Frog Tees

Today, 29 February, is Leap Day or International Day of the Frog - the official launch date for the Year of the Frog.

For details of how you can help, please visit the Amphibian Ark and sign the on line petition today!

I aint kissing this Frog!

Originally uploaded by indigo_girl

The Internet is buzzing with news of an important 70 million year-old fossil find in Madagascar, already nicknamed Beelzebufo…the frog from hell! This huge prehistoric frog was longer than a rugby ball and weighed in at around four kilos and quite possibly snacked on baby dinosaurs!

Check out the NYTimes article:

Science
Paleontologists Reconstruct a Monster Frog
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: February 19, 2008
Beelzebufo may be the largest frog that ever lived, weighing more than 10 pounds.

There was some amazing footage on the Science and Nature pages of BBC News yesterday showing the rare Panamanian golden frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time. In fact, shortly after recording the footage for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood (which is presented by Sir David Attenborough), the frogs had to be rescued from the wild, due to the threat of chytrid fungus - the whole species is now extinct in Panama and this recording shows their unusual behaviour for both the first and last time in their natural habitat.

According to a report in InTheNews.co.uk today ten of the most threatened amphibian species are to be given extra help from the Edge conservation programme run by The Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

They describe these creatures as some of the world’s most extraordinary amphibians:

• Chinese giant salamander
• The limbless Sagalla caecilian which has sensory tentacles on the sides of its head
• The purple frog which lives 4 metres underground for much of the year
• Ghost frogs of South Africa some of which are found only in the traditional human burial grounds of Skeleton Gorge in Table Mountain, South Africa
• Olm - a blind salamander that can go without food for ten years
• Mexican lungless salamanders
• Malagasy rainbow frog
• Chile Darwin’s frog which has not officially be seen since 1980 (therefore may already be extinct)
• Betic midwife toad - the males carry the fertilised eggs wrapped around their hind legs
• The remarkable Gardiner’s Seychelles frog which is the size of a drawing pin

Did you know that throughout 2008 AArk (The Association of Zoos and Aquariums) will lead zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums in a globally coordinated public awareness campaign The Year of the Frog? It is designed to generate public awareness and understanding of the amphibian extinction crisis currently threatening frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - the World Conservation Union (IUCN) estimates that at least one-third of known amphibian species are presently threatened with extinction.

Sign up and become a friend of the frogs today!

This endangered frog species - Lithobates vibicarius - was thought extinct until recently rediscovered in The Children’s Eternal Rainforest, located in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Swedish school children started a worldwide effort in 1987 by sending money to Monteverde, Costa Rica to purchase rain forest and protect its priceless natural treasures forever. Today children from 44 nations have helped The Children’s Eternal Rainforest become the largest private reserve in Central America, 54,000 acres. Online social networking site Facebook.com is presently hosting a contest in partnership with The Case Foundation — The Causes Giving Challenge — that will award $50,000 to the non-profit organization that attracts the most individual donors over a 50-day period ending February 1, 2008. Only days after joining the contest, The Children’s Eternal Rainforest group has rapidly risen to become the only environmental organization represented in the top 50 contest leaders.

Check out their Facebook page here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/53587