While basking, it is much sought by predators such as herons and is accordingly shy; one of its most familiar manifestations is a series of plops as frogs successively leap into the water while any threat walks by. On entering the water, the alarmed frog dives strongly and either hides under the shelter of logs or stones, or scuttles briefly about the mud, obscuring itself under the opaque cloud it has made in the water. However, in situations such as garden ponds, it readily becomes habituated to inoffensive human presence. The voice is confusingly variable, particularly where it occurs together with several other noisy species. Males may call at any time of the year in various regions, but calling peaks in the breeding season. Typically, a call begins with a rattle of clicks about 0.1 seconds apart, like a slowly played güiro or a thumbnail run over the teeth of a comb, followed by a short series of brief croaks. Where a number of calling males compete, the calls rise in pitch, volume, and speed. It is an active opportunistic predator, readily feeding on moderately sized invertebrates such as crickets, but also attacks small reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, including smaller members of its own species. When it occupies streams and ditches, the Cape river frog prefers deep ponds such as occur below inlets and races where the turbulent flow hollows out convenient shelters. It also prefers deep, still water for its breeding, where its tadpoles grow fairly slowly, but achieve a large size; in shallow streams, they mature more rapidly into smaller juvenile frogs. A typical size for a mature tadpole is about 80 mm, but in deep, cool, permanent water, they might grow to twice that length. In warm shallow water with plenty of food, the period of development may take about 9 months to a year, but in cold, deep water with little food, it might take two years. In size, shape, and their brown coloration, the tadpoles are typical of large, vigorous species of frogs; they are strong swimmers with large tails about two to three times as long as the body, and with the tip tapering to a point. The body is oval. Status The Cape river frog, though locally threatened by habitat loss, for example because of dam building, is currently regarded as "least concern" because it occurs plentifully over wide areas, including in local