The poison of the Colorado River toad is a schedule 1 drug, and people have been licking the toads for more than 100 years, apparently to achieve a hallucinogenic effect. Now, actually smoking the toad toxin has become a thing,…
Researchers in Australia have discovered an interesting trait in invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina) tadpoles in Australia not seen in their native South America; The Australian tadpoles cannibalize their younger counterparts, which the researchers say enhances their chance of survival.…
An oil seepage in Santa Barbara, California’s Toro Canyon Creek has caused more than 80 Baja California and California treefrogs and one western fence lizard to become soiled in oil. The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) was called to…
The white-bellied frog (Geocrinia alba) has joined 25 other frog species in Australia on that country’s list of species at greatest risk of extinction, according to a researcher paper published in Pacific Conservation Biology. In the study, the researchers found…
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has designated more than 1,300 acres of critical habitat near Austin, TX for the Georgetown (Eurycea naufragia) and Salado Springs (Eurycea chisholmensis) salamanders. These amphibians were granted Endangered Species Act Protections in 2014,…
The Nashville Zoo, in partnership with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency & Tennessee State University, last month released 29 zoo raised eastern hellbender salamanders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) into local waterways. The initial release of the 29 amphibians culminates a six year…
Zoos Victoria has announced that 15 of 100 giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus) tadpoles have grown legs and have metamorphosed, a first for the zoo since launching a captive breeding program for the rare amphibian back in March. “We got…
Hundreds of northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) were released back into the wild in Washington’s Columbia National Wildlife Refuge as part of an effort to bolster the wild populations from threats such as habitat loss and degradation, disease, the introduction of…
The name is certainly peculiar, but the so-called penis snake is actually a caecilian and it was recorded living in Florida’s Miami-Date County in October 2019. The single, live amphibian was captured during a routine electroshock survey of a waterway,…
A veterinarian in Australia performed a successful surgery on a green tree frog that had a hole in its chest. Brisbane veterinarian Dr. Meaghan Barrow told ABC Radio Brisbane that the little amphibian, which measured less than 2 cm in…
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was sued July 1 by the Waterkeeper Alliance and others for its decision against listing the Eastern hellbender salamander (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis ) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. It is…
Populations of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), a threatened species and the official state frog of the Golden State, were bolstered with the introduction, in 2014, of frog tadpoles into the Santa Monica mountains by U.S. National Park Service…
After more than a decade of petitions and lawsuits, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has protected the Neuse River waterdog salamander under the Endangered Species Act. The critical habitat in which the salamander is protected includes 779 river miles (up…
A new frog species of the Litoria caerulea group has been discovered in Papua New Guinea that is chocolate brown in coloration. The frog, named Litoria mira, is native to New Guinea and its habitat consists of swampy lowland rainforests.…
Poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae get their poison from the leaf litter ants and mites that they eat. They aren’t born poisonous. Researchers with Stanford University, Harvard University, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA and Centro…
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources has proposed new restrictions on the keeping of native reptiles and amphibians, and would ban the keeping of box turtles completely, according to a report on Virginiamercury.com. While the proposal is targeted at poachers,…
If you haven’t seen a Solomon Islands giant webbed frog (Cornufer guppyi), you have got to see this beast of a frog. In April, pig hunters in the Solomon Islands captured what has to be one of the largest frog…
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has denied protections for the Samwel salamander (Hydromantes samweli), Shasta salamander, (H. shastae), and Wintu salamander (H. wintu), though it is asking for the public to submit any information that may be relevant…
Researchers in the Philippines have discovered a new frog species that was previously thought to be the same species found on another island, but was determined to be unique through genetic testing. The frog, the Mindoro fanged frog (Limnonectes beloncioi)…
Researchers have discovered a new marsupial frog species in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest that is part of the Gastrotheca genus. The frog, Gastrotheca gemma, is green in coloration with a coarse, granular and patternless dorsal skin. Its irises are turquoise…
The habitat of the Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis) in the state is threatened by a proposed 30,000-acre wind farm project in Mason County, Illinois, that scientists say could change the way the frogs sense and capture their prey buried…
Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation announced March 23 that Susan (Su) Jewell is the recipient of PARC's 2021 Alison Haskell Award, for her contributions to herpetofaunal conservation. Jewell spent nearly her entire career with the US Fish and…
University researchers in Hong Kong have discovered that the Lau's leaf litter toad (Leptobrachella laui) mates in an unusual way... with the female on top. Most frogs and toads mate with the male on top and from behind, but the…
Few frogs are as instantly recognizable as the chubby White's treefrog (Ranoidea caerulea). So named after John White, who first described the species in 1790, White's treefrogs tend to be mostly green or teal, even though their scientific name refers…
