Phrynobatrachus natalensis
Silhouette: Dmitry Bogdanov (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The Natal dwarf puddle frog (Phrynobatrachus natalensis) is a species of frog in the family Phrynobatrachidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eswatini, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burkina Faso, Chad, Lesotho, and Mauritania.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, urban areas, heavily degraded former forest, ponds, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. Wikipedia →
Recording0:15
South Africa · 2025
Prince Molokomme · iNaturalist · CC0
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South Africa · 2024
© alicesurmon · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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South Africa · 2018
© Peter Vos · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Natal Puddle Frog sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 51 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 8th most-seen of the 13 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and March
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Natal Puddle Frog in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months. Those are among Durban's wettest months, with about 180 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in June.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Natal Puddle Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Durban, in our data
Durban is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Natal Puddle Frog sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Anura
The closest relatives of the Natal Puddle Frog that you can see in Durban (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are Natal Forest Tree Frog (about 30%), African Common Toad (about 30%) and Painted Reed Frog (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Natal Puddle Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Durban (51 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
