About

The desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) is a endangered species of frog from southern African sandy areas. It is mainly known for its unusual squeaking compared to its appearance. It gained notability thanks to Dean Boshoff and the BBC, leading to fanarts and video edits, many under the appelation A Very Angry Frog.

Origin

On February 13th, 2013, Dean Boshoff uploaded to YouTube a video titled "Worlds Cutest Frog – Desert Rain Frog"^[1], which shows the frog performing its defensive squeaky scream. As of 2024, this video was seen more than 25 million times and gained more than 266,000 likes.

Spread

Later on, people started uploading videos of their pets reacting to Boshoff's video, as the frog's screams resemble the sounds made by a squeaky toy. Moreover, the frog gained massive popularity online thanks to its screams and its appearance, leading to many fanarts.

A Very Angry Frog Video Edits

BBC's movie Super Cute Animals was released on February 15th, 2015. As a part of its advertisement, a clip featuring the desert rain frog, calling it "a very angry frog", and mentioning Dean Boshoff's viral video, was uploaded on February 10th on the BBC's official YouTube channel, under the title: "A tiny angry squeaking Frog 🐸"^[2].

As of 2024, this video was viewed more than 24 million times, and gained over 608,000 likes. It renewed the desert rain frog's online popularity, and became the subject of many video edits, where the frog's screams are replaced by another type of sound.

External References

^[1] YouTube – Worlds Cutest Frog – Desert Rain Frog

^[2] YouTube – A tiny angry squeaking Frog 🐸 | Super Cute Animals – BBC