Artwork / Baby Sees ABCs / X Is for Xylophrog

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The first names embedded in this image are Xabi, Xander, Xandra, Xanthippe, Xanthos, Xanti, Xavier, Xena, Xenia, Xenon, Xerxes, Xhafer, Xia, Xiang, Xihlamariso, Ximena, Xing, Xiomara, Xiulan, Xochipilli, Xochitl, Xoel, Xoese, Xola, Xolani, and Xylon.

So far as we know, there is no such thing as a xylophrog. Just like all the other animals in Baby Sees ABCs, the the x animal was chosen by one of the Kickstarter backers, but, unlike with the others, the decider for the x was invited to invent the name of a whole new species.

Since “xylo” is Greek for “wood” and “phrog” sounds like “frog” but with a nod to “phone” in “xylophone,” a noisy amphibian who resembles a tree makes sense. I decided that xylophrogs have external gills resembling those of the axolotl, and they are the protectors of the jungles they live in. They are sounding the alarm on the pollution that is killing so many of their smaller frog relations, including this extraordinary daddy frog. You can see the making of X Is for Xylophrog.