Raorchestes kakachi

The Kakachi shrub frog (Roarchestes kakachi) is a frog.  It lives in India. Scientists have seen it in the Western Ghat mountains, between 1100 and 1300 meters above sea level.

This frog lives in evergreen forests high in the hills.  It lives on plants near streams and on the ground.

Like other frogs in Raorchestes, this frog hatches out of its egg as a small frog and never swims as a tadpole.

The adult male frog is about 24.7–25.8 mm long from nose to rear end and the adult female frog is about 24.3–34.1 mm long. This frog can be any color from white to brown. There is darker brown on its sides and neck. Its head is wider than it is long. The ear is hard to see.

Scientists say this frog is at some risk of extinction. Some of the places it lives are protected parks: Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Shendurney, Peppara and Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuaries. However, if human beings stopped protecting these parks well enough, the frog could die. Scientists say that climate change could also kill this frog. Because it lives high in the hills, the frogs cannot move north to colder places. They would have to climb down the hills to warmer places first.

Scientists have seen the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on other frogs in Raorchestes, so they think it could infect R. jayarami too. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causes the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

References

Category:Frogs of Asia