unusually pretty in patterns only the Creator could design.
ML-04/10/1994