Daily Reptile News

Creature Feature: The Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog

We are heading to the US Southwest today to find one of the most critically endangered species in the country: the Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog. This little critter is so endangered that Animal Planet actually lists it on their Top 5 Endangered Frogs list.

This creature is mainly found in the Sierra Nevada area of California. They range approximately between 2 and 3 inches (5 and 7.5 cm) in size, have orange or yellow coloring on their underside, yellow or red coloring on their topside, and black or brown spots. They love sunny riverbanks, lake borders, and meadow streams; unfortunately, there aren’t many left to enjoy their former territory. In fact, in the past century, more than 90% of their population has died out. Estimated population size (for those located south of the Sierra Nevada) in 2003 was about 183 and they are currently known to inhabit only 7 or 8 locations.

It’s claimed that when they are handled, they smell like garlic, but I wouldn’t try to eat them—they are severely threatened by pesticide use. Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs are probably one of the worst hit species from windborne agricultural pesticides. A study conducted by Davidson and Knapp involved the surveying of 6831 bodies of water. The Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog was found at 13% (about 888) of the surveyed bodies of water, along with introduced fish species (which also pose a threat, but will be discussed later). At a number of the locations, the fish were removed and unfortunately, the frogs in those bodies of water failed to survive.

Apparently, research performed on the dead frogs from the areas with removed fish showed that the frogs had higher levels of pesticides in their tissue. Other research on amphibians in general shows that not only are pesticides dangerous in general, but they are also known to make the infected amphibian more vulnerable to disease.

One pesticide that poses the biggest threat to the Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog is Atrazine. Atrazine is a very dangerous pesticide; so dangerous that it has to be specially regulated by the EPA and the State of California. Only those certified by the state are allowed to use this pesticide and only under specific conditions. The toxicity levels in this pesticide are known to cause groundwater contamination, kill birds and fish, and even cause illness in humans including: cancer, lung and kidney damage, congestive heart failure, muscle degeneration and more. If it can do all that damage to a large human, imagine what it could do to a tiny frog; especially considering that Atrazine takes a long time to break down in the environment.

It may shock you to learn that pesticides can actually take decades to completely disappear from the environment and there are frogs that live in places where pesticides have not been used in years, yet they still have pesticides in their tissue because they get it from their home environment. This also has a damaging effect on tadpoles and juvenile frogs.

The good news is people around the world are fighting to reduce (and perhaps eliminate) pesticide use. The bad news is, these frogs are also threatened by pollution, human intrusion/disturbance, climate change, drought, introduced fish species (mainly Trout), ultraviolet radiation (which affects the eggs and developmental process), and the nasty, infectious fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, which is notoriously known to kill amphibians—especially frogs.

To find out more about the Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (because there is far too much to write!), check out these links:

IUCN Red List
Wikipedia
The Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Site
AmphibiaWeb
Western Soundscape Archive (frog sounds)
Save The Frogs!
CaliforniaHerps
Center for Biological Diversity
Reptile Channel
Southern California Camping: Field Guide to Plants and Animals
Sierra Forest Legacy
New Hope for Endangered Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog

Janesville police keeping eye out for second lizard

JANESVILLE — Police aren’t closing the book on Janesville’s lizard saga just yet, amid widespread disagreement on whether a second one might still be on the loose.

Officers on Wednesday night corralled a 4-foot lizard at 613 Williams St., but the homeowner insists “Peter Pan” isn’t the same intruder she saw in her backyard Sept. 28.

A police investigation that began when the reptile was first sighted a week ago revealed a second monitor lizard could be at large.

Animal caretakers Thursday compared photographs taken by residents with the lizard captured Wednesday, matching light-colored patches and stripes along its rough exterior.

“I think it’s the same one,” said Heather Suchomel, project director at The Serpent Sanctuary near Cottage Grove. “When you’re not standing next to him, he looks a lot bigger than he really is.”

Jim Hurley, Rock County Humane Society operations manager, said it’s difficult to tell, but there did appear to be slight differences in some spots along his back legs.

Amber Downing provided police with photographs that she said show two lizards of different size and markings. One picture shows “a horizontal rectangular white marking … up and down the back,” which doesn’t match the lizard taken into custody by the humane society, according to a police report.

“We really don’t know (if there’s another),” Janesville Police Sgt. Brian Donohoue said. “This case is not closed. We’re still running things down, really hoping that if there is a second one out there we get the call (that) it’s spotted before it freezes to death.”

Donohoue said when police captured the lizard it didn’t put up a fight. Milwaukee County Zoo officials told him the cold weather makes them more docile than normal.

