Aussie Frog News

New Frog Species 10/8/11

2011-08-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

New Frog Species

Researchers have discovered a new miniature frog species in Western Australia's remote Pilbara region. The Pilbara toadlet is thought to have gone unnoticed for a million years and has adapted to the harsh desert conditions. The finding was made by researchers from the University of Western Australia, the West Australian Museum and the Australian National University. ANU PhD student Renee Catullo says the two centimetre toadlet is unique. "It has big glands and it has brown spots all over it, it also has a different call from all the other species," she said. "It actually lives in rocky landscapes instead of sandy soils, so it's a burrowing frog that's adapted to live in a different type of landscape." Ms Catullo says researchers had thought very few amphibians lived in the Pilbara region. "The deserts of Australia are often believed to be empty regions with few species," she said. "However genetic work on reptiles and amphibians has shown that there are large numbers of species in what looks like a barren landscape to most people." Ms Catullo says genetic testing confirmed the discovery. *ABC

New Aussie Animal Flood Appeal!

2011-01-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

Sydney Pet Rescue & Adoption, has launched the Animal Flood Victims Emergency Appeal, and together with various other rescue groups, they are working hard to raise funds to support animals affected by the recent devastating floods in Qld. The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia is one of the organisations they have chosen to support with the Appeal. We will be using the funds they raise to support foster carers in the worst affected and priority areas, with financial support to assist with the rescue and foster care of wildlife. ……….We thank SPRA and all the rescue groups who are working hard with them, for their support…..

Please click on this link to find out more about the appeal: SPRA Flood Animal Appeal Here!

Frogs 13/12/10

2010-12-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

The extensive rain across the Australian East Coast has been some good news for frogs anyway. They are everywhere. I was driving back from the West last week at night, and there were thousands of frogs on the road. Unfortunately, many were squashed flat. We have no data whatsoever on the number of frog roadkills, but we can only presume it is horrific. *Pat OBrien

Cane Toads 4/3/10

2010-03-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Cane Toads Cane toads are believed to be overrunning the Gold Coast, with some environmentalists starting public reduction programs. However the Gold Coast City Council wont support public reduction programs claiming there are "safety and liability issues." In other words, they dont want to face a legal claim if someone gets hurt! Meanwhile Charleville kangaroo processor John Bury is going to China next month to try to stitch up a market for cane toad products, claiming the venom has potential medicinal qualities, such as an expectorant, a heart stimulant and as a diuretic. *WPAA

Frog eats Snake 30/12/09

2009-12-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

A frog has been photographed in Mackay Qld, eating a brown tree snake. We've heard of this happening before, but not often. Australian wildlife is unpredictble we know, but it is big effort for a frog to eat a snake. We know of another instance where a frog reaching for a small bat flying out of cave at Mt Etna in Queensland, accidentally swallowed the head of a snake that was reaching for the same bat, but soon regurgitated the snake. In this latest incident, the frog however consumed the whole snake.

Northern Corroboree Frogs Lost 18/12/09

2009-12-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

The failure of a refrigeration unit has caused a setback to the ACT's northern corroboree frog breeding program. Around 700 tadpoles and 300 frogs died when the refrigeration unit in a purpose built container housing the frogs at Tidbinbilla failed. The frogs had been bred in captivity over the past two years. Staff, who have invested much time and effort into the program, has seen Tidbinbilla become the only place in Australia that has successfully bred northern corroboree frogs in captivity. To see this happen is distressing. However they they still have a substantial breeding population and will be able to get back on track for a planned release next year.

They hope to have another 1,000 frogs produced next year based on current breeding success. Tidbinbilla says they already take a number of precautions to protect the captive frogs. Even though the populations were spread amongst three bio-secure containers, and the refrigeration and electrical systems were seperate from each container, clearly there is need for better backup. An external review of the facility will take place.

