Who is whistling?

At night, a polyphonic whistling fills the forests in the Caribbean region - quite different from the native croaking, a melodic frog concert resounds.

Common coquí  from Puerto Rico also live here in Rainforest House II. Their name onomatopoetically reflects the call with which they loudly demarcate their territory and court females.

During the day they hide from the sun because their skin should not dry out. Young animals often live under leaves in the shady undergrowth of the forest. The adults prefer higher places, such as water-filled funnels of bromeliads in the canopy. They also like to use these small cisterns as a nursery.

The father guards the clutch and ensures that it does not dry out. As the young go through the tadpole stage while still protected by the egg shell, "finished" frogs, about 6 mm in size, hatch after about 17 to 26 days.

The diet of Common coquí includes cockroaches and isopods. In this way, they support biological pest control in Rainforest House II.

Image captions: 1) The Common coquí [Eleutherodactylus coqui Thomas, 1966)] grows up to five centimetres. At dusk, its whistle fills the Rainforest House II.  2) Water collects in the leaf funnels of epiphytic bromeliads. Here the Common coqui find good living conditions at all times. 3) The male frog guards the eggs.

English translation of the information panel in the Botanical Garden. Original German text: Dr. Barbara Ditsch, Anne Göhre