Police first received information about the lizard’s origin Sept. 29. An anonymous caller said a man living in the 1000 block of Laurel Avenue might have released his two lizards—a Nile monitor lizard and Savannah monitor lizard—before moving to Kentucky.

The woman told police the man admitted letting the lizards free at Traxler Park, after earlier telling her he broke their necks.

Officers were able to contact the man’s wife. She made no mention of a second lizard, but said they did give one to her husband’s brother before they left for Kentucky nearly three years ago.

The brother lived with his uncle, who told police he gave the lizard away about two years ago because he was tired of caring for it. He said someone living in the 300 or 400 block of South Main Street took it in, but he couldn’t recall a name or exact address.

Donohoue said police still are trying to locate the lizard’s last owner and hopefully learn if a second one does exist.

Peter Pan, whose original name might have been “Natas” based on previous owners, was transferred to The Serpent Sanctuary on Thursday afternoon.

Hurley said he believes the reptile is female. It had not been fed yet because caregivers first have to raise the animal’s body temperature so it can properly digest food, Hurley said.

Shop owner admits reptile neglect charge

A SHOP boss has admitted failing to protect 27 diseased reptiles from pain and suffering.

David Luther, 66, had the reptiles for sale at Harton Aquatics in Moor Lane, South Shields, when they were seized by the RSPCA and he was charged with 10 offences.

Yesterday he appeared before South Tyneside magistrates for a seventh time and admitted eight of the offences. No evidence was offered on the other two.

Luther, of East Close, South Shields, admitted the two most serious offences, of failing to meet the needs of 27 reptiles for a suitable environment, and failing to meet their needs for a suitable diet.

The animals included a king snake, royal python, a bearded dragon, baby boa and a leopard gecko.

The six other offences he admitted were that he failed to protect:

A king snake with a parasitic infection.

A baby boa constrictor with a skin- shedding disorder which could lead to permanent skin damage.

A python with an open neck wound.

A leapard gecko with hind limb paralysis.

A corn snake with untreated pus in the eye.

A bearded dragon with an untreated abscess on its elbow.

The RSPCA offered no evidence on two charges that he caused unnecessary suffering to the protected animals, and they were withdrawn.

Clive McKeag, solicitor for the RSPCA, asking the magistrates for an adjournment, said: ”The advice of a veterinary expert has been obtained by the defending solicitor.

“This is not a straightforward case.

“These are exotic species and I believe it is expeditious for the veterinary surgeon to be present in court, because I foresee you asking questions which I would not be able to answer.

“I suggest the case can proceed on the next occasion. The defence solicitor has to take further advice from his client on mitigation.”

The magistrates agreed to adjourn the case until later this month, a decision supported by defending solicitor Geoffrey Forrester.

After the hearing, a spokesman for the RSPCA said some of the reptiles were so diseased they had to be put to sleep and others re-homed.

Four baby caiman lizards make public debut at Denver Zoo

Four lizard hatchlings, all born within the past three weeks, can be viewed at the Denver Zoo.

The foursome are caiman lizards, hatched on Sept. 22, 23 and on Sunday, according to a Denver Zoo news release.

They’re so young that zoo officials cannot yet determine their gender.

There are only 55 specimens of caiman lizards in 15 North American zoos, and the Denver Zoo is home to two adult males, a female and the four hatchlings.

Caiman lizards get their name from their appearance — they closely resemble caiman crocodiles, particularly from the neck down, according to the zoo. One difference, however, is the lizard has a reddish-orange head.

In the wild, caiman lizards live in South America’s Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. They can grow up to 4 feet long and weigh up to 6 pounds.

The zoo, on East 23rd Avenue between Colorado Boulevard and York Street in Denver’s City Park, is open every day of the year.

Rangers net four-metre crocodile

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers decided to remove the reptile after it was spotted upstream from Joe Roe Bridge in the Lower Herbert, near Townsville, earlier this week.

Residents reported that the crocodile was displaying threatening behaviour and approaching people who were fishing in the area.

Search for missing frogs spans the globe

Environmentalists have spanned across the globe in search of frog species that have long been considered extinct. It seems like the resilient little critters, once thought long dead are thriving and alive in places where you would least expect them.

Scientists have peered into remote forests, swampy fields and dark caves and noted the rapid decline of amphibians and the urgent need to protect them. Robin Moore heads the Search for the Lost Frogs Campaign, sponsored by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

He says the once plentiful Golden Toad, which lived in a protected area of Costa Rica and disappeared in a little over a year.

“In 1989, one individual male turned up at a pool waiting for mates to breed. And that was the last individual ever seen,” he says.

