Urban Nature Pictures 11/12

[urbpan]

Goldfish in an artificial pond at Stone Zoo.

And while at Stone Zoo, I paid a visit to the Panamanian Golden Frogs, who were exhibiting some breeding behavior. I couldn't decide which of these photos was better so I used them both.



When I took care of these frogs in quarantine, I called them "the last frogs on earth." It's not totally accurate; for one thing, they are more toads than frogs. But frog researchers like my boss have taken all the Panamanian Golden Frogs they were able to capture into captivity, to protect them from the Chytrid fungus disease. My zoo has a few more than a dozen. There are only a few hundred left known to exist. I think Houston Zoo has most of the ones in North America. The frogs above are in "amplexus," one of my favorite words.

Comments

[audacian.livejournal.com]

aww yea.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

The red effect in those photos before the cut is utterly awesome.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

I saw the episode of PLANET EARTH where Attenborough filmed the last ever Panamanian Golden Frogs in the wild that they could find before they were taken into custody ;)

Amplexus is a great word. Almost as great as the Aye-Aye's "Percussive Predation"