ExtinctZoo - The Giant Frog That Probably Ate Dinosaurs

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Everything was messed up and more dangerous during the Mesozoic. You had theropods, titanic sauropods, fortified ankylosaurs, giant crocs, and frogs. Yes, that's right even the frogs were messed up as demonstrated by Beelzebufo the dinosaur eating giant, that may have been the largest frog to ever live.

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As the Cretaceous waters in Madagascar, not only had sharks and crock-like reptiles, but also the only known frog that could bite your hand off. The Bielzabufo. This frog is unlike any we know of today and has a name that matches its intimidating appearance, as Bielzabu was inspired by Bielzab, a major demon in theological sources, whose name either means devil, Lord of the Flies, or even Satan. Yet, despite such a grim name, Bielzabufo actually had a fairly lackluster discovery, as when it was first unearthed in 1993, within the May-Virano formation, it was immediately stored away,

due to the holotype being extremely incomplete. And for 14 years, it remained a hidden secret from the world, collecting dust. That is, until enough remains and data were gathered by paleontologists, so that they could finally introduce the world to Beelzebufo and Phinga, now commonly known as the Devil Frog, or the armored frog from hell. Its grand reveal quickly took the Paleo World by storm thanks to its unique appearance, extreme anatomy, and size. Its size in particular shocked many, as original estimates had adults weighing over 10 pounds

or 4.5 kilos, while measuring 42.5 centimeters or 16.7 inches from snout to vent, making mature Bielzabufo more comparable to your typical Chihuahua than any other frog. Its size comfortably made it the largest frog ever discovered, easily outsizing the current largest living one, the Goliath frog, by 30%. However, Bielzabufo's crowning as the largest of all time, didn't go with the largest of the without a major hiccup. As in 2014, a study challenged those original size estimates, arguing that based off of recovered remains, only a conservative weight of 7.3 pounds or 3.3 kilos could be given, making B.L. Zabufo equal in size to the Goliath frog instead of larger,

which would still technically give it the title of largest frog, if we were only counting species that have been scientifically described. What's interesting about this study, though, is that while they argued against the original estimates, they did note that the largest Bealzebufo had fairly opened sutures in the skull, an indication that it hadn't reached its full-size potential. So hopefully in the nearer future, a monster specimen is found that can put questions regarding its true size to rest. Although, thankfully for this Cretaceous amphibian, stature wasn't the only reason why it had earned such a nefarious reputation. Since, in true devilish fashion, Beelzeboufo had two pre-phibious. prominent ridges or bumps above each eye, that gave it an unusual and nightmarish appearance,

making any animal think twice before picking a fight with this giant frog. Along with being a useful stay away from MES-A-Sign, the ridges that Bielzabufo had were possibly colored and could have played an important role in social identification and mating practices, as who can resist devilish horns on a giant frog. These horns were composed of bony material, which was seen throughout the rest of the body as well in the form of small structures known as scutes. Along with containing bone, scoots were also covered by horns, giving Bealsabufo biological armor similar to that scene in the shell of a turtle, and earning it the classification

of a hyperosified frog, which one broken down simply means it possessed way more bone than typical animals. That being said, its armor was still not as extensive as what's seen in ankylosaur's or armadillos. Nevertheless, it did no harm having this extra protection, considering it lived along a long side, literal dinosaurs. And in combination with its heftier size, adults are probably not the easiest animal to hunt. And even when a predator managed to get past Beals of Bufo's defensive armor, it wouldn't be out of the woods just yet,

because in addition to scoots, this killer frog also had one nasty bite that would put most to shame. Once paleontologists had fully reconstructed its skull, they realized it had a massive mouth, that was over six inches or 15 centimeters wide while closed. And it was heavily built, leading to the belief that it could bite with impressive force. And it turns out that this belief was correct. As based off of at least one test that estimated its bite force using living relatives, the B.L. Zabufo is believed to have bitten with up to 2,200 newtons of force, which is extremely powerful for a frog and creature of its size.

To put this into perspective, 2,200 newtons places it above humans, pit bulls, gray wolves, and even leopards in bite forces, and would have allowed it to easily crush through most bones. So, if you ever found yourself waking up in Cretaceous Madagascar, definitely don't stick your hand down its throat. The hefty bite of beals of Bufo, coupled with its abnormally wide mouth, were signs of a sinister diet that might have even been composed of baby dinosaurs.

