Frog dip

[arcticpenguin]

Frog dip (http://www.nature.com/nsu/030203/030203-11.html)

[Goshawk]

Ahh, so it's "frog dip" as in "sheep dip", not "frog dip" as in "chip dip".

You have no idea how disappointed I am.

:D

[The Central Scrutinizer]

What about Frog Baseball???

[Soapy Sam]

Good grief! Half Australia is on fire, temperatures are soaring, Pixy Misa is melting and they are BATHING FROGS?

[spoonhandler]

Hi all.

Can anybody convince me that frogs are in fact being wiped out? I've heard that many of the species now disappearing were only recently discovered in the first place and only one or two examples were ever seen. If they were hard to find beforehand and hard to find now, does that mean they are being extinguished?

:)

[Zep]

Ahem. We Ozzies are KIND to our little froggy friends :). And yes indeed, some of the are indeed on the endangered species list. The Green and Golden Bell frog, one symbols of the 2000 Olympics, had a special program to save its habitat and species because it became so rare. Nice little critters, about as big as a matchbook...

Have a look at Australian Geographic, Issue 48 (http://www.australiangeographic.com/index.cfm?ProductID=781201429&fuseaction=Detail) for a pic of one of our smaller native Australians.

ribbit
Zep

[spoonhandler]

Hi Zep.

Being an Aussie, I got to hear all about the rescue program for the Bell Frog in Sydney. After all, they were building the olympic stadium on a lot of what remained of it's suburban habitat. I also understand that a species like that is in trouble because of habitat destruction and urban development.

The CSIRO story is talking about a fungus that's killing frogs of all species and habitats around the world - apparently. I'm yet to be convinced that there is indeed some sinister drop in frog numbers worldwide. The problem is, a lot of frog species are only recently described - they exist in remote areas and not many examples were found in the first place. I'm aware that frogs may undergo local extinction events dependent on weather/seasonal conditions - presumably there are repopulation events also.

I'm just a little bit skeptical about the alarm calls for the environment based on the disappearance of frogs. I've heard it might not be what it seems and I am waiting to hear a convincing argument in favour of the contrary.

They did do a good job for the Bell Frog though. Hope it pays off for the little guys - I'm a big fan of frogs.

:)

[BillyJoe]

Well now that's three of us in a row.

The bushfires down here produce beautiful red sunsets but the smoke is pretty thick all day. Today, though, it was almost clear so I guess they're getting them under control.

Yes, and we have kangaroos and platypus but give me one of those little tree frogs any day.

BillyJoe.

[Zep]

Hi spoonbender. I like froggies too, although I remember when I lived in Darwin, yonks ago, we had lots of those little green tree frogs there that looked cute but weren't always.

These little critters have got to be the loudest frogs I have ever heard, and a chorus of just a dozen or so near the house made conversation without shouting near impossible! They would also get in the drain-pipes (which were cool and damp) and these acted like amplifiers, making the noise even worse! And they could go all night in the wet season! Sheesh!! :mad:

I'm not sure what convincing evidence can be produced that shows that "fewer frogs" indicates "environmental problems". I imagine it works the other way round, though, especially since most frogs have a very specific climate they can live in, and these are measurably on the decrease due to urban encroachment, predation, etc.

Perhaps a call to CSIRO on the subject may be in order? I can organise this if we care to follow through on this in more detail here...

cheers
Zep

[Zep]

Hi BillyJoe, hope the firefighters have got on top of it down there. That's very pretty country, plus it's a habitat for some fair-sized koala colonies, I understand. Whereabouts were the fires from you?

Zep

[BillyJoe]

Originally posted by Zep
BillyJoe....Whereabouts were the fires from you? We live at the base of the Dandenong Ranges and the state forest starts at the end of the road (about 500 yards) but the nearest fires were in Sherbrooke Forest about twenty kilometers away.
We're pretty safe for now.

[Crossbow]

Anybody ever see the 'Joe Cartoon' called Frog Blender?

It is really good!

[spoonhandler]

Hi spoonbender.

Er, Zep - it's spoonhandler.

I don't want anybody thinking I'm some kind of Uri Geller type here. :D

I also once lived in the tropics and yes, those green tree frogs can really go to town. We had them in the laundry, the downpipes and the bore and when they started up, oh boy...

Where I live now, the frogs are individually much quieter but they gather in vast numbers to fill the night with creaking, reeting and bokking sounds. They're so tiny, you can almost never find them, but you know they're out there.

We also have, unfortunately, a proliferation of cane toads. Not so great.

[Zep]

Er, Zep - it's spoonhandler ... Whoops, my bad! Sorry about that ... :o

Yes, the cane toad. In the broadest sense, it IS a frog. So its tremendous proliferation in Australia MIGHT possibly be used as an argument against the "frogs dying out" theory! Ahem. ;)

Personally, I think that being an introduced species with a gregarious diet, much local prey, little/no local competition, the ability to reproduce quickly and to adapt to new environments, it is the froggy equivalent of HIV/AIDS.

But they do make great practice golf balls!

Zep