Frogs 24/10/09

2009-11-23T23:03:00.000-08:00

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says about 500 endangered Oregon spotted frogs have been released this fall at a lake on the Fort Lewis Army base near Tacoma. It's the second year that the tiny frogs have been released at Dailman Lake, which is part of the frogs' historic habitat. The frogs once ranged from southwestern British Columbia to northeastern California. But loss of habitat and nonnative predators decimated their numbers, and the state listed it as endangered in 1997. The frog now is only known to be in Washington's Klickitat and Thurston counties. The frogs spent their first nine months in captive rearing programs at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, Portland's Oregon Zoo, and the Cedar Creek Corrections Center near Olympia, where inmates helped raise them. *Seattle PI

Frog gardens 17/11/09

2009-11-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

Urban frog rehabilitation is most effective where local communities work together to build frog habitat at a diversity of scales - from individual frog-friendly gardens through to larger ponds and watercourses designed to offer suitable frog breeding habitats.

You too could have a frog paradise in your backyard. People wanting to build frog-friendly habitat can see how best to go about it by visiting demonstration sites, several of which have been made already including Parks Victoria's Serendip Sanctuary, Pearcedale Conservation Park, and another in Portland.

Frogs 17/11/09

2009-11-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that frogs are in trouble and that some species have disappeared, but a recent analysis of Central American frog surveys shows the situation is worse than had been thought.
Under pressure from a fungal disease, the frogs in this biodiversity hot spot are undergoing "a vast homogenization" that is leaving behind impoverished communities that increasingly resemble one another.

New Hope for Leopard Frogs

2009-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

The northern leopard frog hasn’t been seen or heard of for ten years. It is 2 to almost 5 inches long, green, brown or yellow, with large oval dark spots surrounded by a lighter halo and was found along streams and rivers, wetlands, permanent or temporary pools, beaver ponds and also permanent bodies of water depending on its life stage. But last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the frog could receive Endangered Species Act protection, rekindling hopes among researchers from around the region that the frog could stage a comeback.

http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=4800

Missing Frogs Legs!

2009-07-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

Scientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of the missing frogs' legs. Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution. However, tests on frogs and toads have revealed a more natural, benign cause. The deformed frogs are actually victims of the predatory habits of dragonfly nymphs, which eat the legs of tadpoles. * BBC, Full Story Here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8116000/8116692.stm

Meanwhile according to the BBC, a new study has shown up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year. About one-third of all amphibians are listed as threatened species, with habitat loss the biggest factor. But hunting is acknowledged as another important extinction driver for some species, including frogs, along with climate change, pollution and disease - notably the fungal condition chytridiomycosis which has brought rapid extinctions to some amphibians. The article also states that a large portion of the trade in amphibians for the pet trade is conducted illegally, and experts say customs officials in many countries are ill-equipped to spot and deal with illegal consignments. *

Frogs and Poisons!

2009-06-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

New research documents a surprising chemical weapon used by some Amazonian poison frogs. The study identified for the first time a family of poisons never before known to exist in these brightly colored creatures or elsewhere in nature: the N-methyldecahydroquinolines. The authors then speculated on its origin in the frogs' diet, most likely ants.

H. Martin Garraffo and colleagues note there are more than 500 alkaloids, potentially toxic substances, known to exist in the skin of poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae. Frogs use them as a chemical defense to discourage predators from biting and eating them. Western Colombian natives have used skin extracts from another group of frogs, unrelated to those in the new study, to coat blow-darts for hunting.

Frogs get nearly all of the alkaloids from their diet, removing alkaloids from ants, mites, small beetles, millipedes and possibly other small arthropods, concentrating them with incredible efficiency, and storing them in their skin. However, Garraffo's group was not certain about the origin of the newly discovered N-methyldecahydroquinolines, which could also be produced in the frogs' own bodies. Feeding experiments with alkaloids fed to captive frogs are planned, which might settle this point.

The scientists analyzed alkaloids from the skin of 13 of the more than 25 species of the genus Ameerega of poison frogs. They identified the new toxins in the frogs as being of the N-methyldecahydroquinoline class, which were present among several other alkaloids. *Science Daily

Save the Frogs!

