A newly discovered frog species in Ecuador is able to change its skin texture, and in minutes' time.
The rain frog species, Pristimantis mutabilis, mimics the texture of whatever it sits on and is the first species of its kind. And scientists have discovered that one of the frog's relatives, Prismantis sobetes, can change textures, too.
The findings, published this week in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, suggest that the frogs' ability to shape-shift can help protect them from predators, such as birds. Biologists spent three years studying the frogs and concluded that the creatures can change their skin texture in just over three minutes.
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Katherine and Tim Krynak, the authors of the manuscript, think the findings could have bigger implications for the way species are classified. After discovering the frog's relative, the pair believe the species identification process should require longer field observations as well as photographs. They noted that the mutable species could mistakenly be identified as multiple frog species.
The frogs reside in the Reserva Las Gralarias, a nature reserve that was designed to protect Ecuador's endangered birds. The biologists will continue to study the frog species to learn more about how the shape-shifting trait evolved over time.
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