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cells of humans and most other animals.
Wood frogs have lost many former breeding sites, but this was a banner year for them in our pond. The dark brown males emerged in early March and contin. ued serenading the larger, reddish-brown females for nearly two weeks; As the weather warmed, their eggs hatched and our pond was taken over by perhaps 10,000 tadpoles, who quickly consumed all available algae and other natural food.
As I write this, at the end of April, my wife Clay and I are now supplementing their diet with boiled lettuce, tropical fish food, and rabbit chow. Last year’s northern water snake just emerged from hibernation to find this tadpole bonanza and is now eating many each day; but with no visible dent in the population.
No banner years for.
Threatened Frogs
Unfortunately, there are no banner breeding years for far too many of the world’s 5,000 species of frogs. At least onethird of them are threatened with extinction, according to the World Conservation Union (known for short by its old acronym, IUCN). To publicize the plight of the world’s disappearing frqgymdtoads, 2008
has been designated as^||p|year of the Frog” by th|JUCN, the Ataenran Zoo^apd Aquarium Association, and individual zoos** film the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and its Conservation and Research Center in. Front Royal. Displays, events, and
activities throughout thenar will help people understand what’s happening to our frogs and toads (as well m salamanders) and what’s being done to fry to save them. i
Of course, animals of aQ kinds arm su£» fering from degradation and loss of natural habitats, but frogs and toads are especially vulnerable. Mammals have hair, birds have feathers, and reptiles have scales, protecting them from drying out or absorbing toxins. Amphibians, on the other hand, are protected only by their smooth, moist skin. This allows them to breathe udder water - a real advantage for animals which still must live part of their li ves in their original aquatic home — but that moist skin also absorbs everything jglse in their environment.
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