2009-06-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

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Save the frogs, build a frog pond in your own backyard! For details go to

http://www.australian-backyard-wildlife.com/ponds.html

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Urban Development Hurts Frog Populations!

2009-06-19T20:36:00.001-07:00

An amphibian researcher says there are two major causes for the decline in frog populations on the Gold Coast. Griffith University Associate Professor Jean-Marc Hero says urban development is driving frogs out of the city while a fungal disease is impacting on hinterland populations. He says Queensland has already lost six species of frogs. "They're vulnerable because they are open to all threats," he said. "I guess they're threatened by habitat loss, they're threatened by disease, they're threatened by pollution. "They're threatened in the water, they're threatened on the land. "So they are a particularly sensitive group and therefore more likely to decline or go extinct." Professor Hero will give a lecture on the global decline of amphibians at Gecko House on June 24. *ABC News

Transparent Frogs!

2009-06-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

An expedition in southeastern Ecuador has discovered a new species of frog that is notable for one particular trait: they’re transparent. The Glass Frog, or Nymphagus chancas is naturally named after its translucent skin, which as per the Glass Frog, means you’re able to see the frogs internal organs. The scientests on the expedition also found a range of other new species, and are hoping their work will encourage the Ecuador Government protect the area from logging.

The new species were found by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) in the mountainous forests of the Cordillera del Condor of southeastern Ecuador, an area of high biological, ecological and social importance near to the border with Peru. The survey concentrated on the Upper Nangaritza River Basin, which is geologically isolated from other parts of the Andes, helping to stimulate the evolution of species which are found nowhere else (endemic species). The newly discovered creatures - four amphibians, a stunning new lizard and seven insects - include a remarkably ugly bug-eyed salamander and a tiny but beautiful poison arrow frog. *Sciencentric

Leopard Frogs

2009-06-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

It's been a plan long in the making, but recently, the first Chiricahua leopard frogs were released in northern Arizona waters as part of the Arizona Game and Fish Department's new program aimed at enlisting the help of non-federal landowners to conserve this threatened species. More than 30 frogs, including adults and tadpoles, were released into a protected pond on private property near Show Low. The frogs for this inaugural release came from a breeding stock maintained by Game and Fish that originated from the Three Forks area of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Biologists hope the frogs from this site will breed successfully and become a source population for stocking future waters.

This introduction of Chiricahua leopard frogs is the first to occur as part of a new Safe Harbor Agreement. The Safe Harbor program makes it possible for private and non-federal landowners to participate in the conservation of multiple wildlife species, including endangered Gila topminnow, desert pupfish, Yaqui topminnow, and Quitobaquito pupfish by providing refuge sites. "Chiricahua leopard frogs were once common in Arizona, but populations declined due to habitat loss, competition from non-native species and disease," says Valerie Boyarski, amphibians and reptiles conservation planner for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

"The Safe Harbor program focuses on identifying ideal sites that will contribute the most to the recovery of the species. Finding suitable natural waters, sources of frogs and the resources required to provide oversight after a release are the biggest challenges for the program, and the recovery of the species." *Spectrum.com

Swallowing Tree Frogs?

2009-06-19T20:27:00.001-07:00

A man in southeast China says 40 years of swallowing tree frogs and rats live has helped him avoid intestinal complaints and made him strong. Jiang Musheng, a 66-year-old resident of Jiangxi province, suffered from frequent abdominal pains and coughing from the age of 26, until an old man called Yang Dingcai suggested tree frogs as a remedy, the Beijing News said on Tuesday."At first, Jiang Musheng did not dare to eat a live, wriggling frog, but after seeing Yang Dingcai swallow one, he ate ... two without a thought," the paper said.

"After a month of eating live frogs, his stomach pains and coughing were completely gone." Over the years Jiang had added live mice, baby rats and green frogs to his diet, and had once eaten 20 mice in a single day, the paper said.* Reuters