Amphibians - Blog Posts
I present to you: my children, Collie and Colin
Collie is the human, he's Welsh and lives in the Rhondda valleys, he's quite quiet and shy, but very friendly
He's 21 and is a Zoology graduate, and plans to do a PhD in herpetology, studying newts. He chose newts because of a small pond near where he grew up, where he'd go to find newts before putting them back. (This is based on a pond near my grandparents where I'd go to find newts)
Colin is the dog, she's also quite shy and standoffish, tends to bark at strangers but cowers the moment they approach
She loves going with Collie to the pond, and gets incredibly muddy
I'm writing a story about them and the pond, and I'm quite excited about it :) if you read this, thank you, I appreciate you listening to me ramble about my characters
Amphibia but ponies #šøAmphibia #amphibia #mlp #crossover #amphibiasphonies #sashaamphibia #anneamphibia #amphibians #amphibiaart #amphibiaanimatic #amphibiamarcy #amphibiamarcywu #fanartamphibia #mattbraly https://www.instagram.com/p/CWq8cgeNyv-/?utm_medium=tumblr
Frog and Toad being a happy gay couple #frogandtoad #kidsbook #traditionaldrawing #art #gayfrogs #pendrawing #arnoldlobel #bogwater #fanart #greenyellow #lillypad #couple #amphibians #loveislove #kidsmedia https://www.instagram.com/p/B2gz7ZligB6/?igshid=mvzg5yupupn1
Gils moving up in life! Set up his new tank and introduced him to it! He seems to like it so far, its about 3x the size of his last home.
May I offer you a frog in these trying times?
European common frog (Rana temporaria)
The environmental blog Mongabay.com created a series of graphs from the IUCN Red List, which evaluates the conservation status of plant and animal species and lists those that are under threat. I'll be postingĀ a series of them from different groups.
The first is the conservation status of herps, or reptiles and amphibians.
The species groups that are proportionally most in danger (the proportion of species within that grouping that are imperiled) are overwhelmingly freshwater species. Freshwater mussels, crayfishes, stoneflies (stonefly larvae live in freshwater), freshwater fishes and amphibians are the most at risk. This demonstrates the substantial need for a focus on conservation of freshwater habitats.
Hey, guess what? There's this really cool type of wetland. Like, really cool. It's called a vernal pool. You know what makes them different from other wetlands? They'll DRY UP during the summer and fill up again with snow melt and spring rains. A lot of really cool species of animals, like frogs, salamanders, and shrimp, need this type of wetland to survive and reproduce as they need waters that don't have fish in them. We call them obligate species. You know what vernal pools don't have? Fish. You know why? Because they dry up! Ain't that cool?
But you wanna know the sad thing about vernal pools? Some of them are big, but most of them are really small. Some of them can be so small that you can't even tell if they're a vernal pool or just a really big puddle. So they end up getting destroyed really easily. You know why else they get destroyed easily? Even if they are big, if they're not in a database as a vernal pool and they're all dried up, it's really hard to tell that there's a vernal pool right there. California's already lost 90% of it's vernal pools. Not sure about New England and the Midwest, but those three areas are the only places you'll find them in the US. At least in large quantities.
Did you know those obligate species, the amphibians, anyway, have to return to their original pool to reproduce? A lot of them will hazard any trouble just to get back, including roads. Did you know that the destruction of vernal pools not only destroys the pool but also the biodiversity and food source of the surrounding terrestrial habitat?
Just some cool things to think about! If you know of a vernal pool in your area, maybe try and make sure it has its proper protections? Your state's DEP should have a list, hopefully. Your local biodiversity and amphibian friends will thank you!
The unken reflex is a posture that toxic amphibians will take to show off their bright colors. Itās their way of saying āstay back! Iām dangerous!ā
In California, the California Newt (Taricha torosa) will do the unken reflex to show off their bright orange bellies. These newts produce tetrodotoxin.
I like making bets about things that happen in the far future and being like āif Iām wrong you can bring me back from the dead and say I told you soā, except haha sucker Iāll be long-eaten by flies by then, and those flies will have been eaten by toads and those toads will have been eaten by more flies; canāt bring me back when my atoms are already recycled and scattered all across the web of life, feeding and being fed upon, fluttering through countless existences before inevitably moving on; how many lives I have lived, how many lands my substance has visited, I am in the air and the water and the rock, how can you bring me back when I am already here
if you do bring manage to bring me back though youāll have to also bring back a bunch of flies and toads and stuff so have fun with those
These little dudes are not only chillin' but also warming themselves in heated cubbies to help them beat a fungal infection!!
Photo from the article in Science.
Research abstract: Nature