frogposting

BEHOLD!!! - Canadian Toad (Anaxyrus hemiophrys), family Bufonidae, southern SK, Canada

Reach with in to your local garden and you will find a friend and boy.

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

Biologists have created small hotspot shelters that operate like little saunas to help vulnerable and endangered amphibians fight off a fast-spreading and deadly fungal disease that has been a major threat to amphibians for decades.

Researchers from Macquarie University and the University of Melbourne developed the shelters as a way to help amphibians ward off chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease of the skin. 

As explained by Amphibian Ark, a conservation group, the fungi that cause the disease can grow in the skin of an infected amphibian. The fungi inhibit the ability for water to move through the amphibian’s skin, leading to heart failure. Outbreaks of chytridiomycosis have led to major declines in some amphibian species around the world, particularly in Australia, Mexico, Central America, the Andes region of South America and the western U.S., Amphibian Ark reported.

Globally, 90% of amphibians that are threatened by chytridiomycosis have become extinct in the wild or altogether, and 124 affected species have seen population declines of 90% or higher, Macquarie University reported.

In response, researchers found a low-cost way that they determined to be effective in improving the frogs’ resiliency to the disease. They used whatever materials were already available, such as bricks or PVC, to build small shelters for the amphibians. The idea is that the shelters will become warm enough that the fungal disease will not be able to grow or spread.

Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri), family Bufonidae, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA

Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree), family Myobatrachidae, found in far SE Australia

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED.

Poisonous.

Endangered due to climate change, Chytrid fungus, introduced species, and brushfires. There are fewer than 180 individuals left in the wild.

Azuay Stubfoot Toads (Atelopus bombolochos), family Bufonidae, endemic to southern Ecuador

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED.

a post for @mortimermcmirestinks

Bornean Horned Toad (Pelobatrachus nasutus), family Megophryidae, Danum Valley Conservation Area, Borneo

photograph by Marco Chan

Iberian Midwife Toad, Alytes cisternasii, male with eggs, family Alytidae, Spain

photograph by Javier Ábalos

Crucifix Toad aka Holy Cross Frog (Notaden bennettii), male, family Limnodynastidae, New South Wales, Australia

photograph by JJ Harrison 

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis), family Bombinatoridae, found in far eastern Asia

Poisonous.

photograph by Laurent Lebois 

Mexican Burrowing Toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis), male - fully inflated and calling them fine ass females, family Rhinophrynidae, South TX, USA

This species is the only extant member of this family.

photograph by Carl J. Franklin

Emei Mustache Toad aka Taosze Spiny Toad, (Leptobrachium boringii), family Megophryidae, endemic to SE China

ENDANGERED.

The larger males grow keratinized spines on the upper lip, which they use to defend territories, during the breeding season. The spines fall off after the breeding season.

Scientists make chance discovery of rare blue skin mutation in Kimberley magnificent tree frog

In short:

Ecologists at a remote Western Australian wildlife sanctuary have been amazed to discover a blue tree frog.

It is the only known discovery of a magnificent tree frog with a blue skin pigment mutation.

What's next?

Australian Wildlife Conservancy scientists believe there may be more blue frogs in the Charnley River–Artesian Wildlife Sanctuary in WA's far north.

Magnificent Tree Frog (Ranoidea splendida), family Hylidae

In the far north of Western Australia, 2,500 kilometres north-east of Perth in the Charnley River–Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary, field ecologist Jake Barker couldn't believe what he was seeing when he received a photo from one of the sanctuary's land managers. Mr Barker said two land managers were in the workshop when they turned towards a bench and saw a blue magnificent tree frog sitting there. "Seeing the picture of the frog, it definitely elevated my heart rate and I was very excited and then getting down there to see it in person ... it was so cool, it was a really exciting and special thing," he said...