Every now and then, we come across a wild animal that gives us a giggle. It’s hard to take all animals seriously, either because they’re way too cute, or they have a characteristic that’s pretty hilarious.

One animal that we can’t get enough of right now is the African rain frog.

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We feel like this sad-faced little fella is a whole mood. Just look at his googly eyes and downturned mouth! We want to give him a cuddle – but unfortunately, these frogs hang out far away from us humans, and mostly live in African soil, trees, and fallen leaves.

Despite being perhaps the world’s grumpiest frog, possibly the best thing about black rain frogs is the noises they make. They truly sound like squeaky toys when they open their mouths. There’s something ridiculously adorable about the sound.

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You’re most likely to hear their squeaking when they’ve been disturbed, such as when they’ve been picked up by a human, or during mating season, when males call for females from within their burrows.

Of course, the black rain frog isn’t actually grumpy – he’s just got an unfortunate resting b*tch face. This breed is actually very kind and considerate to their peers (or as considerate as frogs can be). For example, during mating period, the female black rain frogs secrete a sticky substance onto their backs, which helps the male frogs to stay put during, er, activity. Lovely.

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These frogs are also pretty clever. They can burrow up to 150 mm deep into the earth, and are expert tunnel-builders. They stay in their own frog-made burrows when they’re looking after their eggs (up to 42 of them!) until they’re ready to hatch, which helps to keep them safe from predators.

If you thought there could be nothing else to make you love the black rain frog, you were wrong. This comical little creature can inflate with air like a miniature balloon when he’s scared, which he’ll do in an attempt to look more aggressive. This nifty little trick especially comes in useful when he’s hiding down a burrowed hole. Inflating to double his size can prevent predators from being able to pull him free from underground.

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Round and squat in shape, African rain frogs have very short legs and toes, and are actually very small (roughly about 40 to 51 mm from snout to vent, according to AmphibiaWeb). As their name suggests, black rain frogs are typically very dark brown or black in color. They have a slightly speckled, bobbly outer skin that many people think resembles an avocado. Bless!

Luckily, these adorable little frogs aren’t endangered, and they’re not considered at at risk species.

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They’re protected, as they have a potential threat to their habitat as a result of invasive plants and wildfire. Hopefully that means that we’ll continue to enjoy their grumpy faces and rubber duck squeaks well into the future!

There’s a video of desert rain frog, which is a similar sub-species to the black rain frog, making its squeaking call on YouTube, and it currently has more than 18 million views.

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People can’t get enough of its adorable sound, with one person writing:

“This tiny frog is cursed to never be taken seriously.”

That’s true – poor thing! You can scroll down to take a look at the video below.

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Source: YouTube, The Dodo, AmphibiaWeb, Diply