Hola! My name is Coquí. I’m a very small tree frog (about an inch-and-a-half long). I live in Puerto Rico. Let me introduce myself:
Scientists call me Eleutherodactylus (el-oo-thear-oh-dak-till-us), which means ‘free toes.’ It’s just a fancy way of saying I don’t have webbed toes like most other frogs!
I get my common name from the song I sing at night that goes, “ko-kee, ko-kee.” When we all sing together, it can be as loud as an orchestra!
Only the boy frogs sing the ‘ko-kee’ song. It’s a warning to other boys to stay away and a call to attract the girls. Click below to play my song.
After the girl coquí lays her eggs on a damp leaf on the ground, the boy frog protects them until they hatch.
Unlike other frogs, we don’t have tadpoles. Our babies are born looking just like tiny copies of their parents. They have a tiny bit of a tail which disappears very quickly.
The people of Puerto Rico love me! I am the island’s mascot. You can find images of me on everything from t-shirts to glasses.
Even the Taínos drew pictures of me on the rocks where they lived. These are called petroglyphs (pet-troh-gliffs) or ‘rock drawings.’