So far, direct evidence of this has never been discovered. The paleontologists argue that its offense was simply too overkill for a typical frog's diet. and it was more designed for bigger meals. Perhaps prey that it was actually larger than itself. In addition to small or young dinosaurs, other uncommon frog food that it may have routinely hunted included snakes, turtles, large fish, crocodilomorphs, and birds.

Yet ultimately, it was still an opportunistic feeder that didn't discriminate against small prey either, feeding on invertebrates and small amphibians too. To catch this vast array of prey, Beelzebufo likely employed the hallmark feature, seen in frogs, their tongues. Of all the 4,700 current living frog species, each and every one possesses a powerful tongue that can eject to high speeds and retract just as quickly. But speed is only a small part of the equation. The true magic comes from two extremely unique traits seen in frog tongues.

The first being their softness. Frog tongues are one of the softest biological materials ever tested, being 10 times softer than a human's tongue and softer than even brainings. matter is, resulting in the tongues easily enveloping prey in a deadly hug that they sink into. The second trick comes from not the tongue itself, but rather the saliva on it. Frog saliva possess non-Newtonian properties, which is what gives the well-known Ublec its interesting characteristics. As a result, when going about its daily life, its saliva acts like that of any other known

animal. But when ejecting its tongue and striking a target, B.L. Zabufo saliva would have turned into a firmer consistency that was six times stickier than honey. So armed with its tongue, saliva, and bite, Bielzabufo was a nightmare for the smaller animals of Cretaceous Madagascar. And unfortunately for others, it's possible that Bielzabufo wasn't just deadly, but highly aggressive too. As scientists have likened it to the African bullfrog in terms of ecological role, which

is bad news since African bullfrogs are known to be extremely ill-tempered and territorial, lacking virtually anything roughly their size or smaller. The only potential sigh of relief for its prey would have come from the fact that Bealza Bufo was no Olympic gymnast, possessing a relative lack of agility, as its large size made hopping a difficult task, which was further made difficult by the position of its legs, which were situated further up front, making full extension trickier. This likely forced Beelze Bufo to employ ambushes in order to get within striking distance, and probably spent most of its time around bodies of water where animals were forced to travel.

And this idea is actually supported by the discovery location of its remains, with most bones hailing from environments that were dominated by rivers and floodplains. However, with that said, Madagascar at the time also held a semi-arid climate, with brutal dry seasons. And yet, like today, it was a land of extreme life and diversity throughout the late Cretaceous, with other life besides Biels of Bufo, including a mix of dinosaurs, such as a as the Mujungosaurus, rapidosaurus, masiakasaurus, Rohonavis, Phalcatocally, an unnamed Titanosaur, and possibly a stegasaur or ankylosaur. While dinosaurs were obviously plentiful, and for the most part the most dominant animals around,

it was the non-dinosaurs where Madagascar truly shined, a side effect of it being an island. And some of these creatures included over 12 species of fish, crow sharks, Cerrado Lama, Kreda-lamna, Pristioferus, Mahajongasukas, Simmosukas, Auraipa, Vintana, Adelaetheum, Lizzards, turtles, and three kinds of snakes, one of which was larger than your average reticulated python. Clearly, Madagascar was no safe oasis 70 million years ago, with so many ferocious predators around. However, from a paleontologist perspective, Bielzabufo may have been the most prominent one of them all, not necessarily because of its ferocity or freakish traits, but rather because what its discovery led to.

Paleontologists noted, after numerous remains were found, that Beals of Bufo was closely related to Cerato Friday, typically known as common horned frogs. This immediately confused a lot of people, as horned frogs are found solely in South America, begging the question of how a quote-unquote South American frog ended up in Madagascar. many potential answers were given, but one of the most supported, yet controversial, is that Beelzebufo is proof that Madagascar and South America were somehow connected roughly 80 million years ago. As without this supposed connection, Beelzebufo's existence makes no sense, since frogs can't traverse in salt water, so they clearly didn't swim across,

and none of the frogs known to Mesozoic Africa were related to Beelzebufo, meaning it didn't get to Madagascar from there, which suggests that a land bridge connected South America to Madagascar, perhaps via Antarctica. This whole topic remains highly controversial, but its presence on the island has certainly raised a few eyebrows. Nevertheless, regardless of how it got there, B.L. Zabufo was expertly adapted for Madagascar despite the amount of adversary in the area, and it thrived for millions of years, persevering through climate fluctuations, droughts, dinosaurs, and would have likely kept doing so if it wasn't

for a pesky asteroid that slammed into Earth. 66 million years ago, bringing an end to possibly the largest fraud. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com. Only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. UN must be 21 to enter.

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