Frogs are amazing

[freeztar]

A new study has found that cars are a major threat to amphibians.

 

Cars are a big threat to amphibians, study says - Los Angeles Times

[Thunderbird]

The Hellbender Salamander is becoming harder to find in my area. This is a important species. :naughty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://http://www.stlzoo.org/wildcareinstitute/declineofozarkhellbender.htm

[Michaelangelica]

Colombian frog believed extinct found alive

he discovery of what could be the last population of the painted frog (Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei) indicates the species has survived the fungus, providing hope that other species also might avoid elimination from the epidemic caused by a pathogenic fungus of unknown origin.

. . .

Frogs provide innumerable ecosystem services by consuming insects and serving as indicators of overall environmental health of an ecosystem. The disappearance of amphibians could cause numerous consequences, including an increase in illnesses such as malaria due to the disappearance of amphibians that feed on mosquitoes carrying the disease. An extinction crisis among amphibians indicates drastic environmental changes. . .

Colombian frog believed extinct found alive ( Researchers exploring a Colombian mount...)

 

[Michaelangelica]

 

 

Frog shot leaps out

Friday, May 2, 2008

© The Cairns Post

 

 

WHEN Melanie Osborne spotted these five frogs peering out from a rainwater pipe during a torchlight tour of her Cairns back yard, she rushed to grab the camera.

 

"I saw all these frogs and I thought, 'Oh my god I have to take a photo,'" she said.

 

The frogs live in the tank at her Edge Hill property and use the pipe to make forays into the garden each night.

 

"That was the first time I've seen them though, that night," she said.

 

An amateur photographer, Ms Osborne. . .

Frog shot leaps out - Local News - Cairns, QLD, Australia

[Michaelangelica]

 

six hundred and ninety four pictures of frogs

Cairns.com.au - Operation Leapfrog Competition

[Michaelangelica]

 

Chirp, said the frog. As its name indicates, the concave-eared torrent frog, which lives along streams in central China, has a concave-shaped ear. That shape protects an eardrum one-thirtieth the thickness of that of most frogs, which allows the concave-eared torrent frog to hear higher frequency sounds.

 

That is likely an adaption to its home; noisy waterfalls and rushing water drown out the lower frequencies, so the frogs use calls that extend into the ultrasonic range. The female concave-eared torrent frog also calls, which is unusual for frogs, emitting a high-pitched chirp that sounds like a bird. In a laboratory, researchers played recordings of the females' calls to male frogs.

The males chirped back and leaped in the direction of the sound.

Frogs and Dead Stars - The New York Times > Science > Slide Show > Slide 1 of 7

[Michaelangelica]

Global Action Plan Created to Fight Amphibian Extinctions

The Amphibian Conservation Summit held in Washington concluded Monday with proposals to deal with the impacts of humans on amphibians - habitat loss, pollution, over-harvesting of species, and climate change. These patterns of human activity often act in combination to worsen the declines, the specialists said.

 

In addition, a new threat is the chytrid fungal disease Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis that kills amphibians by attacking their sensitive skins. The little known fungus was first identified six years ago and so far cannot be controlled in the wild.

[Moontanman]

I have a small tree frog that lives around my deck, when it rains and for several days after it can seen on the glass of my sliding glass doors at night under the porch light catching bugs attracted to the light. In the morning I have to clean little froggy butt prints off the glass. He is very cool

[freeztar]

Frogs *are* amazing!

 

I was inspecting some silt fencing last week and the two rows of fences were entrenched in thick clay and had managed to collect rainwater in between them. To my surprise, there were tadpoles everywhere. My colleague and I joked about how the fencing was actually benefiting the local ecology.

 

I wonder how they're going to get out? :)

[Moontanman]

The Hellbender Salamander is becoming harder to find in my area. This is a important species. :(

 

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http://http://www.stlzoo.org/wildcareinstitute/declineofozarkhellbender.htm

 

Where I grew up I used to catch both mudpuppies and helbenders. In most places both of them are quite rare but one river was quite thick with helbenders. They were wiped out when a gas well drilling operation hit a huge dome of brine and dumped it into the head waters of the river. much of the wildlife not able to get away from the salt died. Huge clams, mudpuppies and in the head waters helbenders. fish populations were also impacted but slow moving amphibians and mollusks couldn't move away from the brine and simply didn't survive.

[Ganoderma]

that is very sad moontan! i love sallamanders/newts a lot! very cute! only 5 species here though and thats in the high deep mountains where its colder.

 

i think it would be amazing to go an a month or so expedition in colombia to search fro various critters. south/central america is such a diverse area!

[Turtle]

"Amphibian horror" isn't a movie genre, but on this evidence perhaps it should be. Harvard biologists have described a bizarre, hairy frog with cat-like extendable claws.

 

Trichobatrachus robustus actively breaks its own bones to produce claws that puncture their way out of the frog's toe pads, probably when it is threatened.

 

David Blackburn and colleagues at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology, think the gruesome behaviour is a defence mechanism.

...

Instant weapon

"Some other frogs have bony spines that project from their wrist, but in those species it appears that the bones grow through the skin rather than pierce it when needed for defence," says Blackburn.

 

At rest, the claws of T. robustus, found on the hind feet only, are nestled inside a mass of connective tissue. A chunk of collagen forms a bond between the claw's sharp point and a small piece of bone at the tip of the frog's toe.

'Horror frog' breaks own bones to produce claws - life - 28 May 2008 - New Scientist

[Moontanman]

that is very sad moontan! i love sallamanders/newts a lot! very cute! only 5 species here though :eek: and thats in the high deep mountains where its colder.

 

i think it would be amazing to go an a month or so expedition in colombia to search fro various critters. south/central america is such a diverse area!

 

I went on an "expedition" to collect a new species of dwarf mudpuppy last fall. they were easy to find once you knew where to find them. Tiny delicate little pink creatures, less than 6" long and at a glance hard to tell from worms. they hide among the decaying leaf litter where hydrogen sulfide fizzes like soda pop:)

[freeztar]

I went on an "expedition" to collect a new species of dwarf mudpuppy last fall. they were easy to find once you knew where to find them. Tiny delicate little pink creatures, less than 6" long and at a glance hard to tell from worms. they hide among the decaying leaf litter where hydrogen sulfide fizzes like soda pop:)

 

Two questions:

 

Where?

Pics?

 

:eek:

[Moontanman]

Two questions:

 

Where?

Pics?

 

;)

 

Well first, I can't tell where but it's less than a couple hundred miles from where I live. When I go with my buddy to investigate a rare or possible new species I only go if I keep the location to my self. But I will see if there are photos of the critter available. My friend is writing a book and has more than one new species ascribed to him. It might take a while but I'll see what he has in pictures.

[freeztar]

Well first, I can't tell where but it's less than a couple hundred miles from where I live. When I go with my buddy to investigate a rare or possible new species I only go if I keep the location to my self. But I will see if there are photos of the critter available. My friend is writing a book and has more than one new species ascribed to him. It might take a while but I'll see what he has in pictures.

 

Thanks!

 

I completely respect your non-disclosure of location. When I perform endangered species surveys, I'm held to the same confidentiality. Unfortunately, many times in the past, people have sought out these places to intentionally destroy the organisms. ;)

[Moontanman]

Thanks!

 

I completely respect your non-disclosure of location. When I perform endangered species surveys, I'm held to the same confidentiality. Unfortunately, many times in the past, people have sought out these places to intentionally destroy the organisms. :(

 

It is very sad but true that some people seem to be intent on destroying the very things they love or to intentionally destroy. hard for me to understand but it happens.