Frogs are amazing

[LJP07]

How can Frogs be Asexual, are all Amphibians asexual seen as they have similar lifestyles?

What other known species are asexual?

[Michaelangelica]

Frog froth to treat wounds

Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday August 20, 2006
The Observer

The Tungara frog of Trinidad is an amphibian of unusual habits. When females lay eggs in ponds, their mates build huge balls of froth around them. These act as nests that protect their delicate, developing offspring. But those froth balls are proving to be very special.

Scientists have found that they contain a new type of detergent, as well as anti-microbial agents. Researchers are trying to isolate and develop this chemical to make new drugs and medicines.

'This material is amazing,' said Professor Malcolm Kennedy, of Glasgow University's biology department. 'You could imagine using this stuff as an emergency spray on soldiers injured by shell blasts or on burns victims. It could provide immediate protection for the wound and stop infections spreading.

'These frogs lay their eggs in stinking pools bursting with microbes. Yet none of their eggs gets infected, thanks to the froth that the frogs create. This not only prevents microbial growth, but holds its structure for many days. It is astonishing stuff.'

The adult Tungara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus, is found across much of South and Central America, as well as in the Caribbean. After the female lays eggs in pools of rainwater and secretes a fluid containing a special detergent-like chemical, the male fertilises the eggs and then creates the froth by kicking the liquid vigorously with its hind legs.

The Tungara detergent does no damage to the fertilised eggs, and may have important uses. 'In particular, it could be used to clear up oil spills, replacing standard detergents which can cause considerable environmental damage on their own,' said Kennedy

.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...854201,00.html

[Michaelangelica]

Amphibian not living fairy-tale life

Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, Sep 9, 2006

STOCKTON - The California red-legged frog has had some rotten luck.

In the late 1800s, tens of thousands were scooped out of wetlands each year, their legs destined for dinner plates in San Francisco's finest restaurants.

This delicacy dwindled, so humans imported bullfrogs to satisfy their appetites. Those bullfrogs, released to the wild, promptly gobbled up many of their smaller red-legged cousins.

All the while, frog habitat crumbled as 90 percent of the Central Valley wetlands were diked and drained to make way for homes and crops.

Now the federal government is studying whether the threatened frog - believed to be the inspiration for Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" - has also suffered from the use of dozens of pesticides on farms and ranches.

In a legal settlement announced this week, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to study 66 pesticides for up to three years. Use of the pesticides will be banned in some frog habitat areas, at least until the study is complete.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...609090322/1001[IMG]http://

[learnin to learn]

pretty cooll! pretty cool!

[Michaelangelica]

A place for frogs from a wise 90 year old
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate...l/15545666.htm

Posted on Mon, Sep. 18, 2006

Clemson donor treasures environment

KRISTY EPPLEY RUPON
The (Columbia) State

COTUIT, Mass. - Sitting on a floral print couch in her modest cabin, Margaret Lloyd picks up a green frog that is sitting on a table, ringing.

"Hello. So, you didn't drop off the face of the Earth," she chides.

Lloyd is talking to Clemson University vice president John Kelly, who is checking in on someone he considers a close friend and kindred spirit: the woman who recently donated to the university more than 850 acres on the Wateree River in Camden and $2 million to build an environmental education center there.

Lloyd is serious when it comes to nature. "It's a disgrace that it isn't the case with everybody everywhere," she says.
"My biggest gripe ... is that people don't make connections.
They destroy themselves, and the world is not going to make it if people don't start waking up."

Lloyd's most ardent desire for the land is that people who visit it will leave knowing "without a doubt that they are connected to nature and they are responsible for their relationship to it," he says.

[Ganoderma]

Originally Posted by Prolu2007

How can Frogs be Asexual, are all Amphibians asexual seen as they have similar lifestyles?

What other known species are asexual?

Most frogs are not asexual. Most breed like fish, the female lays and teh male fertilises. I have photos of frogs breeding if you like. Some frogs rear the tadpoles in their stomachs and the babies emerge once developed, this is also known in caecilians.

[Michaelangelica]

When I ran a nursery, we had a frog pond.
We used to feed them boiled lettuce! Which they loved.
Lots of tadpoles; but as soon as they began developing "teeth"? they died
Don't know why? A virus?

Why are large numbers of frogs dying in my garden?

We regularly receive calls from people reporting the deaths of numbers of frogs in their garden ponds. Understandably people want to know why this is happening and what can they do about it.

Symptoms may include evidence of haemorrhaging, ulcers and breakdown of limbs, but in many cases there may be no obvious signs of disease. The exact cause of large scale frog mortality is not fully understood, and may turn out to be due to a number of factors, although Froglife and the Institute of Zoology have identified a virus, originating from North America, which does appear to be responsible for a number of the unusual frog mortalities that have been reported.

Froglife has produced an excellent advice leaflet about unusual frog mortality, which answers many of the Frequently Asked Questions about frog death. A copy of the leaflet may be downloaded here.

Our general advice to anyone whose pond has been affected by large scale death of frogs is as follows:

*

Report the incident to the Frog Mortality Project. A copy of their questionnaire may be downloaded here. The more questionnaires that Froglife receive, the more likely they are to be able to determine the reasons for unusual frog mortality.

Kent Wildlife Trust - Why are large numbers of frogs dying in my garden?

[Ganoderma]

there are a number of diseases, bacteria, fungus, viruses etc than cause frog deaths. It could also be as simple as you fed them basically crap food. if they had nothing else to eat than that could be why. Lettuce has almost nothing in it in the way of nutrition and many species need certain chemicals to develop right. dart frogs for example usually need an acid (name escapes me right now) that is found in some plants (usually oak and almond are used). This acid helps enormously to develop the babies.

When your frogs start developing they will need animal foods.

[Michaelangelica]

Thanks,

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Ganoderma again"

What do you suggest as Frog Food?

[Ganoderma]

I am sorry I don’t understand what that is meaning? Don’t think I broke any rules did I?

For food it depends on species. But many can be fed common pet store feeders such as crickets and moths. For smaller species such as dart frog size and smaller usually wingless fruit flies are used (easy to eat). New born crickets are also commonly used, but fruit flies are easy to culture. In your situation I would of used fruit flies, but being partially wild I would say just put a piece of fruit by them and allow bugs to come to the frogs naturally. I would also provide some kind of escape so they can disperse to better areas.

What specie were they? Any ideas? I am bad with Australian amphibians.