Rhacophorus malabaricus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Malabar gliding frog or Malabar flying frog (Rhacophorus malabaricus) is a rhacophorid tree frog species found in the Western Ghats of India. It is the State amphibian of Kerala. The term "gliding" frog refers to its ability to break its fall by stretching the webbing between its toes when making leaps down from the treetops. It can make gliding jumps of 9–12 m, a maximum of about 115 times its length.
This frog has a body length of about 10 cm (4 in), making it one of the largest moss frogs. Males are smaller than females. Its back skin is finely granulated and the color is vivid green without markings, distinguishing it from the otherwise quite similar R. pseudomalabaricus, which has a black-marbled back and was long included in the present species. In preserved specimens, the back turns purplish blue. The belly is more coarsely granulated – particularly under the thighs – and pale yellow. There are skin fringes between and along the long limbs, and a triangular skin extension at the heel. The webbing between fingers and toes is large and orange-red.
The vomerine teeth are arranged in two straight or slightly oblique series touching the inner... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
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More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Gliding Frog sighting in Kochi on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 7th most-seen of the 8 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, September–October and December–March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Gliding Frog in Kochi on a given day, against under 5% in April, June–August and November, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Malabar Gliding Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Malabar Gliding Frog sightings, Kochi ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Kozhikode (India, about 20%).
Same family: Rhacophoridae
The closest relatives of the Malabar Gliding Frog that you can see in Kochi (family Rhacophoridae, Old World Tree Frogs) are Waynad bush frog (about 20%), Chunam Tree Frog (about 10%) and Western Tree Frog (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Malabar Gliding Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Kochi (7 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.
