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Did You Know?
- The Ornate Horned Frog is also known as the Argentine Horned Frog, Argentine Wide-Mouthed Frog and my personal favourite, the Pacman Frog
- The mouth of this frog appears to be the entire front half of their body which often leads to them being referred to as a “mouth with legs”
- The Pacman Frog has teeth on the roof of their mouth as well as on the outside of their jaw
The Fearless Frog
As mentioned, the Ornate Horned Frog has a mouth that looks a little disproportionate compared to the rest of their body. I am guessing this is what led to them being called “The Pacman Frog” . The question, I have is do they live up to the legend of Pac-Man? Well, like Pac-Man, the Ornate Horned Frog will eat anything they can fit into their mouth (and some things they can’t fit). This includes a wide variety of animals such as large insects, small fish, reptiles, mice and even other Horned Frogs. Similarly, these animals are known to be fearless and will try to attack if approached by a predator…or a human. While their bite won’t kill you, they have enough teeth in their mouth to make it a painful experience, so I don’t recommend testing it out.
Although they may be aggressive and hungry like Pac-Man their hunting style is definitely different than our pixellated, childhood friend. Instead of chasing after things, the Ornate Horned Frog will simply sit and wait for their prey to come to them. As the unsuspecting prey passes by, this large-mouthed frog will spring into action with the prey becoming a tasty snack even before they knew what was going on.
Pet Pac-Man
The Pac-Man Frog is quite popular among pet owners as they are one of the more hardy frogs out there…oh and because they look so cool. Despite their aggressive nature in the wild the Ornate Horned Frog is somewhat docile in captivity, however, I still wouldn’t go sticking my finger in their face. If you are thinking about getting one of these frogs as a pet, you need to realize that they won’t be very exciting to watch as they typically just sit around all day waiting for food to wander by. Nonetheless, they are fairly easy to care for and I am sure they would make for a great companion.
