Pictured: The glowing frog who wanted a light snack and swallowed a Christmas bulb

Something was making this little fellow feel all warm inside.

Unfortunately for him, it was a blinking fairy light.

The Cuban tree frog managed to swallow an entire bulb as he hunted for bugs.

Photographer James Snyder, whose Florida garden is festooned with lights, spotted it all lit up in a mango tree.

Colourful calories: The Cuban tree frog took a gulp of the bulb and wouldn't let go

James, who lives in Palm Beach, Florida, had decorated his back yard with colourful lights after noticing that frogs had worked out lights attracted bugs.

But one night he discovered that one of the little beasts had bitten off far more than it could chew.

James, 29, said: ‘A bug landed on the bulb and when the frog went for it he got a little bit extra.

‘I zoomed in and noticed that the wire was actually going into the frogs mouth, he had swallowed the entire light, he wasn’t sitting on it at all’

‘I have a large mango tree by my patio and my wife and I have Christmas lights wrapped around the trunk and main limbs to light it up from underneath.

‘I took my dog out back when I noticed the frog glowing on the tree and at first I thought that the frog was sitting on top of the light.

‘I quickly put my dog back inside and grabbed my camera, but I was convinced that he would be gone by the time I returned but when I got back he was still sitting there glowing away.

‘I began taking a few pictures from about four or five feet away because I did not want to scare him and make him move.

‘I zoomed in and noticed that the wire was actually going into the frogs mouth, he had swallowed the entire light, he wasn’t sitting on it at all.’

James, 29, said he feared the frog had been killed after it ate the bulb.

He said: ‘I figured that he must be dead and because there was no fear of spooking him I got very close and continued taking pictures.

‘But after few minutes I noticed one of his legs had moved, death spasm I thought for a second until he repositioned his entire body.

‘Now with the realisation that the frog was indeed alive I wanted to keep him that way.

‘So I fired off a few more shots, then gently grabbed the wire next to the bulb and slowly pulled it out for his mouth.

Because the wire was still attached to the light, Snyder was able to pull it gently from the frog’s mouth.

It seemed none the worse for its ordeal – apart from instantly losing its glow.

From Dailymail.co.uk

Hundreds of sand lizards released

Hundreds of rare sand lizards are being released into the wild at locations in England and Wales from where they had previously disappeared.

They will be reintroduced at five sites in Surrey, Dorset and mid-Wales.

The sand lizards were bred in captivity so they could be released into the wild

The sand lizard was once a common sight across heathland, but the gradual destruction of its habitats has led to its extinction in many places.

Some 400 of the creatures would be set free within a fortnight, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation group said.

The first release of about 80 two-inch-long baby lizards, reared in special hatcheries, will take place at a National Trust nature reserve in Surrey on Thursday.

According to the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation group (Arc), the lizard was lost altogether from a number of counties including Kent, Sussex, Cornwall, Cheshire and north and west Wales.

More than 90% of suitable habitat has also vanished from Surrey, Merseyside and Dorset.

Reptiles and amphibians are coming under pressure from an increasing number of factors including habitat loss, disease and a future of climate change Dr Tom Tew, Natural England

Frogs, toads, newts, lizards and snakes have all been affected by the loss of their habitats, often because of changes to agricultural practice, the planting of forests and building developments.

But Arc, formed by the merger of Froglife and the Herpetological Conservation Trust charities, said the animals and their habitats were now protected by law.

Nick Moulton, of Arc, said: “It’s great to see them going back, now safely protected, where they belong.”

The reintroductions were part of efforts to “turn back the clock on amphibian and reptile declines” in Britain, a statement from Arc added.

‘Reverse the decline’

The young lizards were bred in captivity at locations that include the zoos at Chester and Marwell, and also specially modified back gardens.

The breeders minimised contact with the reptiles to prevent them becoming too tame, which would leave them at risk of being eaten in the wild by their main predator, the smooth snake.

The reintroduction of the sand lizards is part of a 133-point action plan, intended to reverse the decline of the UK’s frogs, toads, lizards and snakes.

The plan includes research, monitoring species and encouraging land-owners to create habitats such as ponds to help wildlife flourish.

Dr Tom Tew, chief scientist at Natural England, the government’s conservation agency, said: “Reptiles and amphibians are coming under pressure from an increasing number of factors including habitat loss, disease and a future of climate change.

