Sitting at its front door, this E. zeus had an estimated snout to vent length nearing 6 inches.
Zeus--the Greek God who rules sky and thunder; who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus.

But no, it was not for this deity that our search took us to the mojotes in western Cuba near Vinales. We had looked for our Zeus on an earlier trip but perhaps due to the dryness then, had failed. Our Zeus, you see, was a frog, a rather spectacular frog that because of its restricted range and even more restricted habitat is not a well-known species.

The common name for this sought frog, Eleutherodactylus zeus, is Zeus' Robber Frog. As suggested by its scientific name, it is in the family Eleutherodactylidae. It dwells in the perpetual dampness of caves and crevices, shaded by forests on the limestone mojotes of western Cuba.

And this time, with escarpments and caves still dampened by rainfall runoff, we succeeded, seeing not one, but a half dozen of the frogs. These varied from about a 2 inch svl (snout-vent length) to close to 6 inches.

Nearly as dark in color as the caves from which they had emerged, the first one seen was mistaken for one of the local giant toads. But its 3+ foot leap back into its cave—a length that no giant toad could equal--quickly gave lie to that assumption.

Within just a few minutes others were seen, photos were taken, and we departed, leaving these prodigious anurans in peace.

Like all members of the family, reproduction is by “direct development. There is no free-swimming tadpole stage.