And the Plants & the Animals Eat Each Other

Agalychnis moreletii

Agalychnis moreletii

Family: Hylidae (Tree Frogs and their allies)

Fun Fact: They lay their eggs on leaves above water sources, when the eggs hatch the tadpoles drop into the water.

Habitat: They are endemic to mountainous rainforests of Central America (Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras). 

Ecosystem Role: As tadpoles they help control aquatic invertebrate populations, and will eat detritus. As adults they help control both aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial invertebrate populations. They provide food for fish, birds, snakes, and lizards mainly.

Anisotremus interruptus

Anisotremus translates into unequal hole, while interruptus means broken amongst.

Family: Haemulidae (Grunts)

Fun Fact: “ Solitary and found hiding in reefs and caves during the day.. Juveniles appear in late summer and swim in schools” (Fishbase).

Habitat: They are endemic to reefs from the Gulf of California, south the Peru, and the eastern Pacific.

Ecosystem Role: They are 

Dendrolagus matschiei

Dendrolagus translates into tree hare, while matschiei is in honor of biologist and ex-Berlin zoo curator Paul Matschie.

Family: Macropodidae (Kangaroo Family)

Fun Fact: “Tree kangaroos are very agile in trees and can travel rapidly from tree to tree, leaping as much as 9 meters down to an adjoining tree... They can jump down as much as 18 meters without injury“ (ADW)

Habitat: They are endemic to montane forests of Papua New Guinea, specifically on the Huon Peninsula.

Ecosystem Role: They are foliovores (leaf-eaters) that help pruning and regeneration of tree species. They have no known predators, besides humans, but likely larger birds of prey will hunt them.

Suaeda salsa

Suaeda translates from Arabic سويداء into Swaida, a city in Syria where the species Suaeda vermiculata (Source), while salsa means salted.

Family: Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)

Fun Fact: “The species is economically important because its fresh branches have high value as a vegetable, and its seed oil is edible and rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Because it can remove salts and heavy metals from saline soils, S. salsa can also be used in the restoration of salinized or contaminated saline land” (Source). However, “[The} Leaves - raw or cooked have a salty flavour. Seed - cooked whole or ground into a powder. A famine food, it is only used when all else fails” (Source).