animalphiles

Monster toad found in Australia

Frogwatch captured a "monster" toad the size of a small dog in Darwin. It was 15 inches long and nearly two pounds.

Coordinator Graeme Sawyer says, "It's huge, to put it mildly," he said. "The biggest toads are usually females but this one was a rampant male ... I would hate to meet his big sister."

Frogwatch  is dedicated to wiping out a toxic toad species that has killed countless Australian animals. Cane toads were imported from South America during the 1930s in a failed attempt to control beetles on Australia's northern sugar cane plantations. The poisonous toads have proven fatal to Australia's delicate ecosystems, killing millions of native animals from snakes to the small crocodiles that eat them.

Don't blink or you'll miss it

The most powerful tongue in the animal kingdom belongs to the giant palm salamander of Central America. The Bolitoglossa dofleini, can shoot out its tongue with 18,000 watts of power per kilogram of muscle.

A new study by the University of South Florida shows the salamander can stick out its tongue  more than  half its body length in about 7 milliseconds, or about 50 times faster than an  average eye blink. And it recoils even faster.

Read more and see video of this impressive tongue in action at LiveScience.com.

Building an AARK for frogs

A killer fungus is wiping out frog populations around the globe, with potentially wide-reaching consequences. Scientists say the chytrid fungus has contributed to the extinction of 170 species in the past decade and 1,900 more are threatened.

Amphibian experts from around the world are meeting in Atlanta this week to map out a plan for saving the frogs. The number one priority of the Amphibian Ark project will be getting zoos and aquariums to take in sizable populations of different species until the fungus can be stopped.

Frogs are vital to the world's ecosystems because they eat insects no other animal preys upon. The AArk project says addressing the amphibian extinction crisis represents the greatest species conservation challenge in the history of humanity. For more info check out Aark's Web site.

Tadpoles with a task

From the Wildlife Conservation Society:
The WCS reared 450 tadpoles at the Central Park Zoo, then flew them down to Puerto Rico, where they were released into a manmade pond in Guanica State Forest. It's all part of the Puerto Rican Crested Toad Species Survival Plan. Scientists hope the tadpoles grow into healthy, breeding adults.

The crested toad was once widespread on the island, but its numbers were greatly reduced by loss of habitat, predation, and competition with the non-native giant marine toad. So far, conservation efforts have been successful. The current wild population is from 300 toads a few years ago, to about 1000 today.