“This important reintroduction programme is an example of the action that must be taken to reverse the decline in England’s biodiversity and to conserve the habitats that our unique wildlife relies upon.”

From BBC NEWS.

It’s a leap, but frogs find home in elephant dung.

Study of ‘ecosystem engineers’ sees cheap pachyderm shelters piling up.

One species of frog found in a pile of Asian elephant dung. Photo: Ahimsa Campos-arceiz / livescience.com

They may not be the best-smelling homes, but Asian elephant dung piles provide certain frog species with shelter, one researcher has found.

Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz of the University of Tokyo found the dung-dwelling frogs in Sri Lanka’s Bundala National Park, while searching for signs that Asian elephants acted as ecosystem engineers in their environments.

Ecosystem engineers are “organisms capable of controlling the availability of resources for other organisms by modifying the physical environment,” Campos-Arceiz said. The beaver is probably the most well-known example of an ecosystem engineer, Campos-Arceiz said. “The construction of their dams modifies the landscape, creating a new type of ecosystem.”

Big animals, such as elephants, are particularly good at ecosystem engineering, because they can have such a proportionately large impact on their environment, Campos-Arceiz said.

Previous studies have shown that African savanna elephants (Loxodonta Africana) impacted their ecosystem by creating refuges for tree-dwelling lizards — when the elephants broke off twigs and branches while feeding, they left behind crevices in the trees. The research showed that lizard communities were more diverse in places where elephants also lived.

Campos-Arceiz wondered if Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) might have a similar impact on their ecosystems.

During August 2008, Campos-Arceiz was in Bundala National Park inspecting Asian elephant dung piles looking for seeds (the feces can act as a nutrient source for plants and fungi, which will germinate and grow there). Instead, he found an amphibious surprise: six frogs representing three different species (Microhyla ornata, Microhyla rubra and Spaerotheca sp.) in five dung piles.

“I was looking for seeds in the dung — and was ready for some insects and other invertebrates. But I never thought about a vertebrate like a frog staying inside of the dung,” Campos-Arceiz told LiveScience.

An alternative habitat
Accompanying the frogs in the dung piles were beetles, termites, ants, spiders, scorpions, centipedes and crickets, “suggesting that a dung pile can become a small ecosystem of its own,” Campos-Arceiz wrote in the study, titled “S*** Happens (to be Useful)! Use of Elephant Dung as Habitat by Amphibians,” detailed in the journal Biotropica.

“I don’t really remember how it came up, but it happened as soon as I decided to write a paper. I created a folder in my computer called ‘S*** Happens!’ and this project name made the work funnier for me,” Campos-Arceiz said.

The frogs Campos-Arceiz found live among the leaf litter on the ground. But that litter can be scarce in the dry season (when Campos-Arceiz was visiting), so he suspects the dung may provide an alternative habitat for the frogs.

Campos-Arceiz suspects that Asian elephants may act as ecosystem engineers in their environment in other ways as well.

From msnbc

Mating frogs get waterside hotel

Mating frogs are vulnerable to predators such as foxes and herons

What is claimed to be Britain’s first “frog hotel” is to be created on the banks of the Water of Leith.

The two-tier structure, made from wood and recycled materials, will be placed alongside a pond in Redhall Walled Garden in Edinburgh.

It is designed to protect mating frogs, which are vulnerable to predators such as foxes and herons.

The project aims to encourage breeding amphibians and highlight the work volunteers do for the environment.

Robert Henderson, Scottish co-ordinator for the CSV Action Earth campaign, said the hotel would be a beehive structure.

“At ground level is what’s called the Compost Cafe”, he said.

“Then there’s a ramp up to a more protected area where frogs can hibernate in the winter.”

From BBC

Lizard she-males survive longer

Augrabies Flat Lizard ’she-males’ can

The Augrabies Flat Lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi), a star of Sir David Attenborough’s recent series Life in Cold Blood, adds another twist to its tale. A team of South African and Australian researchers have discovered that some males of this dramatically coloured lizard mimic females during early maturity and thereby avoid the costs of broadcasting their masculinity.

