What if you could see your heart, lungs, and stomach straight through your skin? You could if you were a glass frog! It has skin on its belly that’s almost as see-through as glass. This skin keeps it hidden from predators, such as lizards and birds, in the rainforests in Central and South America.

During the day, glass frogs sleep on the undersides of leaves. The frogs have green backs to help them blend in. Sunlight can pass through both the leaves and the frogs’ skin. When predators look at the leaves from above, they see a blurry outline and not a dark shape. To them, the object doesn’t look like a tasty frog, so they don’t attack. Danger avoided!

This frog’s bright color communicates a message: Don’t eat me! I’m toxic!

Poison frogs that live in Central America and on the African island of Madagascar have to watch out for predators like birds and snakes. When a snake bites into one of these frogs, poisonous substances called toxins enter the snake’s bloodstream. They cause the snake to uncontrollably shake, so that it drops the frog like a hot potato! Some frogs produce enough poison to kill a snake.

Poison frogs get their poison from eating ants and mites, which get their poison from consuming toxic plants.

The wolverine frog has a weapon inside its toes: sharp clawlike bones! When the frog is threatened by a predator, the “claws” rip through the skin, stabbing the attacker so it drops the frog. Over time, the claws pull back into the frog’s toes and the skin heals. Ten other African frogs have this ability too.

The wolverine frog has another name—the hairy frog. And it’s easy to see why! It’s covered in hairlike strips of skin. The frog lives in rivers in Central Africa that have little oxygen. The extra skin strips help the frog take in enough oxygen from the water to survive.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Actually, it’s a gliding frog! These frogs live high up in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. If they encounter a predator like a snake in the treetops, the frogs have a special strategy to escape. Crawling down the tree would take too long. So instead, they jump—and glide through the air!

Gliding frogs have webbing, or thin skin, between their fingers and toes—and sometimes on the sides of their bodies too. When the frogs leap, they spread their arms, legs, and webbed feet wide. The webbing acts like a parachute, slowing the frogs’ fall. The frogs can travel up to 50 feet (15 meters) before landing on the ground.