The Prince’s Rainforest Project is looking for suggestions for a name for its frog mascot!
I need a name!
You can submit a name on the Name the Frog page and it will be posted on the website. Susan came up with a great name: Prince Greenway.
Check out this video, in which various people, including the Dalai Lama, come up with possible names. I like Harrison Ford’s suggestion—Charlie (after a certain HRH, the Prince of Wales).
Kirsten Parris, an Australian ecologist, has discovered that noise of traffic and machinery may be contributing to the decline of frogs in Melbourne.
Female frogs are attracted to male frogs that have the loudest calls. But what if they can’t hear them calling due to all the noise? Frogs have adapted—they are expending more energy to make their croaks louder, using higher pitches to drown out the lower frequency traffic. But frogs with low-pitched croaks are at a disadvantage. According to this article in Eco-Wordly, “Without the noise of the traffic and machinery, pobblebonk frogs can be heard by females at distances up to 875 yards. But add in some traffic and other noise, and the distance is reduced to only 46 feet!”
Living in a city, I’m all for reducing noise. Just today, I heard a jackhammer, a loud droning drill next door, police sirens, not to mention the sounds of cars, trucks, and planes. The question is, how can this noise be reduced? Any ideas? Perhaps during the frog mating season, people could be a little quieter! (Not an issue in our city however. No frogs here!)
The Pobblebonk or Banjo frog is named for its distinctive "bonk" call, which sounds like a banjo string being plucked. Photo by Donna Flynn
To learn more about Aussie frogs, check out the Frogs Australia Network.
School is just around the corner, so we’ve put together some recent books and DVDs about our amphibian friends that you, your students, or your kids might enjoy. The descriptions are from Amazon or from the publishers’ websites.
Books for Kids
Face to Face with Frogs by Mark Moffet. (National Geographic, 2008). 32 pgs. 4-8.
You’re two inches away from a poison dart frog. You’re lying on the rainforest floor as she hops toward you, utterly fearless. This deadly terribilis frog has nothing to fear; your fear is that any accidental contact with your skin could mean death! Let Mark W. Moffett, winner of the 2006 Lowell Thomas Medal for Exploration, show you around the diverse world of frogs.
Frogs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2008). Ages 7-11, 48 pages.
For the first- to third-grade set, frogs are an endless source of fascination, especially when looked at VERY close up. See tiny poison dart frogs and mammoth bullfrogs, as Nic Bishop’s amazing images show the beauty and diversity of frogs from around the globe.
The Frog Scientist (Scientist in the Field Series), by Pamela S. Turner and Andy Comins (Houghton Mifflin, July 2009) 64 pages, ages 9-12
This Scientists in the Field title is about frog scientist Dr. Tyrone Hayes, who has explored the effects that pesticides, particularly atrazine, have on frogs and, in turn, on us.
This summer we did a post on Dr. Tyrone Hayes. With Atrazine in the news just this week, I hope we will continue hear a lot more from Dr. Hayes.
Books for High School Students and Above
Extinction in Our Times: Global Amphibian Decline, by James P. Collins and Martha L. Crump, introduction by Thomas E. Lovejoy III (Oxford University Press, June 2009).
The first book to fully examine the dramatic, ongoing extinction of amphibian species across a whole vertebrate class, revealing what it may portend for the health of the planet. Joining scientific rigor and vivid storytelling, this book uses amphibian decline as a lens through which to see more clearly the larger story of climate change, conservation of biodiversity, and a host of profoundly important ecological, evolutionary, ethical, philosophical, and sociological issues.
We have ordered this brand new book, published this summer, and are looking forward to reading it.
DVDs
Nature Frogs: The Thin Green Line, PBS DVD
Frogs have been hopping the planet for more than 350 million years; evolving into some of the most wondrous, diverse and beloved animals on earth. Suddenly, they’re slipping away. Some say it’s the greatest extinction since the dinosaurs. Ecosystems are beginning to unravel and medical cures are vanishing. It’s a global crisis, mobilizing scientists around the world to stem the tide, before the next frog crosses the thin green line.
We watched this show online on the PBS website—it’s well worth watching. This DVD would be great for a high school biology, environmental science, or social studies class.
Occasionally blog readers send us their products to review. We received a DVD called Danni’s Tales written and directed by Allen Plone and produced by Damon Cohen. This innovative series combines live action with animation. The show is set in a classroom where Danni Donkey introduces her students to special friends while they travel around the world, enjoying music, dance, and learning about the world’s animals and the environment.
We watched a few of the shows, and we think they will delight children. Each show features a different animal—frogs, bears, whales, and others. They are fun, quirky, and educational—the songs are catchy and clever. Take a look at their website, where you can play clips of the episodes.
The BBC News reported today that conservationists have launched a new initiative at the Zoological Society of London called the Amphibian Survival Alliance to safeguard the world’s amphibians from extinction. According to the article, the Alliance will be composed of amphibian experts from around the world, including specialists from the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The group will coordinate existing projects, scientific research, and fund-raising.
