British teen breeds 1.4-milion frogs for what he calls his ‘frog army’

A U.K. teen has bred more than 1.4 million frogs in an effort to build a “frog army.”

TikTok user Thinfrog says he started the project by collecting more than one million frog eggs and hatching them in his backyard swimming pool. “I wanted to create the largest frog army in history,” he says in an uploaded video. “Next year I will create a giant pond for ten million frogs.” He adds a number of the tiny amphibians have already hopped away, spreading “across the neighborhood.”

Arizona biologist Tierra Curry says Thinfrog’s breeding efforts could spell disaster for the frogs -- especially once other TikTok users start imitating him. “It makes me cringe,” Curry says. “Instead of helping, they are actually hurting the animals they’re releasing and all the animals in the environment that they’re releasing them into. It’s creating a vector for disease and invasive species.”