At Frogs Are Green, we’ve always been interested in the interconnections between frogs and the Earth. How is climate change affecting amphibian populations? Are we listening to what frogs are telling us about the health of our planet?
Recently, we read an intriguing article in the Deccan Herald (India), about how a team of scientists in India are literally listening to frogs to understand the effect of climate change on amphibian populations.
Three scientists, K.S. Seshadri with T. Ganesh, and S. Devy, were doing research 100 feet above the ground in the canopy of the evergreen forest in the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. While getting drenched with rain, they heard a cacophony of frog songs. Intrigued by the songs that the rains triggered, they initiated a program to study frog calls to both monitor populations and to study the affect of climate change on frogs.
Volunteer examines the monkey-proof enclosure for equipment to record frog calls. Photo credit: K. S. Seshadri
Amphibian Meterologists
Frogs can tell us a lot about the weather. Their skin is extremely thin and sensitive; they respond to even small changes in atmospheric moisture and temperature. The scientists reasoned that an analysis of sound recordings, combined with readings from climate data loggers, could help improve our understanding of the impact of climate change.
Climate change seems to underlie many of the threats facing frogs worldwide. By monitoring the frog calls, an activity calendar for each of the indicator species can be made. This long-term monitoring will be invaluable in understanding the greater impact of climate change and also might help to save frog species.
Work station studying frog calls, high up in the forest canopy. Photo credit K. S. Seshadri
As the Deccan Herald put it: “Will the croak alarm finally wake us from our ignorant slumber? The answer lies in the future.”
While researching our post The 10 Weirdest and Most Unusual Frogs on Earth , we found so many beautiful frogs we decided to give them their own post. Below are 10 of the handsomest princes of the amphibian world.
1. Red-Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychis callidryas)
This frog might be called The Planet’s Most Beautiful Frog. It has been a pin-up on dozens of wildlife calendars and cards. But its beauty has a purpose—to help it to survive. When at rest, the frog’s eyes are closed. But if disturbed, the sudden appearance of its bright red eyes may startle a predator for a second or two—enough time for the frog to leap away. With its large toe pads and long thin limbs, it can climb trees easily. The Red-Eyed Tree Frog lives in tropical forests from southern Mexico through much of Central America. We used this frog on a poster we created to help spread awareness of the global amphibian crisis (you can download the poster for free):
Red-eyed Tree Frog from IStockPhoto.com
2. Golden toad (Bufo periglenes)
The Golden Toad became extinct 30 years after its discovery in 1976. They were found only in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve of Costa Rica, where hundreds would breed in shallow forest pools. The Golden Toad has become a symbol of the plight of frogs and toads worldwide—we don’t want other amphibians to suffer the same fate as this beautiful creature.
Golden toad, photo by Charles H. Smith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
3. White’s tree frog (Litoria caerula)
These handsome frogs seem to have a perpetual smile on their faces. White’s tree frogs are often kept as pets, but they are happiest when left alone in their native home: the woodland and scrub close to water in northeast Australia and New Guinea.
This frog has a bright red head and body speckled with black spots. Because of its blue legs, it is also called the Blue Jeans Frog. Like many brilliantly-colored animals, the frogs’ bright color serves as a warning—Don’t eat me or you’ll be sorry! It forages on the forest floor eating small ants and termites, from which it derives the chemicals needed to synthesize the poison. It lives in tropical rainforests of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
5. Ranitomeya amazonica
A recent report from the World Wildlife Fund highlighted the amazing discoveries of the past decade in the Amazonian biome. According to the report, between 1999 and 2009 more than 1,200 new species of plants and vertebrates were discovered in the Amazon – a rate of one new species every three days – confirming the Amazon as one of the most diverse places on Earth. Ranitomeya amazonica, another beautiful poision dart frog , is one of the most extraordinary of these newly discovered species. Its main habitat is lowland moist forest near the Iquitos area in Peru.