Tackling the devastating chytrid fungus is the alliance’s first priority. Identified only a decade ago, the fungus now infects amphibians in the Americas, Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The group will investigate anti-fungal drugs to combat the deadly disease and explore resistance to the disease in captive-bred populations and in the wild. Protecting amphibian habitats is the group’s next priority.
The alliance will also focus on these other important issues:
They hope to raise the profile of amphibians in 2010, which has been designated at the International Year of Biodiversity. Hmmm, perhaps we should tell them about FROGS ARE GREEN?
The organization does not yet have a website, but I will update this post when they are on the web.
Photo by Carey James Balboa, near Playa Jaco in Costa Rica
Remember that scene from E.T. when Elliott frees all frogs in his science class? Elliott reminds me of my younger son Tim, who probably would have done the same thing (without being inebriated)!
This past weekend, Tim returned to college, where he is thinking of majoring in biology. He brought up an interesting issue: Would he be required to dissect an animal even if it is against his beliefs? Are alternatives provided for these students?
When I was a student, I didn’t have a choice. In both junior high and high school, I dissected a fetal pig. Each student had his/her own animal to dissect.
But with the rise of animals rights groups, PETA being the most visible, I wondered if times had changed. Do students have a choice? Are there alternative ways for students to learn about anatomy that don’t harm animals?
I discovered a site called Dissection Alternatives (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) that explores these issues and offers lots of practical solutions. I was surprised to learn that research has shown that animal-friendly alternatives to teaching students about anatomy and biology are just as effective as the traditional methods of dissection. Computer software can now provide detailed, sophisticated graphics, interactive features, videos, and in-depth accompanying text to help students learn about anatomy. UPDATE: We recently learned about the first virtual reality frog dissection software called V-Frog (from Tactus Tech).
I was also surprised to learn that the majority of medical schools often use these alternatives rather than traditional animal dissection. In addition, The National Science Teachers Association recently amended its official position statement on animal use, approving the use of non-animal alternatives as replacements for dissection.
Dissection Alternatives sponsors the Cut Above Awards, which honors teachers and students who have taken great leaps to adopt humane alternatives to dissection.
Dissection Alternatives also provides information about the following:
PETA also created a new site to address dissection alternatives called TeachKind, which is loaded with information, and includes a video demonstration of Digital Frog 2.5.
If you have some thoughts about animal dissection, or have some experience using these dissection alternatives, please leave us a comment!
Susan posed an interesting question to me yesterday. How has the record rainfall in the U.S. effected our amphibian friends? Humans have been somewhat inconvenienced by the cool, rainy summer of ’09—canceled picnics, damp weddings, rainy vacations, and decreased sales of ice cream. But as I’ve found out, all this rain has been a boon for amphibians. Here are a few stories from around the country:
Georgia: This summer Southwest Georgia was soaked with rain, but this helped researchers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who released over 1000 gopher frog tadpoles in a seasonal pond at a Nature Conservancy site. These rare stubby, nocturnal frogs spend most of their lives in gopher tortoise burrows and are found almost exclusively in the Coastal Plain’s longleaf pine ecosystem.The water level of the release pond was at its highest level ever, which will help the tadpoles survive, according to an article on the Early County News, GA website.
West Texas: It’s usually pretty hot and arid in the summer in West Texas. But in an article in the Odessa American (TX), Ken Broadnax explains how this dry land can be temporarily transformed into a wetlands. The playas, dry areas with hard clay bottoms, can store water for months. Amphibians bury themselves in the playa, emerging only when conditions are right. After a storm, within a day or two, the male toads emerge and begin their calls, seeking a mate. This summer, West Texans are hearing the unfamiliar sounds of croaking toads.
Florida: According to the AccuWeather blog, rainstorms around Memorial Day caused an excess of standing water, which created a breeding haven for the 30+ species of frogs in Florida. These rain-filled ponds called vernal pools lack fish because they eventually dry up, and so they are ideal nurseries for tadpoles (fish eat tadpoles). All those baby tadpoles from spring are now adult frogs—and there are lots of them. Frog calls are most abundant in the mating season, but they can be heard year-round in Florida for some species. So that’s why some Floridians are being kept awake this summer by the high-pitched calls of the Ornate Chorus Frogs, among other frog choirs.
Ornate Chorus Frog, photograph by Rebecca Meegan, Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy
New Jersey: This summer has been so wet in New Jersey that I’ve rarely had to water my garden. In the early summer, we found a slug in our kitchen almost every night. Maybe even the slugs were tired of the rain. While this rainy weather was depressing (it’s over, thank goodness), it was great for New Jersey amphibians like the endangered Pine Barrens tree frog, as reported in the Press of Atlantic City. The Nature Conservancy recently acquired some land in the Pine Barrens that contains many vernal ponds. Because of the record rainfall, one of these ponds now measures 30 feet, providing an excellent breeding area for the endangered tree frog.Vernal pools are disappearing throughout New Jersey because of overdevelopment. That gave me an idea…perhaps we can convince The Boss (aka Bruce Springsteen) to get involved in our cause!
Have you noticed an increase in frogs and toads in your area due to record rainfall?
