The Carn-npay as depicted 'Frogs and Toads' by Trevor Bee.
The carn-pnay or akok was a cryptid amphibian reported from the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea, particularly in the cloud forests and rainforests of the Jimi Valley. As described by the Wahgi and Karam people, it is reputedly a gigantic frog on a par with, or somewhat larger than, the world's largest known species.
The first rumours of giant frogs in the eastern highlands of New Guinea appeared in the Australian press in 1949. A Papuan huntsman, who had been hired to capture a long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus sp.) for the Hallstrom Experimental Station at Nondugl, claimed to have seen giant frogs around the headwaters of the Purari River, prompting an unsuccessful expedition.
Accounts of the carn-pnay or agak were collected from the Wahgi people of the Jimi Valley by frog specialist Michael J. Tyler (1937 – 2020), who first heard of it while staying at Nondugl. Local people, who were capable of describing its appearance and size in detail, and who made rough drawings of it, described it as appearing very rarely near the confluence of the Tim and Tagan Rivers. Villagers from this region were familiar with the giant frogs: they hunted them with dogs, using arrows and sticks to kill them. A single carn-pnay reportedly has enough meat to feed several people. Tyler organised large nocturnal search parties, but was unable to obtain any evidence of the carn-pnay's existence. However, the testimony of around two hundred informants convinced him that the frog existed. Tyler subsequently published a paper on the carn-pnay in the British Journal of Herpetology.
Tyler later provided more details on the giant frogs, collected in the Upper Kaironk Valley and the Upper Aunjang Valley in the Schrader Range, in a detailed paper on Karam frog ethnozoology co-authored by ethnobiologist Ralph Bulmer. The Karam people applied several names to these frogs, but non-specifically, including akok, gyok, and am. The name akok was also applied to a small aquatic frog; those Karam who described it as very large maintained that it was found in the Jimi and Asai Valleys, but not locally.
Description[]
A possible explanation is frogs from the genus of Papurana.
The carn-pnay is distinguished mainly by its "extreme size" and bulk: it is reported to be "about the size of a rabbit and considerably fatter," or of a human baby. All of Tyler's informants estimated its snout-vent length as at least 12 in (30 cm), on a par with larger specimens of the world's largest known frog: the goliath bullfrog (Conraua goliath), discovered only in 1906, which has an absolute record snout-vent length of 14 in (36 cm), and weight of 8 lbs 1 oz (3 kg 66 g), although there are unconfirmed reports of larger specimens. Edward Llewellyn Powe later mentioned the existence of giant frogs, heavier than 7 lbs (3 kg 175 g) and larger than a man's head, in New Guinea. According to most Karam informants, it is aquatic, and resembles the akpt or cebs frog (Papurana grisea) in shape, but is very much larger, with different markings. The area the carn-pnay was reported to inhabit is dominated by bogs and moss-forests. In 1960, local people regarded it as a very rare animal, which was usually seen when it emerged from the forest to spawn in the rivers, probably during December. One Karam informant from Skow, Gi, described it as "essentially a tree-frog," albeit an understory one, which only ventured into the water during the spawning season. He maintained that it could grow to the size of a newborn baby.
Sightings[]
One of Tyler and Bulmer's Karam informants claimed to have captured an "enormous" akok, which he knocked down from a tree, in the Asai Valley. Gi also told them that he had discovered a 7-8 in (17–20 cm) long specimen in a rock cleft near the Kamok River in August 1963. He described it as bright green above and yellow below, with human-sized eyes, and "hands" like those of a man or a lizard.