One of the most beautiful of the Madagascan frogs, the Malagasy Rainbow Frog is adapted for a burrowing lifestyle. It is able to live under the ground for up to 10 months. But it also has claws on its forefeet to help it cling to vertical canyon walls to escape floods or predators. Unfortunately thousands of these frogs are captured every year for the pet trade.
image from Wikipedia, by Franco Andreone
7. Venezuelan Glass Frog (Cochranella helenae)
This lovely frog, native to the subtropical or tropical most lowland forests and rivers of Venezuela has translucent skin, to help hide it among the leaves.
Photo by Cesar Luis Barrio Amoros, courtesy of Amphibian Ark
8. Tiger frog (Hyloscritus tigrinis)
The Tiger Frog was discovered in 2007 in Southwestern Colombian. Little is known about the frog except that it is not believed to be toxic. Rather with its bright coloring, the frog seems to be mimicking other poisonous animals to deter predators. This gorgeous frog is threatened by destruction of the forests where it lives.
photo copyright Francisco Jose Lopez-Lopez, courtesy of www.arkive.org
9. Harlequin frogs(Atelopus varius)
Harlequin frogs are usually black or brown with spots or streaks that can be a combination of yellow, orange, red, blue, or green. They live in the moist, tropical forests in Central and southwestern South America. About two-thirds of over 110 species of these brightly-colored frogs have vanished since the 1980s. Their decline is attributed to the destruction of their native forests, collection by the pet trade, and fungal infection (chytrid fungus).
image copyright Forrest Bren for the New York Times
10. Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)
The Wood Frog’s beauty is more subtle that that of its tropical cousins, yet its colors seems to mimic the color of rocks, bark, and fallen leaves in the forests in which it lives. This frog is America’s most northernmost species, ranging from northeast USA to the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada. Wood Frogs have already begun hibernating. First they find a place under the leaf litter or in a crack in a log or rock to settle for their winter nap. They’ll slowly begin to freeze as soon as temperatures reach the freezing point. Then the frog’s blood will stop flowing, its lungs, heart and muscles will stop functioning, and ice will fill the body cavity: they will go from frog to frogsicle, until they begin to thaw in the warm temperatures of spring.
Wood frog, photo by John Rounds
Some of the information from this post came from Frogs and Toads (a Golden Guide) by Dave Showler, illustrated by Barry Croucher/Wildlife Art Ltd.
A pea-sized frog species, Microhyla nepenthicola, was discovered this past week in Malaysian rainforests on the island of Borneo. This miniature frog, measuring between 10 to 12 millimeters (less than one-half inch), is the smallest frog species discovered so far in Asia, Africa, or Europe. The tiny frog is a type of frog called a microhylid, composed of mini-frogs under 15 millimeters. The discovery was made by Drs. Indraneil Das of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation and Dr. Alexander Haas of Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum of Hamburg.
Photograph courtesy Indraneil Das, Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation
The tiny frogs were found near pitcher plants, which grow in damp, shady forests. The frogs deposit their eggs on the sides of the globular pitcher, and tadpoles grow in the liquid accumulated inside the plant.
What is the world’s smallest frog? Two 9.8-mm-long amphibians in the New World—the gold frog in Brazil (Brachycephalus didactylus) and the Monte Iberia dwarf frog(Eleutherodactylus iberia) in Cuba are believed to be the world’s smallest frog species. They are about the size of a house fly—very tiny frogs indeed.
Susan and I are hosting family and friends this week and so will be re-running a few posts from this past year. It’s been a HOT summer in the NYC area. We thought we’d re-post a holiday post to remind us of cooler days ahead. Also, if you’re a teacher this is a nice little poster to put up in your classroom in September. This post is originally from November 2009.
We have a lot to be grateful for at FROGS ARE GREEN. We’ve received over 10,000 visitors since we started the blog back in May. (Update: we are now up to 4500 visitors a month!). We are so grateful for your comments and for your participation in our blog.
As a token of our thanks, Susan designed a poster of our mascot, the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, that you can download and print out for FREE (in three different sizes). We hope you enjoy it and will put up a copy at your home, school, or office to spread the message about our amphibian friends.
