page_title: Hemiphractus
section_title: Behaviour
hierarchical_section_title: Hemiphractus / Behaviour
caption_attribution_description: Hemiphractus fasciatus with babies at EVACC
context_page_description: Hemiphractus is a genus of frogs, the horned treefrogs, in the family Hemiphractidae. These overall brownish frogs have a pointed snout and a casque on the head. They are nocturnal, relatively rare and native to humid lowland and highland forests in northern South America and Panama, where typically found on the ground or at relatively low levels in vegetation.
context_section_description: Hemiphractus are believed to be specialized predators of other frogs, and hence confined to areas with high density of frogs. Nevertheless, they have also been recorded feeding on lizards, large insects and snails in the wild, and in addition to other frogs captive Hemiphractus will eat geckos, newborn mice and earthworms.
  They can threaten any would-be predator by opening their mouth, exposing the bright yellow inside and tongue. If this fails to scare an adversary, they willingly bite, which is relatively painful for a frog of their size.
  Female frogs carry eggs openly on their back; the eggs adhere to the mother's back with gelatinous material. Eggs hatch as fully developed froglets. H. elioti (previously included in H. fasciatus) are bred and maintained by the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in Panama. Although they have proven relatively difficult to keep in captivity, keeping and breeding has been achieved at levels where its conservation through such measures is considered possible, although (as of 2015 where the total captive population was 36 individuals) additional founders are necessary.
caption: A female H. elioti with young on its back. This individual is part of the captive breeding project at El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, Panama
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T1i", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:14 14:12:29", "Image ExifOffset": "160", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:02:10 15:31:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:02:10 15:31:10", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "65", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "65", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "792000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3168000/593", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}