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All in Batrachology
Let’s talk about frogs and toads!
I often write pretty lengthy posts about specific species, or subjects relating to manuscripts on which I am currently working. However, I thought it would be fun to write a series of short blog posts that go back to basics on one of my favourite extant orders of the amphibia class – Anura.
A few weeks ago, I was tidying up my portable hard drive and came across a few photographs that my brother took of a couple of Yellow Cururu Toads (Rhinella icterica) copulating. He'd found them during a trip to the countryside of Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the end of 2011 - towards the end of the species' breeding season.
The Conraua goliath is one of those species that most people with no interest in amphibians will have heard of because of its size. The 'biggest frog' factoid being an almost must for any pub quiz...or perhaps more realistically, for any pub quiz I would certainly enjoy.
If you are lucky enough to have ever witnessed a wild common toad hunting, you will understand what I mean when I say that they are pretty endearing creatures. They have an incredibly entertaining 'walking' style that never fails to make me laugh.
Nature is full of creatures with amazing ways to defend themselves. Aside from loss and contamination of natural habitat, predation is one of the greatest causes of death in amphibians. In fact, studies show that the vast majority of frogs and toads will not survive long enough to produce offspring.
As humans, we tend to anthropomorphise animals. An animal's level of 'cuteness' will often be directly linked to a standard we created for ourselves and are able to project onto other creatures. Frogs have never had an easy time in human history. Due to folklore and an old fantasy book - much like the snake - frogs are seen as evil creatures. However, some frogs find it harder to captivate humans than others. The Surinam Toad is one of them.