As juveniles, all males look like females before gradually developing extravagant adult male coloration at the onset of sexual maturity. These young males are most vulnerable to aggressive adult male rivals when these first tell-tale signs of masculinity begin to develop and adults are quick to capitalise on a soft target by chasing and sometimes biting these young males.

Assoc. Prof. Whiting pointed out that “by delaying the onset of colour to a more convenient period, these males (termed she-males) are making the best of a bad situation”. An immediate advantage is freedom of movement in the normally treacherous zones which make up the territories of highly aggressive males that already have extensive fighting experience. At the same time, these female mimics are able to court the myriad of females that share the territorial male’s residence.

The authors of this study (Assoc. Prof. Martin Whiting of the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr. Jonathan Webb of the University of Sydney; and Assoc. Prof. Scott Keogh of the Australian National University) also tested whether she-males are able to mimic the chemical ‘signature’ of females.

In a clever experiment performed in the wild, they removed all pheromones and skin lipids that might signal gender and relabelled a group of females and she-males with either male or female scent, before presenting them to typical adult males. Males use their tongues to sample chemical scent and responded by courting she-males labeled as females, but not she-males labeled as males. “Males are fooled by looks, but not by scent” said Dr. Webb.

She-males are able to maintain this deception by staying one step ahead of a prying male, and thereby avoiding a nosey tongue that might give the game away.  Assoc. Prof. Keogh said that “young transvestite males appear to have a dual advantage: the avoidance of potentially dangerous bouts with dominant males and access to normally inaccessible females”.

From Science Alert

Toad crossings mapped on Google Earth

Hundreds of toad crossings across the UK have been mapped on Google Earth in a bid to cut the number killed by motorists.

Froglife, which helps the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, has mapped 700 crossings using satellite technology.

It is hoped the satellite map will help conservationists and volunteers find out more about where amphibians are killed on roads on their migration to breeding ponds in spring.

The new software will help members of the public find out where frogs and toads cross local roads, as well as whether a “crossing” is active.

They will also be able to use it to find out where they can help with volunteer “toad patrols”, as well as updating Froglife’s records and reporting new toad crossings.

Conservationists at Froglife also hope the Froglife Google Earth application will be useful for the planning sector, and will allow highways officials to find out more about amphibian populations around the UK’s roads.

Toad numbers have declined in many areas of England, thought to be due to the effect of road traffic during the breeding season and loss of breeding ponds.

It is also thought the common toad, which was listed as a threatened species in 2007, suffers dangers of high kerbs which steer them towards drains where they are trapped and die.

Jules Howard, from Froglife, said: “Google Earth software is allowing wildlife experts to use new creative ways to communicate important conservation issues to an increasingly techno-savvy public.

“We’re delighted that more people can get involved in the Toads on Roads campaign by using this free software.”

She said last year 36 new toad crossing sites were registered, and 35,183 amphibians were carried across UK roads by volunteer “toad patrollers” in 2008.

From Telegraph.co.uk

Photos of new frogs discovered in Colombia

Ten undescribed species of amphibians — including nine frog and one salamander — have been discovered in the mountains of Colombia, report scientists from Conservation International (CI).

The amphibians were discovered during a recent Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) expedition in the Tacarcuna area of the Darien, near the border with Panama. Also sighted were 50 other species of amphibians, 20 species of reptiles, and almost 120 species of birds. The survey also documented the presence of large mammals including Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii), listed on the IUCN Red List as Endangered in Colombia; white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari); and four species of monkeys, including Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), Geoffroy’s tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi), white-throated capuchin (Cebus capucinus) and the mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata).

Harlequin frog of the Atelopus genus potentially new to science discovered in a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) suvey conducted in Colombia during which 10 species of amphibians believed to be new to science were found. Credit: © Conservation International Colombia, photo by: Marco Rada

 

A glass frog of the Nymphargus genus potentially new to science discovered in the mountains of the Darien in Colombia. Darien is a mountainous system isolated from the Andes Mountain range and is a recognized endemism center, valuable for its high biological diversity. Credit: © Conservation International Colombia, photo by: Marco Rada

 

Full story, and more pictures on Mongabay.

12 new species of frogs discovered in India

 dozen previously unknown species of frogs have been discovered in the forests of Western Ghats according to a paper published in latest issue of Zoological Journal of Linnean Society, London.

