Amphibians
zooillogix | March 31, 2009In the 1930s, Australian ecologists shortsightedly introduced the Cane Toad, a species indigenous to South America, to their isolated continent to eat agricultural pests. This famously proved to be a complete disaster with the toxic toads running rampant and native species poisoning themselves when they tried to make snacks of the delicious, dimwitted amphibians.
Now a team of Australian researchers from the University of Sydney think they may have found an elegant solution that absolutely, positively, cannot backfire into a 1970 C minus horror movie: Meat Ants. The gentle meat ant lives…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2009tags: new species, Papua New Guinea, Zoology, Biodiversity
A large brilliant green tree frog, Nyctimystes species, with enormous eyes, was discovered by scientists next to a clear-running mountain river.
Image: Steve Richards/Conservation International.
A brilliant green tree tree frog with giant black eyes, tentatively classified as a Nyctimystes species, is one of 56 new species of animals discovered during a 2008 expedition to the remote island of Papua New Guinea.
This species of frog is specially adapted to its habitat of rushing freshwater rivers: females lay their eggs underneath…
grrlscientist | January 1, 2009tags: Ranitomeya tolimense, Golden-headed Poison Frog, amphibians, nature, image of the day
Golden-headed Poison Frog, Ranitomeya tolimense.
Image: Alonso Quevedo, Fundacion Proaves [larger view].
The South American country, Colombia, is home to more threatened amphibian species than any other country on earth. In a bid to protect some of them, such as the Golden-headed Poison Frog, Ranitomeya tolimense, conservation groups recently purchased some undisturbed forest and created the Ranita Dorada Amphibian Reserve.
grrlscientist | December 22, 2008tags: Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis, Cambodia, image of the day
Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis.
Image: Fauna and Flora International [larger view].
When conservation group Fauna and Flora International began its surveys in Cambodia's remote Cardamom Mountains in 2000, the national list of known amphibians stood at just nine species. Now, the list has been extended to at least 63, including the green blooded and turquoise boned Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis (above).
The Samkos bush frog is thought to be extremely rare. Its strange colored bones and blood…
edyong | December 20, 2008
Miners used to take canaries into unfamiliar shafts to act as early warning systems for the presence of poisons. Today, climate scientists have their own canaries - amphibians. Amphibians - the frogs, toads and salamanders - are particularly susceptible to environmental changes because of their fondness for water, and their porous absorbent skins. They are usually the first to feel the impact of environmental changes.
And feel it they have. They are one of the most threatened groups of animals and one in three species currently faces extinction. The beautiful golden toad (right) was one of…
edyong | October 29, 2008Our amphibians are not doing well. Populations of frogs, toads, salamanders and newts the world over are falling dramatically. Their moist, permeable skins and their need for water to reproduce make them vulnerable to a multitude of threats including drought brought on by climate change, a deadly fungus, and other infectious diseases. Now, we can point an accusatory finger at another culprit - a chemical called atrazine that is second most commonly used pesticide in the United States, and perhaps the world.
Jason Rohr and colleagues from the University of Florida found that atrazine exposes…
edyong | October 20, 2008
Moving robots are becoming more and more advanced, from Honda's astronaut-like Asimo to the dancing Robo Sapien, a perennial favourite of Christmas stockings. But these advances are still fairly superficial. Most robots still move using pre-defined programmes and making a single robot switch between very different movements, such as walking or swimming, is very difficult. Each movement type would require significant programming effort.
Robotics engineers are now looking to nature for inspiration. Animals, of course, are capable of a multitude of different styles of movement. They have…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Seattle Washington, Biology Department Greenhouse, University of Washington, poison dart frogs, Dendrobates, Dendrobatidae
Captive-bred Dyeing Poison Dart frog, Dendrobates tinctorius, from the Guianas of northeastern South America.
Image: GrrlScientist 29 September 2008 [larger view].
