Category Archives: Amphibians

RALEIGH- Scientists are intrigued by the discovery of a new frog that not only lays its eggs in the holes of trees 30 feet off the ground but as a tadpole has a pair of black fangs. The Amphibian has been nicknamed the Vampire flying frog. Bryan Stuart a scientists in Raleigh says this is a very exciting time to be an amphibian biologist, no tadpole has ever been found that had fangs.

During his research in Southeast Asia Stuart among the 4 new species discovere3d a 2 inch frog with the ability to glide and steer itself in mid flight. The frog laid its eggs in rain filled holes in trees, as luck would have it they found some at eye level where they discovered the fanged tadpoles.

About 500 Toads were helped by volunteers to cross A591 near Keswick in Cumbria but unfortunately about 200 of them did not make it. The the Cumbria Amphibian and Reptile Group said that the operation will go on for about 3 more weeks and is very important to the species as they come out of hibernation.  The toads are crossing the road on their way to breeding ponds in Bassenthwaite. In a few weeks they will head back up the hill to cross the road again. On there way back the pack is not as big so the rescue operation is not necessary.

A frog last seen 136 years ago is one of 5 lost frogs to be rediscovered in India. The search for the lost frogs in India stems from the story below where scientists searched 21 country’s in search for lost frogs The Chalazodes bubble-nest frog was last documented by a British Herpetologist in 1874. Scientists believe the frog hatches from the egg fully developed. Also found during the search were the Anamalai dot frog, the Dehradun stream frog, the Silent Valley tropical frog, and the Elegant tropical frog.

Last August we spoke about researchers traveling the globe in search for lost Frog species. Their target was 100 lost frogs, the succeeded in finding 4 of those and concluded that the other 96 species were in fact extinct. “Rediscoveries provide reason for hope for these species, but the flip side of the coin is that the vast majority of species that teams were looking for were not found. This is a reminder that we are in the midst of what is being called the Sixth Great Extinction with species disappearing at 100 to 1000 times the historic rate—and amphibians are really at the forefront of this extinction wave,” said Dr. Robin Moore “We need to turn these discoveries and rediscoveries into an opportunity to stem the crisis by focusing on protecting one of the most vulnerable groups of animals and their critical habitats.”