Oddities and Idiocy

Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis), family Bufonidae, Tanzania

EXTINCT IN THE WILD. (declared in 2009)

This species was endemic to a two-hectare (5-acre) area at the base of the Kihansi River waterfall in the Udzungwa escarpment of the Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania.

The small population of this habitat restricted toad fluctuated greatly over the years, with the largest known peak being ~29,000 individuals. By 2004, only 3 individuals were found, the last of the frogs seen in the wild.

Extinction in the wild was due to habitat destruction and degradation due to the construction of the Kihansi Dam in 1999.

The species is being bred and cared for in zoos around the world, and reintroduction efforts are under way (which includes habitat restoration).

Like other toads in this genus, they give live birth.

i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3

unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it

i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map

i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs

this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.

crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.

Oak Toad (Anaxyrus quercicus), family Bufonidae, found in the coastal SE United States

This small toad grows to a max snout-vent length of up to only 3.3 cm 1.30 in.

Pine Barrens Tree Frog (Dryophytes andersonii), male calling, family Hylidae, southern AL, USA

There are 3 disjunct populations of this frog, named after the NJ Pine Berrens area, in and around NJ, the Carolinas, and SO AL.

The strange distribution is most likely due to severe habitat loss.

Hear the call here.

Koh Tao Caecilian (Icthyophis kohtaoensis), family Ichthyophiidae, Hon Son Island, Vietnam

Caecilians are legless amphibians, in their own order, like frogs and salamanders.

They are vertebrates.

They are NOT snakes, nor are they worms.

Most species are fossorial (burrowing), though some are aquatic.

Giant Spiny Frog (Quasipaa spinosa), family Dicroglossidae, Guangdong, China

The males have keratinzed spines on the chest.

These moderately large frogs grow to a snout-vent length of up to 8.2 cm (3.2 in).

Nope, it's actually real

Bornean bearded pig Sus barbatus barbatus

Black-legged Poison Frog (Phyllobates bicolor), family Dendrobatidae, endemic to Colombia

ENADANGERED.

VERY Poisonous.

today's funky frog of the day is the indus valley bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus)!!!!! you may know this gorgeous froggy from pictures like this one, that show the males of the species during breeding season with some rather humorous spheres on their face.

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...