#ArtYourAmphibian2020 - Ali North T-Shirt

One of the top five #ArtYourAmphibian design winners in 2020! Ali North, University of Plymouth & ZSL Institute of Zoology, PhD Candidate From the artist: The Suriname toad Pipa pipa is weird and wonderful! Whilst locked indoors amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, I've been reminding myself that there is an amazing natural world out there, even if we can't get out and see it. I've spent some of my spare time researching an A-Z of amphibians from across the globe and I've become fascinated by this species. What a brilliantly peculiar animal. This amazingly camouflaged toad is flat like a pancake and can be found sitting at the bottom of murky streams waiting for its dinner to float past. The toad lacks a tongue, so relies on its long sensory fingers and large mouth to help capture its prey. The most peculiar aspect of the toad however lies within its reproductive cycle. Fertilised eggs are pushed onto the back of the female where the skin grows up and around them, protecting them as they develop. After several months, miniature versions of the toad push up and out of the mothers back, and scurry off into the big wide world. Madness!