The Giant Frogs of Lake Titicaca
Jacques Cousteau's divers found Lake Titicaca's floor crawling with large frogs wrapped in baggy folds of skin.
What was reported
In 1973 an expedition led by Jacques Cousteau explored Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia, partly in search of legendary lost Inca treasure. They found no gold, but reported great numbers of strange frogs on the lake bed, much larger than most frogs.
The Titicaca water frog spends its whole life underwater, its skin hanging in loose, baggy folds.
Explanations offered
The folds give it a huge surface for absorbing oxygen through its skin from the cold, thin water, so it rarely needs to surface. Once abundant, it's now critically endangered by pollution and over-collection, and conservation programmes are breeding it in captivity.
- When
- Filmed in 1973
- Where
- Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru
- Witnesses
- Jacques Cousteau's expedition
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.