^Click on photo for larger image^ RED EYED TREE FROG Agalychnis callidryas

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The Red-eyed Tree Frog is a slender, delicate frog with webbed hands and feet. The body is brilliant green with pale blue vertical bars on its side. Like most amphibians, it is dependent on water for most of its life. In the forests of Belize, it minimizes water loss by resting underneath leaves and tucking its limbs up close to its body.

Breeding occurs from October to March, usually near temporary or permanent ponds. The frogs breed while in an embrace called amplexus, the male mounted and locked onto the back of the female. The male then fertilizes the 30-50 pale eggs as the female lays them on a leave over standing water. In 5 days, the tadpoles wiggle their way down the leaf to the water below. It then takes the tadpoles 75-80 days to metamorphose into a frog. The adult frog will spend most of the rest of its life in the forest canopy, often hidden among bromeliads.

KEY FACTS LENGTH: To 3 inches HABITAT: Lowland tropical forests, arboreal DISTRIBUTION: Countrywide FOOD:small invertebrates