Nature
PUBLISHED
We’re sorry to burst your giant frog-sized bubble, but the viral video of Dumpy the Australian White’s tree frog has been edited. Created and posted by Lucas Peterson, the video of Dumpy chowing down on some banana, peel and all, racked up 5 million views on TikTok in a single day, as it appeared to show Dumpy at a considerable size.
However, on closer inspection, Peterson admitted in the video caption that Dumpy is in fact only 10-13 centimeters (4-5 inches) big. While we still love Dumpy, part of us is a little disappointed to have been lured in by the giant frog video, though we did think the banana-eating section was a little suspect.
Peterson wrote in the TikTok caption explaining his trickery: “This is just for fun and comedy. He typically eats 12 crickets a week in his terrarium. His real size is about 4-5 inches, he's enlarged with vfx perspective tricks”.
An older video posted by Peterson shows Dumpy sitting on his hand in a more accurate representation of his size.
White’s tree frogs (Litoria caerulea) are native to Australia and New Guinea and have been introduced to New Zealand. An arboreal species they eat moths, locusts, and cockroaches in the wild.
Interestingly, skin samples from these frogs can be used to fight bacterial infections and even cold sores caused by the herpes virus.
The species make popular pets as they are known for their calm nature, reluctance to jump (maybe they're clumsy), and attractive coloration, just not their enormous size.