This is part two of my UW Biology Department greenhouse photoessay. In part one, I showed you seedpods and a lot of flowers (some of which need to be identified), but in this, the second and last part, I am focusing on The Surprise I kept telling you about. As you can see, the surprise discovery I…
grrlscientist | June 11, 2008tags: Mean and Lowly Things, herpetology, reptiles, venomous snakes, amphibians, field research, Congo Brazzaville, Kate Jackson, book review
Are you familiar with the aphorism, "Do what you love and the money will follow"? Well, the money part of that equation is probably questionable, but I think you will be convinced that a person who pursues her passions will never live a boring life, especially after you've finished reading Kate Jackson's book, Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 2008). This book tells the…
edyong | May 27, 2008In the X-Men comics, the superhero Wolverine is armed with three sharp claws on each arm. They extend through the skin of his hand, and the resulting wounds are closed by up his superhuman ability to heal. Now, in a bizarre case of life imitating art, scientists from Harvard University have discovered that a group of African frogs use similar weapons.
The frogs defend themselves with sharp bone claws on their hind feet but to do so, the animals have to drive the claws through their own skin. It's an extreme defence that is completely unique in the animal world.
The clawed frogs belong to a…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2008tags: screaming frog, amphibians, streaming video
This amusing streaming video shows a frog that was discovered by an amateur naturalist -- this frog was not enjoying the experience of being handled, either [0:25].
laelaps | May 3, 2008
A young bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) photographed at the Delaware Water Gap last year.
grrlscientist | April 14, 2008tags: Life in Cold Blood, amphibians, reptiles, David Attenborough, book review
When asked why there are so few books about amphibians and reptiles -- collectively referred to as "herps" -- published for the general public, David Attenborough responds by pointing out that "reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as slow, dim-witted and primitive. In fact they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and extremely sophisticated." Even though this is true for many herps, it takes a lot of dedication and skill to show those less-known qualities to a…
laelaps | April 10, 2008If you like weird herps, this is a good week for you.
Scientists working in Borneo have discovered that the frog Barbourula kalimantanensis has no lungs. Although the amphibian was discovered three decades ago, it is so rare that the only specimen that was collected was not dissected in order to preserve it. When researchers found another and opened it up, though, they found that Barbourula was missing lungs and that other organs filled the space they normally would have occupied. This allowed the frog to become flatter and increase the surface area of its body so that it could breathe…
edyong | April 7, 2008The invasion of land by the tetrapods - four-limbed animals that include mammals, reptiles and amphibians - was surely one of the most evocative events in animal evolution. The march onto terra firma began some 365 million years ago and was driven by a suite of innovative adaptations that allowed back-boned animals to live out of water.
Lungs were among the most crucial of these for they allowed the first land-lubbers to extract oxygen from the surrounding air. That ability is so important that it's rare for tetrapods to lose their lungs completely. Until now, the only groups that we know…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2008tags: amphibians, frogs, toads, salamanders, streaming video
Frogs Forever? Only if we leap in to save them. There's a global crisis facing all amphibians -- frogs, toads and salamanders -- they're vanishing before our very eyes. [2:11].
edyong | March 10, 2008
The story of evolution is filled with antagonists, be they predators and prey, hosts and parasites, or males and females. These conflicts of interest provide the fuel for 'evolutionary arms races' - cycles of adaptation and counter-adaptation where any advantage gained by one side is rapidly neutralised by a counter-measure from the other. As the Red Queen of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass said to Alice, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."
The Red Queen analogy paints a picture of natural foes, wielding perfectly balanced armaments and caught in a…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2008tags: amphibian, African reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus, photography, subway art, AMNH, NYC, NYCLife
African reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus,
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the NYC uptown subway stop (A-B-C)
at 81st and Central Park West. (ISO, no zoom, no flash).
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size].
Read more about the AMNH tile artworks and see the AMNH tile artworks photographic archives -- with all the animals identified.