Teams are also looking for the Gastric Brooding Frog, last spotted in 1985. “The females actually swallow the eggs and they develop in her stomach into small frogs which then hatch out through her mouth.”

Other amphibians with names such as the Scarlet Frog from Venezuela, the Hula Painted Frog from Israel and the Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad from Ecuador have been given their own search teams. They’re not optimistic.

One-third of the world’s more than 6,000 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, due to disease, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Despite those odds, Moore says some teams have confirmed rediscoveries including the small brown Ivory Coast Mt. Nimba Reed Frog, last seen in 1967.

“It’s a huge discovery from a scientific and conservation perspective for the team and for us.”

Ivory Coast scientist N’Goran Kouama, who found the frog in a swampy field, worries that if people continue to destroy its habitat the frog will truly vanish. He says its rediscovery promotes a sense of pride over unique African resources. “[It shows] to everyone that we have a heritage here and we must protect it.”

More importantly, Moore adds that the frog’s survival also draws attention to the benefits that a healthy ecosystem provides, not only for frogs, but for people. “[They help] regulate things such as fresh water, rainfall. It’s really our support system and we need to take care of it, not just for its good, but for our good as well.”

Sea-To-Sky Highway frogs still croaking too soon

Did you hear the one about why the red-legged frogs crossed the road? Well, probably not, because they never made it to the other side.

The multimillion-dollar reconstruction of the Sea-To-Sky Highway for the 2010 Winter Olympics brought the road right through previously undisturbed forest and wetlands 14 kilometres south of Whistler. A portion of the road cuts directly through the migration route to and from the breeding habitat of the red-legged frogs.

Many of the frogs have not figured out how to leap across the highway. Despite government efforts estimated to cost $1.5-million, at least 207 amphibians were killed crossing the road in 2009. The results from this summer are not yet available.

“They should never have put that highway in there,” Squamish resident and local conservation activist John Buchanan said in an interview. “If I could wave a magic wand, I would ask them to actually tear that highway completely up and put it [back] to its original route.”

Mr. Buchanan, 47, a blacksmith and home renovator, has been pushing the government to protect the frogs. The wetlands have numerous little ponds separated by volcanic lava and trees, he said. “During migration, the frogs try to get from one pond to another. They built the highway right through this area, but, of course, the frogs are still trying to get from one pond to another.”

Angela Buckingham, chief environmental officer with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, said the ministry is looking for ways to save the frogs, based on the best advice it can find. “It is very much a learning experience,” she said in a recent interview.

“It’s hard to figure out what frogs are thinking, and a lot is speculation, but we are talking to amphibian experts, to an ecosystem biologist from the Ministry of Environment … we’re trying to figure it out,” Ms. Buckingham said.

The red-legged frog is listed under the federal Species At Risk Act. Its critical habitat along the Sea-To-Sky Highway is spread over 270 hectares near the village of Pinecrest. Although thousands of red-legged frogs live in these wetlands, they are officially designated an endangered species.

During construction, the Transportation Ministry shifted a portion of the highway realignment and an intersection to minimize the effect on the area. It captured and moved 683 red-legged frogs to adjacent wetlands. It built 11 underpasses to help frogs reach the other side. It put up fencing to direct them to the safest route.

The ministry put in passageways under the highway of one, two and three metres in diameter. Some frogs have used them, although they appear to have been more hesitant than coyotes, American mink, short-tail weasels, snowshoe hares, raccoons, squirrels and ducklings, the Environment Ministry says.

Two theories have been bandied about to explain why the frogs do not use the passageways more often. Perhaps the underpasses are too cold for the frogs, which avoid sudden changes of temperature. Or maybe they are too dry.

The fencing also required extensive consultations with experts. Initial field work showed fencing was effective in reducing roadkill, the Environment Ministry says. However, more fencing was needed in key areas; it is currently being installed.

Also, the fences sagged under winter snowfall and were knocked over, possibly by big-footed bears and deer or by passing snowplows.

Ms. Buckingham said the Transportation Ministry implemented “best practices” for fencing and culverts recommended by experts. It paid special attention to materials, workmanship, location and construction of retaining walls. It is working with the Environment Ministry to find fencing that is more durable and can withstand the climate. “It is not an exact science. It is a very difficult situation and terrain to deal with,” she said.

All environmental protective measures required by the federal and provincial regulators were implemented. But the efforts still receive mixed reviews. Ms. Buckingham was not discouraged.

“It is still early on in the game,” Ms. Buckingham said. “We have put a lot of effort into it, talking to the experts, and we will continue to.”

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