  Predators abound in the dense forests lining South America's Pacaraima chain of plateaus. Hunting, however, becomes much more difficult when your prey would just as soon leap to its own death than be eaten, and that's just what the waterfall toad does. And yet, the tiny amphibian is cleverer than it appears; a leap that would kill most animals actually saves the waterfall toad's life. The crew from Life set out to capture this animal on film, showing in breathtaking detail how the waterfall toad manages to escape unscathed from its death-defying falls.
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Watch "Waterfall Toad Leaps from Danger"
THE WATERFALL TOAD: NATURE'S DAREDEVIL
Nestled along the borders of Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, the unassuming waterfall toad (
Oreophrynella macconnelli) makes its home. The tiny toad is easy to overlook; it's about the size of the end of your thumb and colored the same earthy browns as the dense, wet forest in which it lives. The toad is so easy to miss, in fact, that it's never been filmed before.
So why was the crew of
Life compelled to take a helicopter deep into the forest to capture footage of the toad to begin with? After all, the waterfall toad displays none of the striking colors or deadly poison of the poison dart frog, and none of the relatively hulking proportions of the cane toad. It certainly wouldn't win any jumping contests; it can't leap more than an inch (2.5 centimeters). By the looks of it, there doesn't seem to be anything remarkable about the waterfall toad at all.
But as the footage from
Life shows, there's more to the toad than meets the eye. Assistant producer Adam Scott describes the first time the crew's amphibian expert, Bruce Means, encountered the waterfall toad.
"The toad was brought to him by local guides, who found it as they were setting up camp. As he was examining the toad, it leapt out of his hand. He looked around on the floor, assuming it had fallen to the ground," Scott says. "But he couldn't see it until he looked up and saw it sitting happily on a leaf halfway to the ground. That's when he realized this toad used its specialized grasping hands and feet to live its life in the trees, which is quite rare for a toad."
And it's that ability to grab onto branches and leaves mid-fall that makes the waterfall toad so difficult to hunt. A naturally skittish creature, the waterfall toad is ready to jump from any height at the first sign of danger.
"The toad seemed to be quite wary of unfamiliar things, a good attitude when there are snakes around," says Scott, "and seemed to prefer diving to another hiding place rather than hanging around."
You might imagine that animals with such a daring defense mechanism wouldn't always find a safe place to land. Not so, says Scott. "We were amazed at how the toads never failed to find a leaf or vine to grab onto as they dived for cover."
Continue: The Crew: Filming the Waterfall Toad's Daring Leap