Don’t forget to check our galleries of our photo contest photos, wonderful frog art from kids, and photos of wild backyards! (Click on the pictures in the right column of the blog. Feel free to send us your pictures to be included, too!)
Click here and it will take you to the download page.
Update 8/10: We have two contests going on right now—a photo contest and a kids’ art contest. Summer is a good time to take pictures of frogs and to do some drawing, so please consider entering! See Contest link at top of page.
We’ve been preoccupied with the Gulf Oil Spill the last few weeks and are behind on the latest amphibians news. Here are a couple of stories to bring you up to date. Thanks, Gail and Rafi, for letting us know about these frog stories!
Greek Frogs on the Move
This past week a million frogs swarmed across the Egnatia highway near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) east of Greece’s second largest city, Thessaloniki.
According to Giorgos Thanoglou, chief of traffic police in Thessaloniki, a section of the road was closed after three cars skidded off the road when the drivers tried to dodge the frogs.
Why did millions of frogs cross the road? They were probably hungry. They have been migrating from a nearby lake to look for food.
Pinocchio the Frog
A Pinocchio-nosed frog is among the newly identified species discovered during an recent expedition to Indonesia’s remote Foja Mountains.
The long-nosed frog, a tree frog, was discovered by accident. It hopped into the researchers’ campsite where herpetologist Paul Olivertree found it sitting on a bag of rice. The frog has a long spike on its nose that points upward when the male is calling but deflates and points downward when he is less active.
In addition to the pinocchio-nosed frog and other unique species such as a gargoyle-faced gecko and the world’s smallest wallaby, the researchers also found innumerable bird species, including a giant northern cassowary (a large flightless bird with a helmet that resembles a dinosaur), birds of paradise, parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, and hornbills.
This area of the rainforest in the Foja Mountains is so isolated that even forest-dwelling people haven’t ventured there. “As a result, wildlife was abundant and unwary,” says Bruce Beehler, a senior research scientist at Conservation International, in a dispatch from the field, as reported in a Christian Science Monitor article. “The dawn chorus of birdsong and the rattle of katydids were deafening. There is nothing like it!”
Researchers with Conservation International and the National Geographic Society hope the documentation of such unique, endemic biodiversity will encourage the government of Indonesia to bolster long-term protection of the area, which is classified as a national wildlife sanctuary.
You can see the Pinocchio-frog and the other newly discovered species in this slide show and on the National Geographic site.
We find the stories of newly discovered Lost Worlds fascinating and hope they inspire people to protect these last vestiges of pristine rainforest, areas of awe-inspiring biodiversity.
Have we missed any other interesting amphibian stories? If so, please don’t hesitate to send them on to us!
This past week the first monogamous frogs were discovered in the rainforest of South America. Monogamy isn’t usual in the amphibian world. Male frogs usually love ’em and leave ’em.
But Dr. Jason Brown, previously of East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, and his colleagues, discovered a monogamous frog species Ranitomeya imitator, known as the mimic poison frog,
According to the BBC Earth News article, “Peru Poison Frog Reveals Secret of Monogamy,” after mating, a female mimic poison frog lays her eggs on the surface of leaves. After the tadpoles hatch, the male frog carries them one by one on his back to pools of water that collect in bromeliad leaves high up in the branches of trees. Each tadpole is put into its own tiny pool and the father looks after them. When the tadpoles become hungry, the male calls to his female partner who lays a non-fertile egg, which the tadpole eats, in each pool.
Why are these frogs monogamous and others aren’t? Scientists believe the mimic poison frogs have become mongamous as they evolved to live in small pools. The frogs wouldn’t have survived without the care of both mother and father because there is little natural food in these tiny pools. If the pools were bigger, there would have been more available food and the the frogs wouldn’t have to work together to feed and raise the tadpoles.
“These frogs are truly devoted to their offspring, and to each other,” says Dr. Brown, who is now at Duke University.
Father and mother R. imitator frogs guard a leaf pool where the mother just deposited a nutritious egg for the tadpole to eat. Photo by Jason Brown, from Science magazine site
