My name is Sparkie.  I am an AFRICAN CLAWED FROG.

• My breed was originally found in African streams and ponds.  I carry diseases that could be deadly to other North American frogs if I were released into the wild.

• I am a muscular,  food-devouring frog.

• I have no tongue nor teeth.

• I am a female.  I have a small tail for egg laying ( I have not laid eggs yet.)

• Males vocalize during breeding season.

• Males have stripes on the inside of their forearms.

• Babies can happen when parents-to-be are 10 months to 1 year old.

• Tadpoles can take from 6 to 8 weeks to become frogs.

• I arrived here as a very small frog, not a tadpole.

• I might live up to 25 years, with good care.

• I might grow five inches long or more. (My albino cousins do not grow as large as my naturally-colored ones.)

• There is a dwarf variety distinct from my regular-sized breed.

• Once every few weeks, I shed my skin and eat it – it has nutrients I need. That takes only a few minutes, and some library staff have seen me do it.

• My kind were used to determine pregnancy in women in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

• We were released en masse when tests advanced and frogs were no longer used and we devoured lots of wild life.

• How did I get here? Mrs. Baum, a previous library director, purchased me at Critters. She put me in a cube aquarium abandoned by a frog next door in City Hall, my first home in this building.

• How old am I? Nobody knows…. But my estimated anniversary of arrival “birthday” is April, 2002.

•  2016 marks my 14th year as Frog in Residence.