The 12 species have been identified following a revision of the Philautus genus and are the result of ten years of field study in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka. Goa, Maharashtra, and part of Gujarat, in the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats are considered a global biodiversity hotspot for their species richness and the threats the mountain range faces.

Philautus akroparallagi. Photo copyright S D Biju, (frogindia.org)

 

Full story on Mongabay.

Climate threat to Nordic frogs

Climate change is a threat to thousands of frog species all over the world, including the green spotted toad in Sweden and the pool toad in Norway. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that at least half of the world’s approximately 6,000 species are threatened with extinction.

Global warming leads to the water in which frogs live heating up, evaporating and becoming shallower, so ultraviolet rays find it easier to penetrate their habitats and cause mutations. Various forms of disease spread even more easily as temperatures rise.The Nordic countries are fighting back though, e.g. taking measures to save frogs by improving and restoring their habitats.

The outlook for the future is discussed in the latest fact sheet in the series “Nordens natur – trender mot 2010″ (Nordic Nature – Trends towards 2010). The programme, which is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, aims to illustrate trends in biological diversity in the Nordic Region. The title refers to the international target of stemming negative trends in biological diversity by 2010.The series of fact sheets describe Nordic successes as well as instances where it has proven impossible to halt a negative trend.The target group is all those who have an interest in the state and future of biodiversity in the Nordic Region. Subjects covered by previous sheets include cod, currents in the Baltic Sea and the future of the polar bear and sea eagle. The editor-in-chief is based at the Finnish Environmental Administration but the project also has its own websites in Norway and Denmark.

Link to the project website. Click “English” in top right area for English version.

Nordic co-operation on the environment

From Norden.org

The ugly toad has its many uses

Amphibians, and this scientists repeat, are not only the best bio-indicators of environmental pollution and climate change, but as predators they also play a large role in maintaining biological stability.

In the last dozen or so years, the world has become aware of a very disturbing phenomenon, that of the fall in plant and animal populations and the complete disappearance of numerous species, off the face of the earth. It has been halfway through the last century that man’s attitude to nature has not changed and the beginning of the twentieth century would start to see the extinction of vertebrate.The world of mammals would be the first to go. From the beginning of the 19th century, hundreds of large birds and mammals apart from reptiles and amphibians have gone extinct and a further 1500 are threatened and need protection. It was when the gold toad (Bufo periglenes) in the Monteverde reserve in Costa Rica, Central America and the Australian frog (Reobatrachus silus) disappeared that the scientific community began to sit up and take notice. This fact was discussed at the first world congress of Herpetology held at Canterbury, England in 1989. At the same congress, the condition of amphibian and reptile populations and their protection was also discussed. It was stressed that amphibian extinction was a signal that we have reached a critical point in environmental degradation because amphibians which inhabit nearly all the eco systems all over the world belong to what are known as the bio-indicators or species who react to changes in the natural environment faster than other species.

Amphibians, and this scientists repeat, are not only the best bio-indicators of environmental pollution and climate change, but as predators they also play a large role in maintaining biological stability. The most important reason for the extinction of amphibians is the drying up of water bodies and the pollution of the countryside. Another reason which has caused the disappearance of the amphibians in the US and Australia is because of epidemics.

 

In several countries including India, edible frogs have been and are still in demand as a culinary delicacy. The result is huge populations are being decimated world wide. Consequently, the price of edible frogs have risen and have triggered off organised farms and breeding in closed frog farms based on foreign species. It was the French who are known to have started off this practice in their country in the early 16th century which spread to a number of other countries. The decimation of natural green frog populations in France created the need to import them from neighbouring countries. Catching of frogs in France was prohibited in 1977. The business of importing began shortly after the Second World War and the largest quantity of 46 tons was sent to France in 1964. In the following years the export of frogs was stopped due to their population being severely depleted.

France is the biggest importer of frog legs in the world. It imports between three to four thousand tons per year.

In 1962, France imported 63 tons of frozen frog legs, and 275 tons of live frogs. In 1978, it imported 3157 tons of legs and 792 tons of live frogs. In 1998, it went up further to 4113 tons of legs and 1005 tons of living frogs. This predatory exploitation of nature has led to an ecological catastrophe especially observed in India and Indonesia resulting in a total ban on catching frogs in these countries.

From Deccan Herald