Golden frog  (Mantella aurantiaca)

The golden frog is active during the day (3) and lives in groups usually consisting of twice as many males as females (4). It is an insectivorous species, feeding on termites, fruit flies, ants and a huge range of other insects (4).

Breeding tends to start after the first heavy rains of the year, and when there is plenty of food. Males attract females with their call (4). The male will then rapidly move himself to the female's back, without embracing her (virtual or cephalic amplexus) (6). The females do not lay their eggs in water, but in damp leaf litter, moss or under bark and rocks next to a water source (4). Each clutch contains 20 - 60 white eggs, each one measuring up to 2 mm in diameter (3); they are fertilised by the male immediately after laying (4). Two weeks later the tadpoles hatch out and they either wriggle into water or are are washed into small pools by heavy rain. It takes around 70 days for the tadpoles to metamorphose into froglets which measure 11 mm in length (3). The typical yellow-red colouration is acquired only after some weeks (6). Sexual maturity is reached 12 to 14 months later, and the average life span is eight years (4).