Frog exhibit hops in to Notebaert Nature Museum

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Frogs have been with us since the days of the dinosaurs, and they are still with us in many colorful ways!

At Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, it's all about frogs. Dr. Allison Sacerdote-Velat is the curator of herpetology at the Notebaert Nature Museum and this new exhibit is hopping good. It's called "Frogs: A Chorus of Colors."

"We've got 70 different frogs and 15 species. From Central and South America, Asia. We have North American species as well," she said.

Their colors are out of this world. You don't see colors like this at the local frog pond. This is like Mother Nature's painters palette, and as always, there's a good reason for it.

"These are Central American poison dart frogs. Their toxic skin and vibrant colors warn predators to stay away from them," Sacerdote-Velat said. "The colors look like bumble bees. They give a startled affect to anything that might try to eat on them."

The poison dart frogs are basically saying "eat me and you die" so they can live. A much more lovable frog is this Jabba the Hut look-alike. He's bigger than anything you'll find around these parts, and he's the neighborhood bully.

"That's the African bullfrog. It's one of the largest frogs in the world. It gets to about seven pounds in size. And he just sits and waits to grab to something like mice for food," Sacerdote-Velat said.

There are lots of stars in this show - stars going back over 65 million years. This one loves to live in the hollows of trees.

Inside that tree trunk is a smooth-sided toad. And just so you know, all toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads. And don't forget, I toad you so.

The dinosaurs died out but the frogs did not. They'll be here at the Notebaert museum until January 22.